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335 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
340 @setchapternewpage odd
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
349 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
355 @top The Gnus Newsreader
359 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
360 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
361 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
364 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
365 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.7.
376 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
377 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
379 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
380 being accused of plagiarism:
382 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
383 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
384 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
385 can even read news with it!
387 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
388 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
389 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
390 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
391 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
394 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
395 This manual corresponds to Gnus v5.10.9.
397 @heading Other related manuals
399 @item Message manual: Composing messages
400 @item Emacs-MIME: Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
401 @item Sieve: Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
402 @item PGG: @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
408 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
409 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
410 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
411 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
412 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
413 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
414 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
415 * Various:: General purpose settings.
416 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
417 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
418 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
419 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
420 * Key Index:: Key Index.
422 Other related manuals
424 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
425 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
426 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
427 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
428 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
431 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
435 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
436 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
437 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
438 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
439 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
440 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
441 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
442 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
443 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
444 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
445 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
449 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
450 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
451 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
455 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
456 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
457 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
458 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
459 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
460 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
461 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
462 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
463 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
464 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
465 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
466 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
467 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
468 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
469 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
470 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
471 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
472 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
476 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
477 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
478 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
482 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
483 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
484 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
485 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
486 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
490 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
491 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
492 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
493 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
494 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
498 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
499 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
500 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
501 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
502 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
503 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
504 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
505 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
506 * Threading:: How threads are made.
507 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
508 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
509 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
510 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
511 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
512 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
513 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
514 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
515 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
516 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
517 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
518 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
519 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
520 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
521 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
522 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
523 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
524 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
525 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
526 or reselecting the current group.
527 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
528 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
529 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
530 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
532 Summary Buffer Format
534 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
535 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
536 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
537 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
541 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
542 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
544 Reply, Followup and Post
546 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
547 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
548 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
549 * Canceling and Superseding::
553 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
554 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
555 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
556 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
557 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
558 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
562 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
563 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
565 Customizing Threading
567 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
568 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
569 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
570 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
574 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
575 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
576 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
577 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
578 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
579 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
583 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
584 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
585 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
589 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
590 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
591 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
592 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
593 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
594 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
595 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
596 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
597 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
598 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
599 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
601 Alternative Approaches
603 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
604 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
606 Various Summary Stuff
608 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
609 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
610 * Summary Generation Commands::
611 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
615 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
616 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
617 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
618 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
619 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
623 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
624 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
625 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
626 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
627 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
628 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
629 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
630 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
631 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
635 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
636 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
637 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
638 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
639 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
640 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
641 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
642 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
643 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
647 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
648 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
649 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
650 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
651 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
652 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
653 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
657 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
658 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
662 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
663 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
664 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
665 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
669 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
670 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
671 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
672 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
673 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
674 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
675 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
676 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
677 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
678 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
679 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
680 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
681 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
685 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
686 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
687 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
689 Choosing a Mail Back End
691 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
692 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
693 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
694 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
695 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
696 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
697 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
702 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
703 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
704 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
705 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
706 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
707 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
711 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
712 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
713 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
714 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
715 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
716 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
720 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
721 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
722 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
723 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
724 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
728 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
732 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
733 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
734 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
738 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
739 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
743 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
744 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
745 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
749 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
750 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
751 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
753 The Gnus Diary Library
755 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
756 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
757 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
758 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
762 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
763 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
764 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
765 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
766 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
767 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
768 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
769 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
770 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
771 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
772 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
773 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
774 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
775 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
779 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
780 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
781 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
785 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
786 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
787 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
791 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
792 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
793 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
794 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
795 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
796 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
797 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
798 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
799 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
800 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
801 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
802 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
803 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
804 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
805 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
806 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
810 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
811 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
812 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
816 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
817 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
818 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
819 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
820 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
821 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
822 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
823 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
824 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
825 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
826 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
827 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
828 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
829 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
830 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
831 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
832 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
833 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
834 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
835 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
836 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
840 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
841 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
842 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
843 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
844 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
845 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
846 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
847 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
851 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
852 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
853 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were
855 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
856 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
860 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
861 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
862 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
863 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
867 * Spam Package Introduction::
868 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
869 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
870 * Spam and Ham Processors::
871 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
873 * Extending the Spam package::
874 * Spam Statistics Package::
876 Spam Statistics Package
878 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
879 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
880 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
884 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
885 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
886 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
887 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
888 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
889 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
890 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
891 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
892 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
896 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
897 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
898 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
899 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
900 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
901 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
902 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
903 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
904 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
908 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
909 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
910 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
911 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
912 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
913 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
914 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
918 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
919 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
920 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
921 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
925 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
926 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
927 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
928 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
929 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
930 * Group Info:: The group info format.
931 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
932 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
933 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
937 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
938 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
939 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
940 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
941 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
942 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
946 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
947 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
951 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
952 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
958 @chapter Starting Gnus
961 If you haven't used Emacs much before using Gnus, read @ref{Emacs for
966 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
967 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
968 your Emacs. If not, you should customize the variable
969 @code{gnus-select-method} as described in @ref{Finding the News}. For a
970 minimal setup for posting should also customize the variables
971 @code{user-full-name} and @code{user-mail-address}.
973 @findex gnus-other-frame
974 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
975 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
976 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
978 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
979 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
980 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
982 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
983 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
986 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
987 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
988 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
989 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
990 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
991 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
992 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
993 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
994 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
995 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
999 @node Finding the News
1000 @section Finding the News
1001 @cindex finding news
1003 @vindex gnus-select-method
1005 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
1006 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1007 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1008 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1011 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1012 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1015 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1018 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1021 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1024 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1025 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1026 server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
1027 server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1029 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1031 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1032 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1033 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1034 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1035 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1036 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1037 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1039 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1040 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1041 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1042 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1044 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1045 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1046 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1047 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1048 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1049 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1050 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1051 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1052 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1055 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1057 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1058 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1059 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1060 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1061 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1062 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1064 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1066 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1067 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1068 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1069 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1070 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1071 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1074 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1075 you would typically set this variable to
1078 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1081 Note: the @acronym{NNTP} back end stores marks in marks files
1082 (@pxref{NNTP marks}). This feature makes it easy to share marks between
1083 several Gnus installations, but may slow down things a bit when fetching
1084 new articles. @xref{NNTP marks}, for more information.
1087 @node The First Time
1088 @section The First Time
1089 @cindex first time usage
1091 If no startup files exist (@pxref{Startup Files}), Gnus will try to
1092 determine what groups should be subscribed by default.
1094 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1095 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1096 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1097 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1100 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1101 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1102 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1104 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1105 help you with most common problems.
1107 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1108 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1112 @node The Server is Down
1113 @section The Server is Down
1114 @cindex server errors
1116 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1117 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1118 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1120 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1121 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1122 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1123 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1124 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1125 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1126 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1128 @findex gnus-no-server
1129 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1131 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1132 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1133 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1134 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1135 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1136 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1137 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1141 @section Slave Gnusae
1144 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1145 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1146 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1147 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1149 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1150 @file{.newsrc} file.
1152 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1153 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1154 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1155 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1156 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1157 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1158 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1161 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1162 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1163 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1164 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1165 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1166 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1167 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1168 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1170 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1171 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1173 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1174 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1175 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1176 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1177 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1184 @cindex subscription
1186 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1187 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1188 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1189 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1190 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1191 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1192 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1193 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1194 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1197 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1198 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1199 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1203 @node Checking New Groups
1204 @subsection Checking New Groups
1206 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1207 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1208 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1209 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1210 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1211 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1212 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1213 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1214 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1215 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1217 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1218 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1219 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1220 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1221 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1222 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1223 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1224 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1225 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1226 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1227 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1229 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1230 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1231 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1232 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1233 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1234 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1237 @node Subscription Methods
1238 @subsection Subscription Methods
1240 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1241 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1242 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1244 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1245 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1247 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1251 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1252 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1253 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1254 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1255 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1257 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1258 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1259 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1260 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1262 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1263 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1264 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1266 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1267 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1268 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1269 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1270 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1271 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1272 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1273 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1274 up. Or something like that.
1276 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1277 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1278 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1279 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1280 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1282 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1283 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1284 Kill all new groups.
1286 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1287 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1288 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1289 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1290 topic parameter that looks like
1296 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1299 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1304 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1305 A closely related variable is
1306 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1307 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1308 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1309 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1312 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1313 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1314 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1315 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1318 @node Filtering New Groups
1319 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1321 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1322 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1323 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1326 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1329 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1330 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1331 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1332 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1333 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1334 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1335 subscribing these groups.
1336 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1337 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1339 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1340 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1341 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1342 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1343 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1344 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1345 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1346 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1348 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1349 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1350 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1351 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1352 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1353 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1354 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1355 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1356 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1357 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1360 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1361 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1364 @node Changing Servers
1365 @section Changing Servers
1366 @cindex changing servers
1368 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1369 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1370 very flaky and you want to use another.
1372 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1373 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1377 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1378 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1379 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1380 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1383 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1384 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1385 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1386 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1388 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1389 @findex gnus-change-server
1390 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1391 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1392 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1393 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1394 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1396 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1397 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1398 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1399 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1400 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1402 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1403 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1404 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1405 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1406 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1407 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1409 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1410 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1411 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1412 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1414 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1415 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1416 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1417 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1418 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1419 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1420 cache for all groups).
1424 @section Startup Files
1425 @cindex startup files
1430 Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
1431 @file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
1432 groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
1435 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1436 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1437 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1438 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1439 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1440 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1441 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1443 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1444 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1445 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1446 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1447 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1448 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1450 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1451 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1452 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1453 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1454 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1455 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1456 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1457 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1458 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
1459 convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
1460 want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
1463 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1464 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1465 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1466 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1467 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1468 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1469 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1470 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1471 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1472 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1473 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1474 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1476 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1477 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1478 @vindex version-control
1479 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1480 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1481 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1482 If you want version control for this file, set
1483 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1484 @code{version-control} variable.
1486 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1487 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1488 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1489 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1490 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1491 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1492 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1493 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1494 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1495 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1498 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1499 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1501 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1502 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1505 @vindex gnus-init-file
1506 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1507 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1508 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus-init} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1509 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1510 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1511 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1512 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1513 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1514 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1515 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order). If Emacs was invoked with
1516 the @option{-q} or @option{--no-init-file} options (@pxref{Initial
1517 Options, ,Initial Options, emacs, The Emacs Manual}), Gnus doesn't read
1518 @code{gnus-init-file}.
1523 @cindex dribble file
1526 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1527 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1528 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1529 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1530 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1533 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1534 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1537 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1538 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1539 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1541 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1542 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1543 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1544 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1545 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1546 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1548 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1549 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1550 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1553 @node The Active File
1554 @section The Active File
1556 @cindex ignored groups
1558 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1559 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1560 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1562 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1563 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1564 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1565 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1566 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1567 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1568 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1571 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1572 @c if you set it to anything else.
1574 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1576 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1577 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1578 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1580 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1581 you actually subscribe to.
1583 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1584 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1585 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1586 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1588 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1589 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1590 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1591 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1592 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1593 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1595 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1596 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1597 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1600 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1601 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1602 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1603 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1604 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1605 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1607 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1608 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1610 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1611 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1613 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1614 secondary select methods.
1617 @node Startup Variables
1618 @section Startup Variables
1622 @item gnus-load-hook
1623 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1624 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1625 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1626 times you start Gnus.
1628 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1629 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1630 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1632 @item gnus-startup-hook
1633 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1634 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1636 @item gnus-started-hook
1637 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1638 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1641 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1642 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1643 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1644 generating the group buffer.
1646 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1647 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1648 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1649 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1650 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1651 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1652 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1653 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1655 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1656 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1657 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1658 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1659 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1660 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1662 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1663 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1664 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1666 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1667 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1668 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1670 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1671 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1672 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1673 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1679 @chapter Group Buffer
1680 @cindex group buffer
1682 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1684 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1685 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1686 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1687 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1688 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1689 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1690 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1691 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1692 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1693 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1694 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1695 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1696 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1697 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1698 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1699 @c human rights at 9...
1702 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1703 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1704 long as Gnus is active.
1708 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1709 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1710 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1711 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1712 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1713 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1714 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1715 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1721 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1722 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1723 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1724 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1725 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1726 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1727 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1728 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1729 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1730 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1731 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1732 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1733 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1734 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1735 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1736 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1737 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
1738 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1742 @node Group Buffer Format
1743 @section Group Buffer Format
1746 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1747 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1748 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1751 You can customize the Group Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
1752 customize-apropos RET gnus-group-tool-bar}. This feature is only
1755 The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly depending on the
1756 cursor position. Therefore, moving around in the Group Buffer is
1757 slower. You can disable this via the variable
1758 @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}. Its default value depends on your
1761 @node Group Line Specification
1762 @subsection Group Line Specification
1763 @cindex group buffer format
1765 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1766 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1768 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1771 25: news.announce.newusers
1772 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1777 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1778 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1779 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1780 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1782 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1783 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1784 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1785 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1786 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1787 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1789 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1791 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1792 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1793 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1794 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1795 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1797 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1798 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1799 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1801 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1806 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1809 Whether the group is subscribed.
1812 Level of subscribedness.
1815 Number of unread articles.
1818 Number of dormant articles.
1821 Number of ticked articles.
1824 Number of read articles.
1827 Number of unseen articles.
1830 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1831 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1833 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1834 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1835 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1836 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1837 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1838 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1839 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job.
1841 The nnml backend (@pxref{Mail Spool}) has a feature called ``group
1842 compaction'' which circumvents this deficiency: the idea is to
1843 renumber all articles from 1, removing all gaps between numbers, hence
1844 getting a correct total count. Other backends may support this in the
1845 future. In order to keep your total article count relatively up to
1846 date, you might want to compact your groups (or even directly your
1847 server) from time to time. @xref{Misc Group Stuff}, @xref{Server Commands}.
1850 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1853 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1862 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1863 comment element in the group parameters.
1866 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1867 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1868 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1872 @samp{m} if moderated.
1875 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1881 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1887 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1891 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1894 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1895 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1896 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1897 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1898 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1901 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1903 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1907 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1910 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1914 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1915 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1916 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1917 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1920 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1921 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1922 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1923 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1924 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1925 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1930 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1931 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1932 group, or a bogus native group.
1935 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1936 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1937 @cindex group mode line
1939 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1940 The mode line can be changed by setting
1941 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1942 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1946 The native news server.
1948 The native select method.
1952 @node Group Highlighting
1953 @subsection Group Highlighting
1954 @cindex highlighting
1955 @cindex group highlighting
1957 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1958 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1959 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1960 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1961 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1963 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1967 (cond (window-system
1968 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1969 (defface my-group-face-1
1970 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1971 (defface my-group-face-2
1972 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1973 "Second group face")
1974 (defface my-group-face-3
1975 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1976 (defface my-group-face-4
1977 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1978 (defface my-group-face-5
1979 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1981 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1982 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1983 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1984 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1985 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1986 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1989 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1991 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1998 The number of unread articles in the group.
2002 Whether the group is a mail group.
2004 The level of the group.
2006 The score of the group.
2008 The number of ticked articles in the group.
2010 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
2011 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
2013 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
2014 topic being inserted.
2017 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
2018 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
2019 functions for snarfing info on the group.
2021 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
2022 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
2023 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
2024 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
2025 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
2028 @node Group Maneuvering
2029 @section Group Maneuvering
2030 @cindex group movement
2032 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
2033 expected, hopefully.
2039 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
2040 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2041 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2047 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2048 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2049 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2053 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2054 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2058 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2059 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2063 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2064 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2065 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2069 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2070 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2071 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2074 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2080 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2081 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2082 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2087 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2088 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2089 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2093 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2094 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2095 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2098 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2099 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2100 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2101 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2104 @vindex gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit
2105 If @code{gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit} is @code{t}, when a summary is
2106 exited, the point in the group buffer is moved to the next unread group.
2107 Otherwise, the point is set to the group just exited. The default is
2110 @node Selecting a Group
2111 @section Selecting a Group
2112 @cindex group selection
2117 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2118 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2119 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2120 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2121 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2122 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2123 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2124 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2125 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2126 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2128 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2129 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2130 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2132 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2133 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2138 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2139 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2140 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2141 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2142 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2146 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2147 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2148 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2149 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2150 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2151 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2152 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2153 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2154 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2155 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2158 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2159 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2160 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2161 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2162 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2165 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2166 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2167 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2168 doing any processing of its contents
2169 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2170 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2171 manner will have no permanent effects.
2175 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2176 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2177 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2178 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2179 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2180 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2181 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2182 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2183 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2184 most recently will be fetched.
2186 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2187 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2188 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2191 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles
2192 In groups in some news servers, there might be a big gap between a few
2193 very old articles that will never be expired and the recent ones. In
2194 such a case, the server will return the data like @code{(1 . 30000000)}
2195 for the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, for example. Even if there
2196 are actually only the articles 1-10 and 29999900-30000000, Gnus doesn't
2197 know it at first and prepares for getting 30000000 articles. However,
2198 it will consume hundreds megabytes of memories and might make Emacs get
2199 stuck as the case may be. If you use such news servers, set the
2200 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} to a positive number.
2201 The value means that Gnus ignores articles other than this number of the
2202 latest ones in every group. For instance, the value 10000 makes Gnus
2203 get only the articles 29990001-30000000 (if the latest article number is
2204 30000000 in a group). Note that setting this variable to a number might
2205 prevent you from reading very old articles. The default value of the
2206 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} is @code{nil}, which
2207 means Gnus never ignores old articles.
2209 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2210 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2211 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2212 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2213 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2214 Which article this is is controlled by the
2215 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2221 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2224 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2227 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2229 @item unseen-or-unread
2230 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2231 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2235 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2239 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2240 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2242 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2243 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2244 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2245 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2249 @node Subscription Commands
2250 @section Subscription Commands
2251 @cindex subscription
2259 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2260 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2261 Toggle subscription to the current group
2262 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2268 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2269 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2270 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2271 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2277 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2278 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2279 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2285 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2286 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2289 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2290 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2291 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2292 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2293 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2299 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2300 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2304 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2305 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2308 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2309 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2310 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2311 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2312 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2313 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2314 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2315 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2316 @file{.newsrc} file.
2320 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2330 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2331 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2332 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2333 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2334 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2335 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2340 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2341 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2342 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2346 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2347 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2348 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2350 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2351 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2352 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2353 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2354 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2355 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2362 @section Group Levels
2366 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2367 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2368 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2369 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2370 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2372 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2378 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2379 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2380 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2381 prompted for a level.
2384 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2385 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2386 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2387 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2388 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2389 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2390 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2391 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2392 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2393 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2394 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2395 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2396 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2397 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2398 reasons of efficiency.
2400 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2401 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2403 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2404 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2405 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2406 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2407 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2408 groups are hidden, in a way.
2410 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2411 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2412 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2413 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2414 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2415 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2417 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2418 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2419 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2420 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2421 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2422 list of killed groups.)
2424 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2425 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2426 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2428 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2429 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2430 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2431 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2432 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2433 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2434 relevant valid ranges.
2436 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2437 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2438 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2439 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2440 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2441 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2444 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2445 one with the best level.
2447 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2448 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2449 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2452 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2453 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2454 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2455 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2458 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2459 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2460 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2461 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2463 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2464 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2465 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2466 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2467 to 5. The default is 6.
2471 @section Group Score
2476 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2477 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2478 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2481 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2482 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2483 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2484 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2485 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2486 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2487 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2488 least significant part.))
2490 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2491 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2492 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2493 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2494 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2495 action after each summary exit, you can add
2496 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2497 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2498 slow things down somewhat.
2501 @node Marking Groups
2502 @section Marking Groups
2503 @cindex marking groups
2505 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2506 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2507 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2508 bidding on those groups.
2510 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2511 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2512 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2520 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2521 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2527 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2528 Remove the mark from the current group
2529 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2533 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2534 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2538 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2539 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2543 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2544 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2548 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2549 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2550 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2553 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2555 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2556 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2557 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2558 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2559 the command to be executed.
2562 @node Foreign Groups
2563 @section Foreign Groups
2564 @cindex foreign groups
2566 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2567 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2568 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2569 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2572 Changes from the group editing commands are stored in
2573 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} (@code{gnus-startup-file}). An alternative is the
2574 variable @code{gnus-parameters}, @xref{Group Parameters}.
2580 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2581 @cindex making groups
2582 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2583 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2584 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2588 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2589 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2590 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2594 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2595 @cindex renaming groups
2596 Rename the current group to something else
2597 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2598 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2604 @findex gnus-group-customize
2605 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2609 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2610 @cindex renaming groups
2611 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2612 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2616 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2617 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2618 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2622 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2623 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2624 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2628 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2630 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2631 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2636 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2637 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2641 @cindex (ding) archive
2642 @cindex archive group
2643 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2644 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2645 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2646 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2647 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2648 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2649 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2653 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2655 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2656 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2657 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2658 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2662 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2664 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2665 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2666 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2670 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2671 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2673 Make a group based on some file or other
2674 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2675 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2676 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2677 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2678 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2679 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2680 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2681 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2682 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2686 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2687 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2688 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2689 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2693 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2697 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2698 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2699 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2700 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2701 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2702 @xref{Web Searches}.
2704 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2705 to a particular group by using a match string like
2706 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2710 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2711 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2712 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2716 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2717 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2718 This function will delete the current group
2719 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2720 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2721 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2722 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2723 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2727 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2728 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2729 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2733 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2734 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2735 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2738 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2741 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2742 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2743 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2744 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2745 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2746 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2750 The following commands create ephemeral groups. They can be called not
2751 only from the Group buffer, but in any Gnus buffer.
2754 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2755 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2756 @vindex gnus-gmane-group-download-format
2757 Read an ephemeral group on Gmane.org. The articles are downloaded via
2758 HTTP using the URL specified by @code{gnus-gmane-group-download-format}.
2759 Gnus will prompt you for a group name, the start article number and an
2762 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2763 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2764 This command is similar to @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group}, but
2765 the group name and the article number and range are constructed from a
2766 given @acronym{URL}. Supported @acronym{URL} formats include e.g.
2767 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12300/focus=12399},
2768 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2769 @url{http://article.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2770 @url{http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/}, and
2771 @url{http://news.gmane.org/group/gmane.foo.bar/thread=12345}.
2773 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2774 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2775 Read an Emacs bug report in an ephemeral group. Gnus will prompt for a
2776 bug number. The default is the number at point. The @acronym{URL} is
2777 specified in @code{gnus-bug-group-download-format-alist}.
2779 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2780 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2781 Read a Debian bug report in an ephemeral group. Analog to
2782 @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group}.
2785 Some of these command are also useful for article buttons, @xref{Article
2793 '("#\\([0-9]+\\)\\>" 1
2794 (string-match "\\<emacs\\>" (or gnus-newsgroup-name ""))
2795 gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group 1))
2799 @node Group Parameters
2800 @section Group Parameters
2801 @cindex group parameters
2803 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2805 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2806 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2807 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2808 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2809 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2810 Additionally, you can set group parameters via the
2811 @code{gnus-parameters} variable, see below.
2813 Here's an example group parameter list:
2816 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2820 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2821 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2822 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2823 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2825 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2826 is an alist of regexps and values.
2828 The following group parameters can be used:
2833 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2836 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2839 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2840 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2841 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2842 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2843 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2845 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2846 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2847 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2848 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2849 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2850 list address instead.
2852 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2856 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2859 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2862 It is totally ignored
2863 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2864 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2866 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2867 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2868 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2869 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2870 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2872 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2873 @cindex mail list groups
2874 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2875 entering summary buffer.
2877 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2882 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2883 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2884 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2885 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2886 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2887 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2888 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2889 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2892 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2893 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2896 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2897 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2901 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2902 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2903 of whether it has any unread articles.
2905 This parameter cannot be set via @code{gnus-parameters}. See
2906 @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.
2908 @item broken-reply-to
2909 @cindex broken-reply-to
2910 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2911 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2912 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2913 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2914 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2915 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2919 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2920 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2924 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2925 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2926 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2931 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2932 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2933 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2934 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2935 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2936 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2937 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2939 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2940 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2941 doesn't accept articles.
2945 @cindex expiring mail
2946 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2947 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2948 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2950 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2953 @cindex total-expire
2954 @cindex expiring mail
2955 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2956 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2957 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2958 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2961 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2965 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2966 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2967 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2968 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2969 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2970 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2971 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2974 @cindex expiry-target
2975 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2976 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2979 @cindex score file group parameter
2980 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2981 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2982 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2985 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2986 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2987 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2988 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2991 @cindex admin-address
2992 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2993 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2994 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2995 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2999 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
3000 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
3004 Display all articles, both read and unread.
3007 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
3008 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
3011 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
3015 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
3017 Here are some examples:
3021 Display only unread articles.
3024 Display everything except expirable articles.
3026 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
3027 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
3031 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
3032 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
3033 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
3034 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
3035 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
3039 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
3040 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
3041 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
3045 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
3046 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
3047 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
3051 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
3052 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
3053 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
3055 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
3057 @item ignored-charsets
3058 @cindex ignored-charset
3059 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
3060 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
3061 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
3063 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
3066 @cindex posting-style
3067 You can store additional posting style information for this group
3068 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
3069 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
3070 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
3071 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
3073 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
3074 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
3075 like this in the group parameters:
3080 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
3081 (signature "Funky Signature"))
3084 If you're using topics to organize your group buffer
3085 (@pxref{Group Topics}), note that posting styles can also be set in
3086 the topics parameters. Posting styles in topic parameters apply to all
3087 groups in this topic. More precisely, the posting-style settings for a
3088 group result from the hierarchical merging of all posting-style
3089 entries in the parameters of this group and all the topics it belongs
3095 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
3096 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
3100 If it is set, and the setting of @code{mail-sources} includes a
3101 @code{group} mail source (@pxref{Mail Sources}), the value is a
3102 mail source for this group.
3106 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
3107 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
3108 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
3109 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
3110 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
3114 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
3115 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
3116 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
3117 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3119 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3120 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3121 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3122 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3125 if address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com" @{
3126 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3130 To generate tests for multiple email-addresses use a group parameter
3131 like @code{(sieve address "sender" ("name@@one.org" else@@two.org"))}.
3132 When generating a sieve script (@pxref{Sieve Commands}) Sieve code
3133 like the following is generated:
3136 if address "sender" ["name@@one.org", "else@@two.org"] @{
3137 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3141 See @pxref{Sieve Commands} for commands and variables that might be of
3142 interest in relation to the sieve parameter.
3144 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3145 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3147 @item (agent parameters)
3148 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of the its parameters
3149 to control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3150 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3151 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3152 minimize the configuration effort.
3154 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3155 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3156 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3157 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3158 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3159 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3160 @code{eval}ed there.
3162 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
3163 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3164 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3165 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3166 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3167 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3168 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3169 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3172 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3175 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3176 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3177 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3180 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3183 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3184 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3185 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3186 into the group parameters for the group.
3188 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function. If you want to
3189 hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put something like
3190 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group.
3191 @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the (meaningless) result of the
3194 Alternatively, since the VARIABLE becomes local to the group, this
3195 pattern can be used to temporarily change a hook. For example, if the
3196 following is added to a group parameter
3199 (gnus-summary-prepared-hook
3200 '(lambda nil (local-set-key "d" (local-key-binding "n"))))
3203 when the group is entered, the 'd' key will not mark the article as
3208 @vindex gnus-parameters
3209 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3210 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect (For this
3211 case see @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.).
3215 (setq gnus-parameters
3217 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3218 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3219 (gnus-summary-line-format
3220 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3224 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3228 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3232 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3235 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3236 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3238 @vindex gnus-parameters-case-fold-search
3239 By default, whether comparing the group name and one of those regexps
3240 specified in @code{gnus-parameters} is done in a case-sensitive manner
3241 or a case-insensitive manner depends on the value of
3242 @code{case-fold-search} at the time when the comparison is done. The
3243 value of @code{case-fold-search} is typically @code{t}; it means, for
3244 example, the element @code{("INBOX\\.FOO" (total-expire . t))} might be
3245 applied to both the @samp{INBOX.FOO} group and the @samp{INBOX.foo}
3246 group. If you want to make those regexps always case-sensitive, set the
3247 value of the @code{gnus-parameters-case-fold-search} variable to
3248 @code{nil}. Otherwise, set it to @code{t} if you want to compare them
3249 always in a case-insensitive manner.
3251 You can define different sorting to different groups via
3252 @code{gnus-parameters}. Here is an example to sort an @acronym{NNTP}
3253 group by reverse date to see the latest news at the top and an
3254 @acronym{RSS} group by subject. In this example, the first group is the
3255 Debian daily news group @code{gmane.linux.debian.user.news} from
3256 news.gmane.org. The @acronym{RSS} group corresponds to the Debian
3257 weekly news RSS feed
3258 @url{http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main.en.rdf},
3264 '(("nntp.*gmane\\.debian\\.user\\.news"
3265 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3266 (gnus-article-sort-functions '((not gnus-article-sort-by-date)))
3267 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3268 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
3270 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3271 (gnus-article-sort-functions 'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
3272 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3273 (gnus-use-scoring t)
3274 (gnus-score-find-score-files-function 'gnus-score-find-single)
3275 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s %]%)\n"))))
3279 @node Listing Groups
3280 @section Listing Groups
3281 @cindex group listing
3283 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3291 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3292 List all groups that have unread articles
3293 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3294 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3295 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3296 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3303 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3304 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3305 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3306 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3307 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3308 unsubscribed groups).
3312 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3313 List all unread groups on a specific level
3314 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3315 with no unread articles.
3319 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3320 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3321 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3322 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3327 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3328 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3332 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3333 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3334 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3338 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3339 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3343 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3344 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3345 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3346 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3347 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3348 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3349 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3350 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3354 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3355 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3356 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3360 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3361 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3362 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3366 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3367 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3371 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3372 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3376 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3377 List groups limited within the current selection
3378 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3382 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3383 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3387 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3388 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3392 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3393 @cindex visible group parameter
3394 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3395 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3396 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3397 get the same effect.
3399 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3400 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3401 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3402 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3403 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3406 @node Sorting Groups
3407 @section Sorting Groups
3408 @cindex sorting groups
3410 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3411 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3412 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3413 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3414 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3415 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3420 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3421 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3422 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3424 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3425 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3426 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3428 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3429 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3430 Sort by group level.
3432 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3433 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3434 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3436 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3437 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3438 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3439 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3441 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3442 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3443 Sort by number of unread articles.
3445 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3446 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3447 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3449 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3450 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3451 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3456 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3457 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3461 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3462 some sorting criteria:
3466 @kindex G S a (Group)
3467 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3468 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3469 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3472 @kindex G S u (Group)
3473 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3474 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3475 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3478 @kindex G S l (Group)
3479 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3480 Sort the group buffer by group level
3481 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3484 @kindex G S v (Group)
3485 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3486 Sort the group buffer by group score
3487 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3490 @kindex G S r (Group)
3491 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3492 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3493 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3496 @kindex G S m (Group)
3497 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3498 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3499 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3502 @kindex G S n (Group)
3503 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3504 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3505 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3509 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3510 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3512 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3513 commands will sort in reverse order.
3515 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3519 @kindex G P a (Group)
3520 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3521 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3522 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3525 @kindex G P u (Group)
3526 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3527 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3528 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3531 @kindex G P l (Group)
3532 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3533 Sort the groups by group level
3534 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3537 @kindex G P v (Group)
3538 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3539 Sort the groups by group score
3540 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3543 @kindex G P r (Group)
3544 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3545 Sort the groups by group rank
3546 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3549 @kindex G P m (Group)
3550 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3551 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3552 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3555 @kindex G P n (Group)
3556 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3557 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3558 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3561 @kindex G P s (Group)
3562 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3563 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3567 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3571 @node Group Maintenance
3572 @section Group Maintenance
3573 @cindex bogus groups
3578 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3579 Find bogus groups and delete them
3580 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3584 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3585 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3586 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3587 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3588 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3592 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3593 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3594 @cindex expiring mail
3595 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3596 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3597 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3598 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3601 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3602 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3603 @cindex expiring mail
3604 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3605 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3610 @node Browse Foreign Server
3611 @section Browse Foreign Server
3612 @cindex foreign servers
3613 @cindex browsing servers
3618 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3619 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3620 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3621 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3624 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3625 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3626 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3627 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3629 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3634 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3635 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3639 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3640 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3643 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3644 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3645 Enter the current group and display the first article
3646 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3649 @kindex RET (Browse)
3650 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3651 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3655 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3656 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3657 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3663 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3664 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3668 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3669 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3673 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3674 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3675 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3680 @section Exiting Gnus
3681 @cindex exiting Gnus
3683 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3688 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3689 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3690 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3691 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3695 @findex gnus-group-exit
3696 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3697 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3701 @findex gnus-group-quit
3702 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3703 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3706 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3707 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3708 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3709 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3710 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3711 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3717 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3718 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3719 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3725 @section Group Topics
3728 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3729 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3730 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3731 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3732 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3733 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3737 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3738 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3749 2: alt.religion.emacs
3752 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3754 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3755 13: comp.sources.unix
3758 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3760 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3761 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3762 is a toggling command.)
3764 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3765 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3766 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3767 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3770 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3771 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3772 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3775 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3779 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3780 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3781 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3782 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3783 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3787 @node Topic Commands
3788 @subsection Topic Commands
3789 @cindex topic commands
3791 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3792 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3793 definitions slightly.
3795 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3796 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3797 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3798 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3799 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3800 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3802 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3809 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3810 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3811 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3815 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3817 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3818 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3819 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3820 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3823 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3824 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3825 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3826 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3830 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3831 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3832 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3833 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3839 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3840 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3841 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3845 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3846 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3847 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3850 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3851 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3852 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3853 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3854 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3856 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3857 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3861 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3862 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3869 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3871 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3872 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3873 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3874 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3875 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3876 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3880 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3886 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3887 Move the current group to some other topic
3888 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3889 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3893 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3894 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3898 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3899 Copy the current group to some other topic
3900 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3901 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3905 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3906 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3907 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3911 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3912 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3913 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3917 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3918 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3919 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3920 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3921 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3922 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3923 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3926 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3927 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3931 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3932 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3933 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3937 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3938 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3939 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3943 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3944 Toggle hiding empty topics
3945 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3949 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3950 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3951 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3952 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3955 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3956 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3957 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3958 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3959 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3962 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3963 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3964 @cindex expiring mail
3965 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3966 expiry process (if any)
3967 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3971 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3972 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3975 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3976 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3977 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3981 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3982 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3983 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3986 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3987 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3988 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3991 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3992 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3993 Go to the previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3997 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3998 @cindex group parameters
3999 @cindex topic parameters
4001 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
4002 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
4007 @node Topic Variables
4008 @subsection Topic Variables
4009 @cindex topic variables
4011 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
4012 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
4014 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
4015 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
4016 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4029 Number of groups in the topic.
4031 Number of unread articles in the topic.
4033 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
4036 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
4037 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
4038 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
4041 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
4042 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
4044 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
4045 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
4046 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
4050 @subsection Topic Sorting
4051 @cindex topic sorting
4053 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
4059 @kindex T S a (Topic)
4060 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
4061 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
4062 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
4065 @kindex T S u (Topic)
4066 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
4067 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
4068 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
4071 @kindex T S l (Topic)
4072 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
4073 Sort the current topic by group level
4074 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
4077 @kindex T S v (Topic)
4078 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
4079 Sort the current topic by group score
4080 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
4083 @kindex T S r (Topic)
4084 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
4085 Sort the current topic by group rank
4086 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
4089 @kindex T S m (Topic)
4090 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
4091 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
4092 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
4095 @kindex T S e (Topic)
4096 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
4097 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
4098 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
4101 @kindex T S s (Topic)
4102 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
4103 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
4104 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
4105 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
4109 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
4110 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
4114 @node Topic Topology
4115 @subsection Topic Topology
4116 @cindex topic topology
4119 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
4126 2: alt.religion.emacs
4129 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4131 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4132 13: comp.sources.unix
4136 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
4137 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
4138 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
4143 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
4144 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
4148 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
4149 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
4150 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
4151 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
4152 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
4153 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
4155 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
4156 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
4157 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
4160 @node Topic Parameters
4161 @subsection Topic Parameters
4162 @cindex topic parameters
4164 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
4165 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
4166 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
4167 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
4168 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
4170 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
4175 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4176 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4177 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4180 @item subscribe-level
4181 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4182 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4183 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4187 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4188 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4189 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4190 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4197 2: alt.religion.emacs
4201 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4203 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4204 13: comp.sources.unix
4209 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4210 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4211 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4212 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4213 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4214 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4216 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4217 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4218 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4219 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4220 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4222 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4223 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4224 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4225 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4226 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4227 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4228 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4229 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4232 @node Non-ASCII Group Names
4233 @section Accessing groups of non-English names
4234 @cindex non-ascii group names
4236 There are some news servers that provide groups of which the names are
4237 expressed with their native languages in the world. For instance, in a
4238 certain news server there are some newsgroups of which the names are
4239 spelled in Chinese, where people are talking in Chinese. You can, of
4240 course, subscribe to such news groups using Gnus. Currently Gnus
4241 supports non-@acronym{ASCII} group names not only with the @code{nntp}
4242 back end but also with the @code{nnml} back end and the @code{nnrss}
4245 Every such group name is encoded by a certain charset in the server
4246 side (in an @acronym{NNTP} server its administrator determines the
4247 charset, but for groups in the other back ends it is determined by you).
4248 Gnus has to display the decoded ones for you in the group buffer and the
4249 article buffer, and needs to use the encoded ones when communicating
4250 with servers. However, Gnus doesn't know what charset is used for each
4251 non-@acronym{ASCII} group name. The following two variables are just
4252 the ones for telling Gnus what charset should be used for each group:
4255 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4256 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4257 An alist of select methods and charsets. The default value is
4258 @code{nil}. The names of groups in the server specified by that select
4259 method are all supposed to use the corresponding charset. For example:
4262 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4263 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4266 Charsets specified for groups with this variable are preferred to the
4267 ones specified for the same groups with the
4268 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} variable (see below).
4270 A select method can be very long, like:
4274 (nntp-address "news.gmane.org")
4275 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
4276 (nntp-open-connection-function
4277 nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
4278 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
4279 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
4280 ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
4281 (nntp-via-address @dots{}))
4284 In that case, you can truncate it into @code{(nntp "gmane")} in this
4285 variable. That is, it is enough to contain only the back end name and
4288 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4289 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4290 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4291 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
4292 @code{((".*" . utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported,
4293 otherwise the default is @code{nil}. For example:
4296 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4297 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)
4301 Note that this variable is ignored if the match is made with
4302 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist}.
4305 Those two variables are used also to determine the charset for encoding
4306 and decoding non-@acronym{ASCII} group names that are in the back ends
4307 other than @code{nntp}. It means that it is you who determine it. If
4308 you do nothing, the charset used for group names in those back ends will
4309 all be @code{utf-8} because of the last element of
4310 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4312 There is one more important variable for non-@acronym{ASCII} group
4313 names. @emph{XEmacs users must set this}. Emacs users necessarily need
4317 @item nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4318 The value of this variable should be a coding system or @code{nil}
4319 (which is the default). The @code{nnml} back end, the @code{nnrss} back
4320 end, the @acronym{NNTP} marks feature (@pxref{NNTP marks}), the agent,
4321 and the cache use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names in those files and
4322 directories. This variable overrides the value of
4323 @code{file-name-coding-system} which specifies the coding system used
4324 when encoding and decoding those file names and directory names.
4326 In XEmacs (with the @code{mule} feature), @code{file-name-coding-system}
4327 is the only means to specify the coding system used to encode and decode
4328 file names. Therefore, @emph{you, XEmacs users, have to set it} to the
4329 coding system that is suitable to encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII}
4330 group names. On the other hand, Emacs uses the value of
4331 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} if @code{file-name-coding-system}
4332 is @code{nil}. Normally the value of
4333 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} is initialized according to the
4334 locale, so you will need to do nothing if the value is suitable to
4335 encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4337 The value of this variable (or @code{default-file-name-coding-system})
4338 does not necessarily need to be the same value that is determined by
4339 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} and
4340 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4342 If you want to subscribe to the groups spelled in Chinese but
4343 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} is initialized by default to
4344 @code{iso-latin-1} for example, that is the most typical case where you
4345 have to set @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} even if you are an
4346 Emacs user. The @code{utf-8} coding system is a good candidate for it.
4347 Otherwise, you may change the locale in your system so that
4348 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} may be initialized to an
4349 appropriate value, instead of specifying this variable.
4352 Note that when you copy or move articles from a non-@acronym{ASCII}
4353 group to another group, the charset used to encode and decode group
4354 names should be the same in both groups. Otherwise the Newsgroups
4355 header will be displayed incorrectly in the article buffer.
4358 @node Misc Group Stuff
4359 @section Misc Group Stuff
4362 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4363 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4364 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4365 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4366 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4373 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Group)
4374 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4375 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4378 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map (kbd "v j d")
4381 (gnus-group-jump-to-group "nndraft:drafts")))
4384 On keys reserved for users in Emacs and on keybindings in general
4385 @xref{Keymaps, Keymaps, , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.
4389 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4390 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4391 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4395 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4396 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4397 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4398 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4399 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4400 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4401 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4405 @findex gnus-group-mail
4406 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4407 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4408 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4409 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4413 @findex gnus-group-news
4414 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4415 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4416 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4418 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4419 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4420 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4421 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4422 for this to work though.
4426 @findex gnus-group-compact-group
4428 Compact the group under point (@code{gnus-group-compact-group}).
4429 Currently implemented only in nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes
4430 gaps between article numbers, hence getting a correct total article
4435 Variables for the group buffer:
4439 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4440 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4441 is called after the group buffer has been
4444 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4445 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4446 is called after the group buffer is
4447 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4450 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4451 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4452 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4453 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4455 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4456 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4457 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4458 whether they are empty or not.
4462 @node Scanning New Messages
4463 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4464 @cindex new messages
4465 @cindex scanning new news
4471 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4472 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4473 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4474 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4475 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4476 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4481 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4482 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4483 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4484 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4485 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4486 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4487 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4489 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4490 @cindex activating groups
4492 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4493 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4498 @findex gnus-group-restart
4499 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4500 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4501 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4505 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4506 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4508 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4509 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4513 @node Group Information
4514 @subsection Group Information
4515 @cindex group information
4516 @cindex information on groups
4523 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4524 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4527 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4528 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4529 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4530 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4531 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4532 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4533 used for fetching the file.
4535 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4536 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4540 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4541 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4543 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4544 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4547 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4548 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4549 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4553 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4554 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4555 @cindex control message
4556 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4557 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4558 group if given a prefix argument.
4560 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4561 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4562 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4563 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4565 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4566 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4567 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4571 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4573 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4574 @cindex describing groups
4575 @cindex group description
4576 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4577 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4578 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4582 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4583 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4584 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4591 @findex gnus-version
4592 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4596 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4597 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4600 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4603 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4604 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4608 @node Group Timestamp
4609 @subsection Group Timestamp
4611 @cindex group timestamps
4613 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4614 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4615 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4618 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4621 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4623 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4624 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4627 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4628 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4631 This will result in lines looking like:
4634 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4635 0: custom 19961002T012713
4638 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4639 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4643 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4644 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4647 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4648 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4652 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4653 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4654 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4655 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4657 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4663 @subsection File Commands
4664 @cindex file commands
4670 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4671 @vindex gnus-init-file
4672 @cindex reading init file
4673 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4674 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4678 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4679 @cindex saving .newsrc
4680 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4681 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4682 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4685 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4686 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4687 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4692 @node Sieve Commands
4693 @subsection Sieve Commands
4694 @cindex group sieve commands
4696 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4697 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4698 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4699 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4700 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4702 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4703 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4704 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4705 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4706 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4707 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4708 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4709 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4710 regenerate the Sieve script.
4712 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4713 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4714 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4715 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4716 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4717 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4718 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4719 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4720 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4721 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4724 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4725 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4730 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4736 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4737 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4738 @cindex generating sieve script
4739 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4740 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4744 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4745 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4746 @cindex updating sieve script
4747 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4748 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4749 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4754 @node Summary Buffer
4755 @chapter Summary Buffer
4756 @cindex summary buffer
4758 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4759 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4761 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4762 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4764 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4766 You can customize the Summary Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
4767 customize-apropos RET gnus-summary-tool-bar}. This feature is only
4771 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Summary)
4772 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4773 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4775 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map (kbd "v -") "LrS") ;; lower subthread
4779 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4780 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4781 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4782 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4783 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4784 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4785 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4786 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4787 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4788 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4789 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4790 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4791 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4792 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
4793 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4794 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4795 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4796 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4797 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4798 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4799 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4800 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4801 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4802 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4803 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4804 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4805 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4806 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4807 or reselecting the current group.
4808 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4809 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4810 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4811 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4815 @node Summary Buffer Format
4816 @section Summary Buffer Format
4817 @cindex summary buffer format
4821 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4822 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4823 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4829 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4830 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4831 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4832 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4835 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4836 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4837 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4838 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4839 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4840 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4841 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4842 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4843 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4844 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4845 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4848 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4849 'mail-extract-address-components)
4852 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4853 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4854 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4855 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4858 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4859 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4861 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4862 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4863 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4864 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4865 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4867 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4868 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4869 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4870 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4871 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4872 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4874 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4876 The following format specification characters and extended format
4877 specification(s) are understood:
4883 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4884 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4886 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4887 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4888 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4890 Full @code{From} header.
4892 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4894 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4897 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4898 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4899 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4900 may be more thorough.
4902 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4905 Number of lines in the article.
4907 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4908 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4910 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4911 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4913 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4915 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4916 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4929 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4930 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4931 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4932 line-drawing glyphs.
4934 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4935 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4936 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4937 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4939 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4940 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4941 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4942 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4944 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4945 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4946 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4947 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4949 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4950 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4951 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4953 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4954 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4955 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4957 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4958 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4959 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4961 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4962 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4963 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4968 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4969 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4971 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4972 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4974 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4975 for adopted articles.
4977 One space for each thread level.
4979 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4981 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4984 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4985 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4986 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4989 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4991 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4992 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4993 default level. If the difference between
4994 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4995 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
5003 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
5005 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
5011 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
5012 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
5014 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
5015 article has any children.
5021 Desired cursor position (instead of after first colon).
5023 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
5024 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
5026 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
5027 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
5028 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
5029 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
5030 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
5031 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
5034 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
5035 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
5036 There can only be one such area.
5038 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
5039 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
5040 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
5041 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
5042 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
5043 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
5045 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
5046 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
5048 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
5051 @node To From Newsgroups
5052 @subsection To From Newsgroups
5056 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
5057 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
5058 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
5059 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
5060 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
5064 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
5065 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
5066 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
5070 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5071 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
5074 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
5075 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
5078 @findex gnus-extra-header
5079 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
5080 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
5081 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
5084 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
5088 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5089 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
5090 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
5091 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
5092 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
5093 headers are used instead.
5095 To distinguish regular articles from those where the @code{From} field
5096 has been swapped, a string is prefixed to the @code{To} or
5097 @code{Newsgroups} header in the summary line. By default the string is
5098 @samp{-> } for @code{To} and @samp{=> } for @code{Newsgroups}, you can
5099 customize these strings with @code{gnus-summary-to-prefix} and
5100 @code{gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix}.
5104 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
5105 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
5106 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
5107 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
5108 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
5109 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
5112 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
5113 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
5114 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
5115 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
5117 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
5121 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5123 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
5124 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
5125 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
5126 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5130 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
5133 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
5134 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
5137 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
5138 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
5139 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
5145 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
5146 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
5149 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
5150 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
5152 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
5153 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
5154 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
5155 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
5157 Here are the elements you can play with:
5163 Unprefixed group name.
5165 Current article number.
5167 Current article score.
5171 Number of unread articles in this group.
5173 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
5176 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
5177 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
5178 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
5179 and no unselected ones.
5181 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
5182 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
5184 Subject of the current article.
5186 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
5188 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
5190 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5192 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5194 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
5196 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
5200 @node Summary Highlighting
5201 @subsection Summary Highlighting
5205 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5206 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5207 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
5208 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
5209 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5211 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
5212 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
5213 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
5214 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5216 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
5217 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
5218 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
5219 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
5221 @item gnus-summary-highlight
5222 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
5223 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
5224 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
5225 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
5226 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
5229 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
5230 ((> score default) . bold))
5232 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
5233 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
5237 @node Summary Maneuvering
5238 @section Summary Maneuvering
5239 @cindex summary movement
5241 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
5242 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
5244 None of these commands select articles.
5249 @kindex M-n (Summary)
5250 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
5251 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
5252 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
5253 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
5257 @kindex M-p (Summary)
5258 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
5259 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
5260 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
5261 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
5264 @kindex G g (Summary)
5265 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
5266 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
5267 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
5270 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
5271 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
5272 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
5273 to the group buffer.
5275 Variables related to summary movement:
5279 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
5280 @item gnus-auto-select-next
5281 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
5282 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
5283 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
5284 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
5285 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
5286 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
5287 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
5288 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
5289 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
5290 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
5291 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
5292 @pxref{Group Levels}.
5294 @item gnus-auto-select-same
5295 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
5296 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
5297 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
5298 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
5299 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
5300 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
5302 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
5304 @item gnus-summary-check-current
5305 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
5306 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
5307 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
5308 Instead, they will choose the current article.
5310 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
5311 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
5312 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
5313 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
5314 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
5315 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
5316 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
5317 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
5320 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
5321 the given number of lines from the top.
5326 @node Choosing Articles
5327 @section Choosing Articles
5328 @cindex selecting articles
5331 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5332 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5336 @node Choosing Commands
5337 @subsection Choosing Commands
5339 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5340 and they all select and display an article.
5342 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5343 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5347 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5348 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5349 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5350 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5352 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5353 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5354 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5359 @kindex G n (Summary)
5360 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5361 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5362 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5367 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5368 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5369 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5374 @kindex G N (Summary)
5375 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5376 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5381 @kindex G P (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5383 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5386 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5387 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5388 Go to the next article with the same subject
5389 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5392 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5393 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5394 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5395 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5399 @kindex G f (Summary)
5401 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5402 Go to the first unread article
5403 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5407 @kindex G b (Summary)
5409 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5410 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5411 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5412 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5417 @kindex G l (Summary)
5418 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5419 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5422 @kindex G o (Summary)
5423 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5425 @cindex article history
5426 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5427 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5428 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5429 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5430 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5431 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5436 @kindex G j (Summary)
5437 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5438 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5439 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5444 @node Choosing Variables
5445 @subsection Choosing Variables
5447 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5450 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5451 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5452 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5453 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5454 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5455 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5457 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5458 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5459 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. The default is
5460 @code{nil}. If you would like each article to be saved in the Agent as
5461 you read it, putting @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this
5464 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5465 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5466 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5467 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5468 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5469 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5470 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5471 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5472 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-read-mark}. The only
5473 articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5474 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5475 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5476 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5477 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5482 @node Paging the Article
5483 @section Scrolling the Article
5484 @cindex article scrolling
5489 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5490 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5491 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5492 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5493 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5495 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5496 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5497 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5498 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5499 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5500 what is considered uninteresting with
5501 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5502 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5505 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5506 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5507 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5510 @kindex RET (Summary)
5511 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5512 Scroll the current article one line forward
5513 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5516 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5517 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5518 Scroll the current article one line backward
5519 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5523 @kindex A g (Summary)
5525 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5526 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5527 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5528 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5529 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5530 the way it came from the server.
5532 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5533 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5534 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5537 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5542 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5547 @kindex A < (Summary)
5548 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5549 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5550 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5555 @kindex A > (Summary)
5556 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5557 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5561 @kindex A s (Summary)
5563 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5564 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5565 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5569 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5570 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5575 @node Reply Followup and Post
5576 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5579 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5580 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5581 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5582 * Canceling and Superseding::
5586 @node Summary Mail Commands
5587 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5589 @cindex composing mail
5591 Commands for composing a mail message:
5597 @kindex S r (Summary)
5599 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5600 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5601 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5602 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5603 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5608 @kindex S R (Summary)
5609 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5610 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5611 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5612 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5613 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5616 @kindex S w (Summary)
5617 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5618 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5619 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5620 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5621 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5622 present, that's used instead.
5625 @kindex S W (Summary)
5626 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5627 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5628 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5629 the process/prefix convention.
5632 @kindex S v (Summary)
5633 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5634 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5635 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5636 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5637 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5638 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5641 @kindex S V (Summary)
5642 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5643 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5644 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5645 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5648 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5649 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5650 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5651 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5652 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5653 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5654 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5655 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5658 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5659 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5660 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5661 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5662 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5666 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5667 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5668 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5669 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5670 Forward the current article to some other person
5671 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5672 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5673 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5674 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5675 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5676 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5677 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5678 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5679 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
5685 @kindex S m (Summary)
5686 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5687 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5688 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5689 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5690 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5695 @kindex S i (Summary)
5696 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5697 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5698 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5699 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5701 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5702 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5703 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5704 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5705 for this to work though.
5708 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5709 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5710 @cindex bouncing mail
5711 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5712 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5713 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5714 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5715 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5716 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5717 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5718 very well fail, though.
5721 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5722 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5723 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5724 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5725 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5726 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5727 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5728 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5729 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5730 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5732 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5733 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5734 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5735 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5736 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5738 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5739 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5742 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5743 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5745 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5746 if it were a new message before resending.
5749 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5750 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5751 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5752 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5753 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5756 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5757 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5758 @cindex crossposting
5759 @cindex excessive crossposting
5760 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5761 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5763 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5764 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5765 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5766 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5767 command understands the process/prefix convention
5768 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5772 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5773 Manual}, for more information.
5776 @node Summary Post Commands
5777 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5779 @cindex composing news
5781 Commands for posting a news article:
5787 @kindex S p (Summary)
5788 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5789 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5790 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5791 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5792 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5797 @kindex S f (Summary)
5798 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5799 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5800 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5804 @kindex S F (Summary)
5806 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5807 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5808 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5809 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5810 process/prefix convention.
5813 @kindex S n (Summary)
5814 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5815 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5816 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5819 @kindex S N (Summary)
5820 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5821 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5822 message through mail and include the original message
5823 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5824 the process/prefix convention.
5827 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5828 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5829 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5830 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5831 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5832 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5833 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5834 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5835 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5836 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5837 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5838 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5839 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
5842 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5843 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5845 @cindex making digests
5846 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5847 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5848 process/prefix convention.
5851 @kindex S u (Summary)
5852 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5853 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5854 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5855 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5858 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5859 Manual}, for more information.
5862 @node Summary Message Commands
5863 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5867 @kindex S y (Summary)
5868 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5869 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5870 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5871 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5872 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5877 @node Canceling and Superseding
5878 @subsection Canceling Articles
5879 @cindex canceling articles
5880 @cindex superseding articles
5882 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5883 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5885 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5887 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5889 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5890 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5891 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5892 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5893 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5894 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5896 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5897 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5900 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5901 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5902 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5904 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5905 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5906 message, Message Manual}).
5908 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5909 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5910 your original article.
5912 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5914 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5915 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5916 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5919 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5920 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5921 have posted almost the same article twice.
5923 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5924 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5925 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5926 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5927 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5928 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5929 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5930 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5931 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5932 canceled/superseded.
5934 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5936 @node Delayed Articles
5937 @section Delayed Articles
5938 @cindex delayed sending
5939 @cindex send delayed
5941 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5942 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5943 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5944 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5947 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5950 @findex gnus-delay-article
5951 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5952 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5953 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5954 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5958 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5959 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5960 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5961 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5964 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5965 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5966 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5969 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5970 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5971 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5972 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5973 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5974 that means a time tomorrow.
5977 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5978 couple of variables:
5981 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5982 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5983 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5984 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5986 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5987 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5988 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5989 formats described above.
5991 @item gnus-delay-group
5992 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5993 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5994 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5995 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5997 @item gnus-delay-header
5998 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5999 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
6000 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
6001 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
6004 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
6005 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
6006 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
6007 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
6008 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
6010 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
6011 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
6012 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
6013 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
6014 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
6015 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
6016 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
6019 @item gnus-delay-initialize
6020 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
6021 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
6022 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
6023 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
6024 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
6025 argument is ignored.
6027 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
6028 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
6029 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
6033 @node Marking Articles
6034 @section Marking Articles
6035 @cindex article marking
6036 @cindex article ticking
6039 There are several marks you can set on an article.
6041 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
6042 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
6043 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
6045 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
6048 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks.
6052 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
6053 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
6054 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
6055 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
6056 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
6057 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
6061 @node Unread Articles
6062 @subsection Unread Articles
6064 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
6069 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
6070 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
6072 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
6073 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
6074 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
6075 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
6076 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
6077 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
6078 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
6081 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
6082 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
6084 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
6085 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
6086 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
6087 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
6091 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
6092 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
6094 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
6099 @subsection Read Articles
6100 @cindex expirable mark
6102 All the following marks mark articles as read.
6107 @vindex gnus-del-mark
6108 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
6109 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
6112 @vindex gnus-read-mark
6113 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
6116 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
6117 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
6118 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
6121 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
6122 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
6125 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
6126 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
6129 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
6130 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
6133 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
6134 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
6137 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
6138 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
6141 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
6142 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
6145 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
6146 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
6150 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
6151 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
6152 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
6156 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
6157 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
6159 One more special mark, though:
6163 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
6164 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
6166 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
6167 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
6168 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
6169 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
6175 @subsection Other Marks
6176 @cindex process mark
6179 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
6185 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
6186 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
6187 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
6188 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
6189 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
6192 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
6193 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
6194 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
6195 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
6198 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
6199 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
6200 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
6203 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
6204 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
6205 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6208 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
6209 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
6210 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
6211 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
6214 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
6215 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
6216 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
6217 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
6218 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
6219 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
6222 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
6223 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
6224 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
6225 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
6228 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
6229 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
6230 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
6231 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
6232 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
6236 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
6237 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
6238 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
6239 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
6240 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
6241 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
6244 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
6245 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
6246 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
6247 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
6248 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
6249 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
6253 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
6254 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
6255 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
6256 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
6257 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
6260 @vindex gnus-process-mark
6261 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
6262 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
6263 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
6264 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
6265 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
6269 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
6270 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
6271 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
6273 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
6274 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
6275 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
6279 @subsection Setting Marks
6280 @cindex setting marks
6282 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
6287 @kindex M c (Summary)
6288 @kindex M-u (Summary)
6289 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
6290 @cindex mark as unread
6291 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
6292 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
6298 @kindex M t (Summary)
6299 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
6300 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
6301 @xref{Article Caching}.
6306 @kindex M ? (Summary)
6307 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
6308 Mark the current article as dormant
6309 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6313 @kindex M d (Summary)
6315 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
6316 Mark the current article as read
6317 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
6321 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
6322 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
6323 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6328 @kindex M k (Summary)
6329 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6330 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6331 and then select the next unread article
6332 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6336 @kindex M K (Summary)
6337 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6338 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6339 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6340 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6343 @kindex M C (Summary)
6344 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6345 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6346 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6349 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6350 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6351 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6352 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6355 @kindex M H (Summary)
6356 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6357 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6358 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6361 @kindex M h (Summary)
6362 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6363 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6364 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6367 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6368 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6369 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6370 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6373 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6374 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6375 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6376 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6380 @kindex M e (Summary)
6382 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6383 Mark the current article as expirable
6384 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6387 @kindex M b (Summary)
6388 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6389 Set a bookmark in the current article
6390 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6393 @kindex M B (Summary)
6394 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6395 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6396 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6399 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6400 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6401 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6402 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6405 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6406 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6407 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6408 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6411 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6412 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6413 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6414 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6415 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6418 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6419 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6420 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6421 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6422 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6423 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6424 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6425 The default is @code{t}.
6428 @node Generic Marking Commands
6429 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6431 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6432 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6433 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6434 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6435 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6438 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6439 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6442 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6443 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6444 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6445 to list in this manual.
6447 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6448 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6449 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6450 article, you could say something like:
6454 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6455 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6456 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6464 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6465 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6469 @node Setting Process Marks
6470 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6471 @cindex setting process marks
6473 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6474 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6475 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6476 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6477 articles into the cache. For more information,
6478 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6485 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6486 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6487 Mark the current article with the process mark
6488 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6489 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6493 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6494 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6495 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6496 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6499 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6500 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6501 Remove the process mark from all articles
6502 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6505 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6506 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6507 Invert the list of process marked articles
6508 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6511 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6512 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6513 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6514 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6517 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6518 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6519 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6520 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6523 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6524 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6525 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6528 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6529 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6530 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6533 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6534 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6535 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6536 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6539 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6540 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6541 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6542 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6545 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6546 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6547 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6548 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6551 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6552 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6553 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6556 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6557 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6558 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6559 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6562 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6563 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6564 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}).
6567 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6568 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6569 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6570 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6573 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6574 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6575 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6576 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6579 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6580 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6581 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6582 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6585 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6586 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6587 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6588 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6592 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6593 set process marks based on article body contents.
6600 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6601 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6602 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6605 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6606 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6607 additional articles.
6613 @kindex / / (Summary)
6614 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6615 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6616 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6620 @kindex / a (Summary)
6621 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6622 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6623 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6627 @kindex / R (Summary)
6628 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient
6629 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some recipient
6630 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient}). If given a prefix, exclude
6634 @kindex / A (Summary)
6635 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-address
6636 Limit the summary buffer to articles in which contents of From, To or Cc
6637 header match a given address (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-address}). If
6638 given a prefix, exclude matching articles.
6641 @kindex / S (Summary)
6642 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons
6643 Limit the summary buffer to articles that aren't part of any displayed
6644 threads (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons}). If given a prefix,
6645 limit to articles that are part of displayed threads.
6648 @kindex / x (Summary)
6649 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6650 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6651 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6652 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6657 @kindex / u (Summary)
6659 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6660 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6661 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6662 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6663 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6666 @kindex / m (Summary)
6667 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6668 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6669 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6672 @kindex / t (Summary)
6673 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6674 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6675 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6676 articles younger than that number of days.
6679 @kindex / n (Summary)
6680 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6681 With prefix @samp{n}, limit the summary buffer to the next @samp{n}
6682 articles. If not given a prefix, use the process marked articles
6683 instead. (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}).
6686 @kindex / w (Summary)
6687 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6688 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6689 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6693 @kindex / . (Summary)
6694 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6695 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6696 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6699 @kindex / v (Summary)
6700 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6701 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6702 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6705 @kindex / p (Summary)
6706 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6707 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6708 group parameter predicate
6709 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6710 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6713 @kindex / r (Summary)
6714 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6715 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6716 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6721 @kindex M S (Summary)
6722 @kindex / E (Summary)
6723 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6724 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6725 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6728 @kindex / D (Summary)
6729 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6730 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6731 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6734 @kindex / * (Summary)
6735 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6736 Include all cached articles in the limit
6737 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6740 @kindex / d (Summary)
6741 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6742 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6743 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6746 @kindex / M (Summary)
6747 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6748 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6751 @kindex / T (Summary)
6752 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6753 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6756 @kindex / c (Summary)
6757 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6758 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6759 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6762 @kindex / C (Summary)
6763 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6764 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6765 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6766 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6769 @kindex / N (Summary)
6770 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6771 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6772 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6775 @kindex / o (Summary)
6776 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6777 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6778 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6781 @kindex / b (Summary)
6782 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies
6783 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have bodies that match a
6784 certain regexp (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies}). If given a
6785 prefix, reverse the limit. This command is quite slow since it
6786 requires selecting each article to find the matches.
6789 @kindex / h (Summary)
6790 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-headers
6791 Like the previous command, only limit to headers instead
6792 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-headers}).
6800 @cindex article threading
6802 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6803 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6804 hierarchical fashion.
6806 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6807 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6808 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6809 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6810 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6811 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6812 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6814 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6818 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6821 A tree-like article structure.
6824 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6827 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6828 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6829 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6830 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6831 called loose threads.
6833 @item thread gathering
6834 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6836 @item sparse threads
6837 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6838 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6844 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6845 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6849 @node Customizing Threading
6850 @subsection Customizing Threading
6851 @cindex customizing threading
6854 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6855 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6856 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6857 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6862 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6865 @cindex loose threads
6868 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6869 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6870 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6871 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6872 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6873 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6875 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6876 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6877 There are four possible values:
6881 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6882 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6883 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6884 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6885 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6890 @cindex adopting articles
6895 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6896 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6897 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6898 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6901 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6902 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6903 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6904 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6905 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6906 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6907 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6908 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6909 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6910 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6913 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6914 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6915 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6919 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6920 display them after one another.
6923 Don't gather loose threads.
6926 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6927 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6928 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6929 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6930 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6931 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6932 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6933 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6934 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6935 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6936 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6938 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6939 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6940 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6943 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6944 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6945 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6946 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6947 simplification is used.
6949 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6950 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6951 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6952 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6954 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6956 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6962 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6963 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6964 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6965 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6970 (mapconcat 'identity
6971 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6973 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6976 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6979 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6980 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6981 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6982 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6983 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6984 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6986 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6989 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6990 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6991 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6993 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6994 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6997 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6998 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6999 Remove excessive whitespace.
7001 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
7002 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
7003 Remove all whitespace.
7006 You may also write your own functions, of course.
7009 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
7010 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
7011 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
7012 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
7013 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
7014 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
7015 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
7016 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
7018 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7019 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7020 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
7021 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
7022 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
7023 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
7024 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
7025 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
7026 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
7030 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
7031 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
7032 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
7033 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
7035 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
7036 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
7037 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
7040 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
7044 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7045 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
7051 @node Filling In Threads
7052 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
7055 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
7056 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
7057 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
7058 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
7059 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
7060 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
7061 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
7062 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
7063 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
7064 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
7065 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
7066 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
7069 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
7070 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
7071 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
7073 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7074 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7075 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
7078 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
7079 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
7080 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
7081 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
7082 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
7083 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
7084 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
7085 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
7086 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
7087 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
7088 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
7089 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
7090 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
7091 @code{nil} by default.
7093 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
7094 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
7095 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
7096 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
7097 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
7098 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
7099 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
7101 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
7102 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
7103 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
7108 @node More Threading
7109 @subsubsection More Threading
7112 @item gnus-show-threads
7113 @vindex gnus-show-threads
7114 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
7115 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
7116 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
7117 slower and more awkward.
7119 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7120 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7121 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
7124 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
7125 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
7126 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
7131 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7132 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
7133 gnus-article-unseen-p))
7136 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
7137 unread, but you get my drift.)
7140 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
7141 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
7142 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
7143 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
7144 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
7145 threads are expunged.
7147 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
7148 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
7149 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
7152 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7153 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7154 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
7155 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
7156 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
7157 result in a new thread.
7159 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
7160 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
7161 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
7164 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7165 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7166 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
7167 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
7168 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
7169 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
7170 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
7171 Setting this variable to an alternate value
7172 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
7173 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
7174 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
7179 @node Low-Level Threading
7180 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
7184 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
7185 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
7186 Hook run before parsing any headers.
7188 @item gnus-alter-header-function
7189 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
7190 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
7191 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
7192 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
7193 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
7194 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
7195 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
7196 meaningful. Here's one example:
7199 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
7201 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
7202 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
7204 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
7206 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
7213 @node Thread Commands
7214 @subsection Thread Commands
7215 @cindex thread commands
7221 @kindex T k (Summary)
7222 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
7223 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
7224 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
7225 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
7226 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
7231 @kindex T l (Summary)
7232 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
7233 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
7234 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
7235 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
7238 @kindex T i (Summary)
7239 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
7240 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
7241 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
7244 @kindex T # (Summary)
7245 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
7246 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
7247 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
7250 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
7251 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7252 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
7253 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7256 @kindex T T (Summary)
7257 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
7258 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
7261 @kindex T s (Summary)
7262 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
7263 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
7264 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
7267 @kindex T h (Summary)
7268 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
7269 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
7272 @kindex T S (Summary)
7273 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
7274 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
7277 @kindex T H (Summary)
7278 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
7279 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
7282 @kindex T t (Summary)
7283 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
7284 Re-thread the current article's thread
7285 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
7286 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
7289 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
7290 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
7291 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
7292 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
7295 @kindex T M-^ (Summary)
7296 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-children
7297 Make the current article the parent of the marked articles
7298 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-children}).
7302 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
7303 understand the numeric prefix.
7308 @kindex T n (Summary)
7310 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
7312 @kindex M-down (Summary)
7313 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
7314 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
7317 @kindex T p (Summary)
7319 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
7321 @kindex M-up (Summary)
7322 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
7323 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
7326 @kindex T d (Summary)
7327 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
7328 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
7331 @kindex T u (Summary)
7332 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
7333 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
7336 @kindex T o (Summary)
7337 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
7338 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
7341 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
7342 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
7343 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
7344 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
7345 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
7346 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
7347 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
7348 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
7349 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
7350 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
7351 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
7352 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
7356 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
7357 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
7359 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
7360 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
7361 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
7362 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7363 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
7364 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient
7365 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7366 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
7367 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
7368 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
7369 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
7370 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
7371 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
7372 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7373 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7375 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7376 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7377 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient},
7378 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7379 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date},
7380 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7381 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7382 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7383 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7384 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7386 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7387 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7388 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
7390 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7391 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7392 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7393 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7394 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7395 ascending article order.
7397 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7398 by number, you could do something like:
7401 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7402 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7403 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7404 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7407 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7408 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7409 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7410 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7411 which the articles arrived.
7413 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7417 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7418 '((not gnus-thread-sort-by-number)
7419 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7422 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7423 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7424 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7425 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7428 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7429 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7430 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7431 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7432 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7433 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7434 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7435 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7436 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7437 variable. It is very similar to the
7438 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7439 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7440 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7441 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7442 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7443 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7444 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7446 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7450 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7451 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7452 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7455 You can define group specific sorting via @code{gnus-parameters},
7456 @xref{Group Parameters}.
7459 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7460 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7461 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7462 @cindex article pre-fetch
7465 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7466 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7467 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7468 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7469 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7471 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7472 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
7474 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7475 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7476 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7477 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7478 connection is blocked.
7480 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7481 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7482 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7483 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
7485 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7486 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7487 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7488 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7491 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7494 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7495 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7496 happen automatically.
7498 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7499 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7500 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7501 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7502 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7503 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7504 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7506 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7507 @findex gnus-async-unread-p
7508 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7509 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7510 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7511 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7512 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-unread-p}, which
7513 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7514 article data structure as the only parameter.
7516 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7517 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7520 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7521 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7522 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7523 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7526 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7529 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7530 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7531 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7533 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7534 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7535 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7536 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7540 Remove articles when they are read.
7543 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7546 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7548 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7549 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7550 @c from the next group.
7553 @node Article Caching
7554 @section Article Caching
7555 @cindex article caching
7558 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7559 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7560 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7561 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7562 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7564 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7566 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7567 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7568 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7569 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7570 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7571 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7572 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7573 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7575 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7576 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7577 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7578 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7579 as dormant, and don't worry.
7581 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7583 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7584 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7585 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7586 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7587 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7588 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7589 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7590 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7591 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7592 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7594 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7595 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7596 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7597 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7598 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7599 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7600 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7601 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7602 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7603 not then be downloaded by this command.
7605 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7606 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7607 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7608 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7609 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7610 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7612 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7613 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7614 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7615 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7616 variables, the group is not cached.
7618 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7619 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7620 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7621 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7622 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7623 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7624 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7625 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7626 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7629 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7630 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7631 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7632 where, isn't that cool?
7634 @node Persistent Articles
7635 @section Persistent Articles
7636 @cindex persistent articles
7638 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7639 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7640 useful in my opinion.
7642 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7643 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7644 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7645 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7646 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7647 the expiry going on at the news server.
7649 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7650 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7651 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7657 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7658 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7661 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7662 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7663 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7664 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7668 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7670 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7671 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7672 interested in persistent articles:
7675 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7678 @node Sticky Articles
7679 @section Sticky Articles
7680 @cindex sticky articles
7682 When you select an article the current article buffer will be reused
7683 according to the value of the variable
7684 @code{gnus-single-article-buffer}. If its value is non-@code{nil} (the
7685 default) all articles reuse the same article buffer. Else each group
7686 has its own article buffer.
7688 This implies that it's not possible to have more than one article buffer
7689 in a group at a time. But sometimes you might want to display all the
7690 latest emails from your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle and
7691 your 17 cousins to coordinate the next christmas party.
7693 That's where sticky articles come in handy. A sticky article buffer
7694 basically is a normal article buffer, but it won't be reused when you
7695 select another article. You can make an article sticky with:
7699 @kindex A S (Summary)
7700 @findex gnus-sticky-article
7701 Make the current article sticky. If a prefix arg is given, ask for a
7702 name for this sticky article buffer.
7705 To close a sticky article buffer you can use these commands:
7711 Puts this sticky article buffer at the end of the list of all buffers.
7715 @findex gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffer
7716 Kills this sticky article buffer.
7719 To kill all sticky article buffers you can use:
7721 @defun gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffers ARG
7722 Kill all sticky article buffers.
7723 If a prefix ARG is given, ask for confirmation.
7726 @node Article Backlog
7727 @section Article Backlog
7729 @cindex article backlog
7731 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7732 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7733 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7734 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7735 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7736 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7737 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7738 increase memory usage some.
7740 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7741 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7742 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7743 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7744 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7745 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7746 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7748 The default value is 20.
7751 @node Saving Articles
7752 @section Saving Articles
7753 @cindex saving articles
7755 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7756 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7757 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7758 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7759 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7761 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7762 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7763 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7765 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7766 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7767 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7769 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7770 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7771 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7772 deleted before saving.
7778 @kindex O o (Summary)
7780 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7781 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7782 Save the current article using the default article saver
7783 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7786 @kindex O m (Summary)
7787 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7788 Save the current article in a Unix mail box (mbox) file
7789 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7792 @kindex O r (Summary)
7793 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7794 Save the current article in Rmail format
7795 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7798 @kindex O f (Summary)
7799 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7800 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7801 Save the current article in plain file format
7802 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7805 @kindex O F (Summary)
7806 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7807 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7808 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7811 @kindex O b (Summary)
7812 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7813 Save the current article body in plain file format
7814 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7817 @kindex O h (Summary)
7818 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7819 Save the current article in mh folder format
7820 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7823 @kindex O v (Summary)
7824 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7825 Save the current article in a VM folder
7826 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7830 @kindex O p (Summary)
7832 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7833 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7834 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7835 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7836 complete headers in the piped output.
7839 @kindex O P (Summary)
7840 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7841 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7842 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7843 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7844 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7845 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7846 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7850 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7851 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7852 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7853 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7854 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7855 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7856 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7857 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7858 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7859 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7860 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7861 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7865 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7866 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7867 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the eight ready-made
7868 functions below, or you can create your own.
7872 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7873 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7874 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7875 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7876 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7877 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7878 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7880 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7881 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7882 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7883 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7884 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7885 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7887 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7888 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7889 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7890 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7891 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7892 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7893 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7895 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7896 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7897 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7898 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7899 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7900 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7902 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7903 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7904 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7905 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7906 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7908 @item gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7909 @findex gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7910 Write the article body straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7911 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7912 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7913 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7915 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7916 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7917 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7918 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7919 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7922 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7923 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7924 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7925 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7926 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7928 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7929 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7930 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7931 reader to use this setting.
7934 The symbol of each function may have the following properties:
7938 The value non-@code{nil} means save decoded articles. This is
7939 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-save-in-file},
7940 @code{gnus-summary-save-body-in-file},
7941 @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file}, and
7942 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7945 The value specifies an alternative function which appends, not
7946 overwrites, articles to a file. This implies that when saving many
7947 articles at a time, @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} is bound to
7948 @code{t} and all articles are saved in a single file. This is
7949 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file} and
7950 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7953 The value specifies the symbol of a variable of which the value
7954 specifies headers to be saved. If it is omitted,
7955 @code{gnus-save-all-headers} and @code{gnus-saved-headers} control what
7956 headers should be saved.
7959 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7960 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7961 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7962 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7965 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7966 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7967 available functions that generate names:
7971 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7972 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7973 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7975 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7976 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7977 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7979 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7980 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7981 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7983 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7984 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7985 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7987 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7988 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7989 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7992 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7993 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7994 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7995 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7996 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
8000 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
8001 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
8002 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
8003 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
8006 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
8007 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
8008 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
8009 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
8010 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
8011 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
8012 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
8013 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
8014 called returns a string or a list of strings.
8016 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
8017 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
8018 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
8019 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
8021 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
8022 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
8023 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
8026 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
8027 lots of mail groups called things like
8028 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
8029 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
8030 following will do just that:
8033 (defun my-save-name (group)
8034 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
8035 (substring group (match-end 0))))
8037 (setq gnus-split-methods
8038 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
8043 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
8044 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
8045 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
8046 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
8047 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
8048 all the files in the top level directory
8049 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
8050 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
8051 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
8052 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
8054 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
8055 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
8056 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
8057 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
8058 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
8061 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
8065 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
8066 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
8067 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
8070 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
8071 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
8072 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
8073 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
8076 @node Decoding Articles
8077 @section Decoding Articles
8078 @cindex decoding articles
8080 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
8081 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
8084 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
8085 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
8086 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
8087 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
8088 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
8089 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
8093 @cindex article series
8094 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
8095 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
8096 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
8097 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
8098 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
8100 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
8101 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
8102 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
8104 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
8105 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
8106 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
8108 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
8109 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
8110 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
8113 @node Uuencoded Articles
8114 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
8116 @cindex uuencoded articles
8121 @kindex X u (Summary)
8122 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
8123 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
8124 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
8127 @kindex X U (Summary)
8128 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
8129 Uudecodes and saves the current series
8130 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8133 @kindex X v u (Summary)
8134 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
8135 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
8138 @kindex X v U (Summary)
8139 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
8140 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
8141 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
8145 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
8146 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
8147 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
8148 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
8149 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8151 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
8152 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
8153 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
8154 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
8157 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
8158 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
8159 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
8160 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
8161 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
8162 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
8166 @node Shell Archives
8167 @subsection Shell Archives
8169 @cindex shell archives
8170 @cindex shared articles
8172 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
8173 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
8174 some commands to deal with these:
8179 @kindex X s (Summary)
8180 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
8181 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
8184 @kindex X S (Summary)
8185 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
8186 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
8189 @kindex X v s (Summary)
8190 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
8191 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
8194 @kindex X v S (Summary)
8195 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
8196 Unshars, views and saves the current series
8197 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
8201 @node PostScript Files
8202 @subsection PostScript Files
8208 @kindex X p (Summary)
8209 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
8210 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
8213 @kindex X P (Summary)
8214 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
8215 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
8216 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
8219 @kindex X v p (Summary)
8220 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
8221 View the current PostScript series
8222 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
8225 @kindex X v P (Summary)
8226 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
8227 View and save the current PostScript series
8228 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
8233 @subsection Other Files
8237 @kindex X o (Summary)
8238 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
8239 Save the current series
8240 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
8243 @kindex X b (Summary)
8244 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
8245 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
8246 doesn't really work yet.
8249 @kindex X Y (Summary)
8250 @findex gnus-uu-decode-yenc
8251 yEnc-decode the current series and save it (@code{gnus-uu-decode-yenc}).
8255 @node Decoding Variables
8256 @subsection Decoding Variables
8258 Adjective, not verb.
8261 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
8262 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
8263 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
8267 @node Rule Variables
8268 @subsubsection Rule Variables
8269 @cindex rule variables
8271 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
8272 variables are of the form
8275 (list '(regexp1 command2)
8282 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8283 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8285 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
8286 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
8289 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8290 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
8293 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8294 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8295 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
8296 user and default view rules.
8298 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8299 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8300 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
8305 @node Other Decode Variables
8306 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
8309 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8311 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8312 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
8313 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
8314 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
8315 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
8319 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
8320 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
8323 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
8324 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
8325 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
8328 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8329 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8330 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
8331 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
8332 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
8335 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8336 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8337 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
8339 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8340 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8341 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
8342 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
8343 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
8346 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8347 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8348 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
8350 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8351 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8352 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
8353 looking for files to display.
8355 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
8356 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
8357 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
8360 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8361 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8362 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
8365 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8366 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8367 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
8370 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8371 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8372 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
8375 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8376 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8377 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
8378 decoded articles as unread.
8380 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8381 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8382 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
8383 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
8385 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8386 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8387 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
8389 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8390 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8392 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
8393 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
8394 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
8395 @code{metamail} for viewing.
8397 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8398 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8399 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
8400 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
8401 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
8402 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
8403 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
8404 simply dropped them.
8409 @node Uuencoding and Posting
8410 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
8414 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8415 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8416 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
8417 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
8418 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
8419 for you when you post the article.
8421 @item gnus-uu-post-length
8422 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
8423 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
8424 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
8426 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
8427 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
8428 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
8429 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
8430 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
8431 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
8432 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
8434 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8435 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8436 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
8437 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
8438 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
8439 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
8440 Default is @code{t}.
8446 @subsection Viewing Files
8447 @cindex viewing files
8448 @cindex pseudo-articles
8450 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
8451 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
8452 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
8453 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
8454 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
8455 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
8456 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
8458 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
8459 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8460 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8461 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8463 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8464 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8465 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8467 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8468 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8469 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8470 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8471 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8473 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8474 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8475 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8476 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8477 a list of parameters to that command.
8479 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8480 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8481 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8483 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8484 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8485 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8488 @node Article Treatment
8489 @section Article Treatment
8491 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8492 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8493 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8494 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8495 these articles easier.
8498 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8499 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8500 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8501 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8502 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8503 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8504 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8505 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8506 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
8507 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8508 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8512 @node Article Highlighting
8513 @subsection Article Highlighting
8514 @cindex highlighting
8516 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8517 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8522 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8523 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8524 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8525 Do much highlighting of the current article
8526 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8527 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8530 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8531 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8532 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8533 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8534 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8535 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8536 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8537 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8538 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8539 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8540 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8541 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8544 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8545 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8546 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8548 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8551 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8553 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8554 If the article size in bytes is bigger than this variable (which is
8555 25000 by default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8557 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8558 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8559 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8561 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8562 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8563 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8564 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8565 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8566 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8568 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8569 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8570 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8572 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8573 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8574 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8576 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8577 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8578 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8579 that it's a citation.
8581 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8582 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8583 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8585 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8586 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8587 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8589 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8590 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8591 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8592 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8594 @item gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8595 @vindex gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8596 If non-@code{nil}, no citation highlighting will be performed on lines
8597 beginning with @samp{>From }. Those lines may have been quoted by MTAs
8598 in order not to mix up with the envelope From line. The default value
8605 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8606 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8607 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8608 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8609 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8610 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8611 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8612 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8617 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8620 @node Article Fontisizing
8621 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8623 @cindex article emphasis
8625 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8626 @kindex W e (Summary)
8627 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8628 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8629 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8630 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8632 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8633 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8634 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8635 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8636 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8637 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8638 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8639 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8643 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8644 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8645 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8654 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8655 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8656 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8657 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8658 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8659 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8660 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8661 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8662 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8663 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8664 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8665 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8666 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8668 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8669 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8670 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8674 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8677 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8679 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8680 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8681 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8682 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8684 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8687 @node Article Hiding
8688 @subsection Article Hiding
8689 @cindex article hiding
8691 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8692 too much cruft in most articles.
8697 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8698 @findex gnus-article-hide
8699 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8700 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8701 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8704 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8705 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8706 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8710 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8711 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8712 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8713 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8716 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8717 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8718 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8722 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8723 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8724 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8725 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8726 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8727 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8728 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8729 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8733 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8734 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8735 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8736 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8741 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8742 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8743 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8744 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8747 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8748 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8749 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8750 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8753 @cindex stripping advertisements
8754 @cindex advertisements
8755 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8756 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8757 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8758 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8759 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8760 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8761 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8762 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8763 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8764 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8767 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8768 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8769 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8773 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8774 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8775 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8776 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8777 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8778 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8779 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8780 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8781 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8782 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8783 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8786 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8787 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8793 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8794 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8795 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8796 customizing the hiding:
8800 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8801 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8802 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8803 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8804 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8805 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8806 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8811 Starting point of the hidden text.
8813 Ending point of the hidden text.
8815 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8817 Number of lines of hidden text.
8820 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8821 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8822 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8823 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8824 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8829 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8830 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8832 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8833 following two variables:
8836 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8837 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8838 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8839 50), hide the cited text.
8841 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8842 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8843 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8848 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8849 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8850 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8851 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8852 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8853 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8857 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8858 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8859 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8861 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8862 citation customization.
8864 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8868 @node Article Washing
8869 @subsection Article Washing
8871 @cindex article washing
8873 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8874 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8876 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8877 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8880 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8881 articles by default.
8886 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8887 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8891 Force redisplaying of the current article
8892 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8893 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8894 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8895 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8898 @kindex W l (Summary)
8899 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8900 Remove page breaks from the current article
8901 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8905 @kindex W r (Summary)
8906 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8907 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8908 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8909 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8910 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8911 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8913 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8914 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8915 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8916 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8919 @kindex W m (Summary)
8920 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8921 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8924 @kindex W i (Summary)
8925 @findex gnus-summary-idna-message
8926 Decode IDNA encoded domain names in the current articles. IDNA
8927 encoded domain names looks like @samp{xn--bar}. If a string remain
8928 unencoded after running invoking this, it is likely an invalid IDNA
8929 string (@samp{xn--bar} is invalid). You must have GNU Libidn
8930 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}) installed for this command
8935 @kindex W t (Summary)
8937 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8938 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8939 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8942 @kindex W v (Summary)
8943 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8944 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8945 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8948 @kindex W o (Summary)
8949 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8950 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8953 @kindex W d (Summary)
8954 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8955 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8957 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8959 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8960 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8961 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8962 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8965 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8966 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8967 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8968 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8971 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8972 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8973 @cindex Outlook Express
8974 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8975 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8976 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8979 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8980 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8981 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8982 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8983 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8984 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8985 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8986 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8987 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8988 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8991 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8992 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8993 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8994 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8997 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8998 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8999 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
9000 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
9003 @kindex W w (Summary)
9004 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
9005 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
9007 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
9011 @kindex W Q (Summary)
9012 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
9013 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
9016 @kindex W C (Summary)
9017 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
9018 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
9019 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
9022 @kindex W c (Summary)
9023 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
9024 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
9025 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
9026 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
9027 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
9030 @kindex W q (Summary)
9031 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
9032 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
9033 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
9034 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
9035 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
9036 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
9037 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9038 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9039 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9042 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
9043 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
9044 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
9045 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
9046 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
9047 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9048 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9049 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9052 @kindex W Z (Summary)
9053 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
9054 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
9055 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
9056 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
9059 @kindex W A (Summary)
9060 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
9061 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
9062 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
9063 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
9064 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
9067 @kindex W u (Summary)
9068 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
9069 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
9070 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
9071 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
9072 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
9075 @kindex W h (Summary)
9076 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
9077 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
9078 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9079 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
9081 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for. If it is a number,
9082 the charset defined in @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist}
9083 (@pxref{Paging the Article}) will be used.
9085 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
9086 The default is to use the function specified by
9087 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
9088 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
9089 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
9090 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
9098 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
9100 @item w3m-standalone
9101 Use @uref{http://w3m.sourceforge.net/, w3m}.
9104 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
9107 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
9110 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
9115 @kindex W b (Summary)
9116 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
9117 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
9118 @xref{Article Buttons}.
9121 @kindex W B (Summary)
9122 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
9123 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
9124 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
9127 @kindex W p (Summary)
9128 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
9129 Verify a signed control message
9130 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
9131 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
9132 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
9133 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
9134 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
9135 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
9138 @kindex W s (Summary)
9139 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
9140 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
9141 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
9142 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
9145 @kindex W a (Summary)
9146 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
9147 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
9148 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
9151 @kindex W E l (Summary)
9152 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
9153 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
9154 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
9157 @kindex W E m (Summary)
9158 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
9159 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
9160 lines with a single empty line.
9161 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
9164 @kindex W E t (Summary)
9165 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
9166 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
9167 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
9170 @kindex W E a (Summary)
9171 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
9172 Do all the three commands above
9173 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
9176 @kindex W E A (Summary)
9177 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
9178 Remove all blank lines
9179 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
9182 @kindex W E s (Summary)
9183 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
9184 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
9185 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
9188 @kindex W E e (Summary)
9189 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
9190 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
9191 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
9195 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
9198 @node Article Header
9199 @subsection Article Header
9201 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
9206 @kindex W G u (Summary)
9207 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
9208 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
9211 @kindex W G n (Summary)
9212 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
9213 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
9214 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
9217 @kindex W G f (Summary)
9218 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
9219 Fold all the message headers
9220 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
9223 @kindex W E w (Summary)
9224 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
9225 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
9226 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
9231 @node Article Buttons
9232 @subsection Article Buttons
9235 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
9236 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
9237 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
9238 button on these references.
9240 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9241 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
9242 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
9243 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
9244 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
9248 @item gnus-button-alist
9249 @vindex gnus-button-alist
9250 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
9253 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9259 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
9260 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
9261 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
9262 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
9263 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
9266 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
9267 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
9268 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
9271 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
9272 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
9273 avoid false matches. Often variables named
9274 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
9275 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
9277 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
9280 This function will be called when you click on this button.
9283 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
9284 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
9288 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
9291 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
9294 @item gnus-header-button-alist
9295 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
9296 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
9297 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
9298 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
9301 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9304 @var{header} is a regular expression.
9307 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
9310 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
9311 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
9313 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
9315 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
9316 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
9317 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
9318 default values of the variables above.
9320 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
9322 @item gnus-button-man-handler
9323 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9324 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
9325 argument with a string naming the man page.
9327 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
9329 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9330 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9331 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
9333 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9334 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9335 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
9336 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
9337 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
9338 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
9339 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
9340 @code{ask}, always query the user what to do. If it is a function, this
9341 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
9342 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
9343 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
9344 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9346 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9347 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9348 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
9349 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
9350 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
9353 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9354 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9355 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
9356 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9358 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
9360 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
9361 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
9362 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
9363 argument, the string naming the URL.
9366 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
9367 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
9368 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
9372 @item gnus-article-button-face
9373 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
9374 Face used on buttons.
9376 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
9377 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
9378 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
9382 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
9385 @node Article Button Levels
9386 @subsection Article button levels
9387 @cindex button levels
9388 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
9389 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
9390 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
9391 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
9392 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
9393 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
9394 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
9395 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
9398 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
9399 (setq gnus-parameters
9400 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
9401 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
9402 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
9407 @item gnus-button-browse-level
9408 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
9409 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
9410 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
9411 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
9412 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
9414 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
9415 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
9416 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
9417 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
9418 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
9419 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
9420 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
9421 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
9422 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
9423 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
9424 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
9425 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
9426 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
9428 @item gnus-button-man-level
9429 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
9430 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
9431 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
9433 @item gnus-button-message-level
9434 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
9435 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
9436 Related variables and functions include
9437 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
9438 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
9439 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
9440 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
9442 @item gnus-button-tex-level
9443 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
9444 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
9445 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
9446 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
9447 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
9448 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
9454 @subsection Article Date
9456 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
9457 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
9458 when the article was sent.
9463 @kindex W T u (Summary)
9464 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
9465 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
9466 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
9469 @kindex W T i (Summary)
9470 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
9472 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
9473 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
9476 @kindex W T l (Summary)
9477 @findex gnus-article-date-local
9478 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9481 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9482 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9483 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9484 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9487 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9488 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9489 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9490 @findex format-time-string
9491 Display the date using a user-defined format
9492 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9493 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9494 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9495 for a list of possible format specs.
9498 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9499 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9500 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9501 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9502 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9503 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9506 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9509 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
9510 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
9511 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
9514 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
9515 into wonderful absurdities.
9517 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
9520 (gnus-start-date-timer)
9523 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
9524 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
9528 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9529 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9530 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9531 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9532 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9533 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9534 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9538 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9539 preferred format automatically.
9542 @node Article Display
9543 @subsection Article Display
9548 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9549 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9551 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9552 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9554 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9555 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9557 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9558 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9560 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9561 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9563 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9568 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9569 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9570 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9571 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9574 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9575 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9576 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9577 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9580 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9581 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9582 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9585 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9586 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9587 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9590 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9591 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9592 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9593 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9596 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9597 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9598 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9599 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9602 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9603 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9604 Remove all images from the article buffer
9605 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9611 @node Article Signature
9612 @subsection Article Signature
9614 @cindex article signature
9616 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9617 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9618 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9619 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9620 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9621 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9622 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9623 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9624 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9627 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9628 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9629 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9630 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9631 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9632 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9633 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9634 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9637 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9640 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9641 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9642 signature when displaying articles.
9646 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9649 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9652 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9653 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9655 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9656 in question is not a signature.
9659 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9660 listed above. Here's an example:
9663 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9664 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9667 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9668 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9669 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9670 signature after all.
9673 @node Article Miscellanea
9674 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9678 @kindex A t (Summary)
9679 @findex gnus-article-babel
9680 Translate the article from one language to another
9681 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9687 @section MIME Commands
9688 @cindex MIME decoding
9690 @cindex viewing attachments
9692 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9693 instance, @kbd{3 K v} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9699 @kindex K v (Summary)
9700 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9703 @kindex K o (Summary)
9704 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9707 @kindex K O (Summary)
9708 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} part and strip it
9709 from the article. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred
9710 via the message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
9713 @kindex K r (Summary)
9714 Replace the @acronym{MIME} part with an external body.
9717 @kindex K d (Summary)
9718 Delete the @acronym{MIME} part and add some information about the
9722 @kindex K c (Summary)
9723 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9726 @kindex K e (Summary)
9727 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9730 @kindex K i (Summary)
9731 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9734 @kindex K | (Summary)
9735 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9738 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9743 @kindex K H (Summary)
9744 @findex gnus-article-browse-html-article
9745 View @samp{text/html} parts of the current article with a WWW browser.
9746 The message header is added to the beginning of every html part unless
9747 the prefix argument is given.
9749 Warning: Spammers use links to images in HTML articles to verify whether
9750 you have read the message. As this command passes the @acronym{HTML}
9751 content to the browser without eliminating these ``web bugs'' you should
9752 only use it for mails from trusted senders.
9754 If you always want to display @acronym{HTML} parts in the browser, set
9755 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} to @code{nil}.
9758 @kindex K b (Summary)
9759 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9760 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9764 @kindex K m (Summary)
9765 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9766 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9767 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9768 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9769 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9772 @kindex X m (Summary)
9773 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9774 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9775 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9776 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9779 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9780 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9781 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9782 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9785 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9786 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9787 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9788 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9791 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9792 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9793 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9794 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9796 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9797 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9798 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9799 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9800 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9801 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9804 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9805 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9806 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9807 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9814 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9815 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9816 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9817 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9820 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9823 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9827 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9828 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9829 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9830 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9831 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9832 default is @code{t}.
9834 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9835 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9838 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9839 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9840 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9841 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9842 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}. Only
9843 single-part yEnc encoded attachments can be decoded. There's no support
9844 for encoding in Gnus.
9846 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9847 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9848 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9849 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9850 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9851 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9852 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9853 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9855 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9856 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9857 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9858 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9859 displayed. This variable overrides
9860 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9861 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9864 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9865 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9866 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9868 You could also add @code{"multipart/alternative"} to this list to
9869 display radio buttons that allow you to choose one of two media types
9870 those mails include. See also @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}
9871 (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The
9872 Emacs MIME Manual}).
9874 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9875 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9876 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9877 default value is @code{nil}.
9879 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9880 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9881 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9882 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9883 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9884 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9885 save all jpegs into some directory).
9887 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9890 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9891 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9893 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9894 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9895 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9896 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9897 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9900 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9901 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9902 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9904 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9905 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9906 Display "multipart/alternative" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9908 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9909 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9910 Display "multipart/related" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9912 If displaying @samp{text/html} is discouraged, see
9913 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}, images or other material inside a
9914 "multipart/related" part might be overlooked when this variable is
9915 @code{nil}. @ref{Display Customization, Display Customization, ,
9916 emacs-mime, Emacs-Mime Manual}.
9918 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9919 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9920 Display "multipart" parts as "multipart/mixed". If @code{t}, it
9921 overrides @code{nil} values of
9922 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed} and
9923 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed}.
9925 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9926 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9927 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9928 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9930 Ready-made functions include@*
9931 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9932 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9933 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9934 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9935 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9936 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9937 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9938 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9939 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9940 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9941 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9942 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9944 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9945 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9947 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9948 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9949 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9952 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9953 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9954 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9955 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9959 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9968 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9969 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9970 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9971 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9972 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9973 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9974 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp}.
9976 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9977 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9978 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9979 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9981 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9982 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9983 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9984 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9985 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9986 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9987 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9988 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9989 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9991 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9992 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9993 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9994 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9995 quoted-printable header encoding.
9997 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9998 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9999 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
10003 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
10006 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
10007 means encode all charsets),
10009 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
10010 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
10011 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
10018 @cindex coding system aliases
10019 @cindex preferred charset
10021 @xref{Encoding Customization, , Encoding Customization, emacs-mime,
10022 The Emacs MIME Manual}, for additional variables that control which
10023 MIME charsets are used when sending messages.
10025 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
10027 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
10028 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
10031 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
10032 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
10035 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
10036 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
10038 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
10041 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
10044 This will almost do the right thing.
10046 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
10050 (codepage-setup 1251)
10051 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
10055 @node Article Commands
10056 @section Article Commands
10063 @kindex A P (Summary)
10064 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
10065 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
10066 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
10067 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
10068 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
10069 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
10074 @node Summary Sorting
10075 @section Summary Sorting
10076 @cindex summary sorting
10078 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
10079 can't really see why you'd want that.
10084 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10085 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
10086 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
10089 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
10090 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
10091 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
10094 @kindex C-c C-s C-t (Summary)
10095 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient
10096 Sort by recipient (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient}).
10099 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
10100 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
10101 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
10104 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
10105 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
10106 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
10109 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
10110 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
10111 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
10114 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
10115 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
10116 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
10119 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
10120 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
10121 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
10124 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
10125 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
10126 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
10129 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
10130 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
10131 Sort using the default sorting method
10132 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
10135 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
10136 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
10137 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
10138 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
10139 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
10143 @node Finding the Parent
10144 @section Finding the Parent
10145 @cindex parent articles
10146 @cindex referring articles
10150 @kindex ^ (Summary)
10151 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
10152 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
10153 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
10154 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
10155 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
10156 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
10157 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
10158 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
10159 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
10161 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
10162 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
10163 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
10164 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
10165 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
10168 @item A R (Summary)
10169 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
10170 @kindex A R (Summary)
10171 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
10172 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
10174 @item A T (Summary)
10175 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
10176 @kindex A T (Summary)
10177 Display the full thread where the current article appears
10178 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
10179 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
10180 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
10181 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
10182 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
10183 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
10185 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
10186 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
10187 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
10188 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
10189 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
10190 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
10192 @item M-^ (Summary)
10193 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
10194 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
10196 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
10197 You can also ask Gnus for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it
10198 belongs to. @kbd{M-^} (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you
10199 for a @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read
10200 thingies that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}.
10201 You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
10203 Gnus looks for the @code{Message-ID} in the headers that have already
10204 been fetched, but also tries all the select methods specified by
10205 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} if it is not found.
10208 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
10209 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
10210 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
10211 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
10212 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
10213 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
10216 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
10217 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
10218 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
10221 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
10222 then ask Google if that fails:
10225 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
10227 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
10230 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
10231 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
10232 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
10233 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
10234 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
10235 group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does
10236 not support this at all.
10239 @node Alternative Approaches
10240 @section Alternative Approaches
10242 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
10243 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
10246 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
10247 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
10251 @node Pick and Read
10252 @subsection Pick and Read
10253 @cindex pick and read
10255 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
10256 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
10257 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
10258 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
10260 @findex gnus-pick-mode
10261 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
10262 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
10263 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
10264 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
10265 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
10267 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
10272 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
10273 Pick the article or thread on the current line
10274 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10275 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
10276 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
10277 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
10278 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
10279 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
10282 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
10283 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
10284 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
10285 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
10289 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
10290 Unpick the thread or article
10291 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10292 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
10293 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
10294 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
10295 the thread or article at that line.
10299 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
10300 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
10301 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
10302 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
10303 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
10304 will still be visible when you are reading.
10308 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
10309 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
10310 which is mapped to the same function
10311 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
10313 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
10316 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
10319 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
10320 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
10322 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
10323 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
10324 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
10326 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
10327 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
10328 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
10329 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
10330 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
10331 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
10332 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
10335 @node Binary Groups
10336 @subsection Binary Groups
10337 @cindex binary groups
10339 @findex gnus-binary-mode
10340 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
10341 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
10342 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
10343 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
10344 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
10345 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
10348 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
10349 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
10350 command, when you have turned on this mode
10351 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
10353 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
10354 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
10358 @section Tree Display
10361 @vindex gnus-use-trees
10362 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
10363 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
10364 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
10365 in the tree buffer.
10367 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
10370 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
10371 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
10372 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
10374 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10375 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10376 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
10377 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
10378 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
10380 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
10381 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
10382 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
10383 default is @code{modeline}.
10385 @item gnus-tree-line-format
10386 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
10387 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
10388 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
10389 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
10390 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
10391 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
10397 The name of the poster.
10399 The @code{From} header.
10401 The number of the article.
10403 The opening bracket.
10405 The closing bracket.
10410 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
10412 Variables related to the display are:
10415 @item gnus-tree-brackets
10416 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
10417 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
10418 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
10420 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
10421 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
10422 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
10424 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
10426 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10427 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10428 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
10429 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
10433 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
10434 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
10435 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
10436 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
10437 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
10438 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
10439 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
10440 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
10441 other windows displayed next to it.
10443 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
10447 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
10448 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
10451 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
10452 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
10453 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10454 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
10455 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
10456 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
10457 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
10461 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
10464 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
10474 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
10479 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
10480 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
10482 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
10484 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
10490 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
10491 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
10492 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
10495 (setq gnus-use-trees t
10496 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10497 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
10498 (gnus-add-configuration
10502 (summary 0.75 point)
10507 @xref{Window Layout}.
10510 @node Mail Group Commands
10511 @section Mail Group Commands
10512 @cindex mail group commands
10514 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
10515 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
10517 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
10518 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10523 @kindex B e (Summary)
10524 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
10525 @cindex expiring mail
10526 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
10527 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
10528 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
10529 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
10532 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
10533 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
10534 @cindex expiring mail
10535 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
10536 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
10537 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
10538 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
10541 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
10542 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
10543 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
10544 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
10545 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
10546 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
10549 @kindex B m (Summary)
10551 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10552 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10553 Move the article from one mail group to another
10554 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10555 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10558 @kindex B c (Summary)
10560 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10561 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10562 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10563 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10564 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10567 @kindex B B (Summary)
10568 @cindex crosspost mail
10569 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10570 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10571 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10572 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10573 be properly updated.
10576 @kindex B i (Summary)
10577 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10578 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10579 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10580 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10583 @kindex B I (Summary)
10584 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10585 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10586 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10587 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10590 @kindex B r (Summary)
10591 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10592 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10593 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10594 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10595 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10596 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10597 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10598 (which is the default).
10602 @kindex B w (Summary)
10603 @kindex e (Summary)
10604 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10605 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10606 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10607 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10608 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10609 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10610 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10613 @kindex B q (Summary)
10614 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10615 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10616 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10617 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10620 @kindex B t (Summary)
10621 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10622 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10623 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10626 @kindex B p (Summary)
10627 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10628 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10629 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10630 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10631 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10632 article from your news server (or rather, from
10633 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10634 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10635 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10636 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10637 just not have arrived yet.
10640 @kindex K E (Summary)
10641 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10642 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10643 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10644 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10645 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10649 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10650 @cindex moving articles
10651 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
10652 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10653 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10654 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10655 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10656 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10657 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10660 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10661 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10662 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10663 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10667 @node Various Summary Stuff
10668 @section Various Summary Stuff
10671 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10672 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10673 * Summary Generation Commands::
10674 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10678 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10679 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10680 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10681 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10682 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10683 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10685 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10686 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10687 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10690 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10691 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10692 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10694 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10695 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10696 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10697 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10698 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10699 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10702 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10703 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10704 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10705 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10706 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10708 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10709 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10710 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10713 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10714 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10715 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10716 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10717 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10718 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10719 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10720 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10721 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10722 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10724 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10725 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10726 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10727 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10728 list of articles to be selected.
10730 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10731 the list in one particular group:
10734 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10735 (if (string= group "some.group")
10736 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10740 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10741 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10742 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10743 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
10744 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
10747 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
10748 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
10749 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
10750 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
10751 variable will be used instead.
10753 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10754 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10755 buffers. For example:
10758 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10759 '(message-use-followup-to
10760 (gnus-visible-headers .
10761 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10764 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
10768 @node Summary Group Information
10769 @subsection Summary Group Information
10774 @kindex H f (Summary)
10775 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10776 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10777 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10778 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10779 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10780 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10781 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10782 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10783 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10786 @kindex H d (Summary)
10787 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10788 Give a brief description of the current group
10789 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10790 rereading the description from the server.
10793 @kindex H h (Summary)
10794 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10795 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10796 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10799 @kindex H i (Summary)
10800 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10801 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10805 @node Searching for Articles
10806 @subsection Searching for Articles
10811 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10812 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10813 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10814 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10817 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10818 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10819 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10820 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10823 @kindex M-S (Summary)
10824 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward
10825 Repeat the previous search forwards
10826 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward}).
10829 @kindex M-R (Summary)
10830 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward
10831 Repeat the previous search backwards
10832 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward}).
10835 @kindex & (Summary)
10836 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10837 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10838 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10839 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10840 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10841 search backward instead.
10843 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10844 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10847 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10848 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10849 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10850 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10853 @node Summary Generation Commands
10854 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10859 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10860 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10861 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10864 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10865 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10866 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10867 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10870 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10871 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10872 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10873 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10876 @kindex Y t (Summary)
10877 @findex gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles
10878 Pull all ticked articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10879 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles}).
10884 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10885 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10891 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10892 @kindex A D (Summary)
10893 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10894 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10895 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10896 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10897 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10898 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10899 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10900 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10903 @vindex gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit
10904 The variable @code{gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit} controls what
10905 article should be selected after exiting a digest group. Valid values
10910 Select the next article.
10913 Select the next unread article.
10915 @item next-noselect
10916 Move the cursor to the next article. This is the default.
10918 @item next-unread-noselect
10919 Move the cursor to the next unread article.
10922 If it has any other value or there is no next (unread) article, the
10923 article selected before entering to the digest group will appear.
10926 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10927 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10928 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10929 several documents into one biiig group
10930 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10931 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10932 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10933 command understands the process/prefix convention
10934 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10937 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10938 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10939 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10940 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10941 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10942 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10945 @kindex = (Summary)
10946 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10947 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10948 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10951 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10952 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10953 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10954 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10957 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10958 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10959 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10960 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10965 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10966 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10967 @cindex summary exit
10968 @cindex exiting groups
10970 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10971 group and return you to the group buffer.
10978 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10979 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
10980 @kindex q (Summary)
10981 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10982 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10983 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10984 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10985 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10986 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10987 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10988 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10989 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10990 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10991 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10992 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10996 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10997 @kindex Q (Summary)
10998 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10999 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
11000 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
11004 @kindex Z c (Summary)
11005 @kindex c (Summary)
11006 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
11007 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
11008 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
11009 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
11012 @kindex Z C (Summary)
11013 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
11014 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
11015 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
11018 @kindex Z n (Summary)
11019 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
11020 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
11021 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
11024 @kindex Z p (Summary)
11025 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group
11026 Mark all articles as read and go to the previous group
11027 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group}).
11031 @kindex Z R (Summary)
11032 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
11033 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
11034 Exit this group, and then enter it again
11035 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
11036 all articles, both read and unread.
11040 @kindex Z G (Summary)
11041 @kindex M-g (Summary)
11042 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
11043 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
11044 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
11045 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
11046 articles, both read and unread.
11049 @kindex Z N (Summary)
11050 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
11051 Exit the group and go to the next group
11052 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
11055 @kindex Z P (Summary)
11056 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
11057 Exit the group and go to the previous group
11058 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
11061 @kindex Z s (Summary)
11062 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
11063 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
11064 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
11065 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
11066 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
11069 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
11070 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
11071 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
11072 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
11074 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
11075 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
11076 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
11077 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
11078 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
11079 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
11080 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
11081 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
11082 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
11083 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
11084 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
11085 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
11087 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
11089 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
11090 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
11091 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
11092 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
11093 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
11094 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
11095 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
11096 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
11097 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
11100 @node Crosspost Handling
11101 @section Crosspost Handling
11105 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
11106 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
11107 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
11108 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
11109 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
11110 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
11113 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
11114 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
11115 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
11116 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
11117 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
11119 @cindex cross-posting
11121 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
11122 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
11123 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
11124 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
11125 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
11126 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
11127 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
11128 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
11129 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
11130 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
11131 the cross reference mechanism.
11133 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
11134 @cindex overview.fmt
11135 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
11136 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
11137 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
11138 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
11139 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
11140 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
11143 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
11144 set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
11145 considerably. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
11149 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
11152 @node Duplicate Suppression
11153 @section Duplicate Suppression
11155 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
11156 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
11157 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
11158 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
11163 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
11164 is evil and not very common.
11167 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
11168 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
11171 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
11172 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
11175 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
11178 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
11179 well, but these four are the most common situations.
11181 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
11182 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
11183 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
11184 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
11185 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
11186 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
11187 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
11190 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
11191 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
11192 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
11193 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
11194 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
11195 saw the article in.
11198 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
11199 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
11200 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
11202 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
11203 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
11204 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
11205 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
11206 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
11207 session are suppressed.
11209 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
11210 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
11211 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
11212 suppression list. The default is 10000.
11214 @item gnus-duplicate-file
11215 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
11216 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
11217 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
11220 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
11221 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
11222 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
11223 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
11224 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
11225 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
11226 to you to figure out, I think.
11231 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
11232 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
11233 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
11238 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
11239 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
11240 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
11241 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
11244 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
11245 or newer is recommended.
11249 The variables that control security functionality on reading messages
11253 @item mm-verify-option
11254 @vindex mm-verify-option
11255 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
11256 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
11257 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11259 @item mm-decrypt-option
11260 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
11261 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
11262 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
11263 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11266 @vindex mml1991-use
11267 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11268 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
11269 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
11273 @vindex mml2015-use
11274 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11275 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
11276 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
11281 By default the buttons that display security information are not
11282 shown, because they clutter reading the actual e-mail. You can type
11283 @kbd{K b} manually to display the information. Use the
11284 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types} and
11285 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} variables to control this
11286 permanently. @ref{MIME Commands} for further details, and hints on
11287 how to customize these variables to always display security
11290 @cindex snarfing keys
11291 @cindex importing PGP keys
11292 @cindex PGP key ring import
11293 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
11294 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
11295 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
11296 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
11297 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
11298 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
11299 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
11300 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
11301 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
11304 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
11307 This happens to also be the default action defined in
11308 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
11310 More information on how to set things for sending outgoing signed and
11311 encrypted messages up can be found in the message manual
11312 (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
11315 @section Mailing List
11316 @cindex mailing list
11319 @kindex A M (summary)
11320 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
11321 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
11322 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
11323 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
11326 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
11331 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
11332 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
11333 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
11336 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
11337 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
11338 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
11341 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
11342 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
11343 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
11347 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
11348 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
11349 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
11352 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
11353 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
11354 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
11357 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
11358 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
11359 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
11364 @node Article Buffer
11365 @chapter Article Buffer
11366 @cindex article buffer
11368 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
11369 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
11370 tell Gnus otherwise.
11373 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
11374 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
11375 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
11376 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
11377 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
11381 @node Hiding Headers
11382 @section Hiding Headers
11383 @cindex hiding headers
11384 @cindex deleting headers
11386 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
11387 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
11389 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
11390 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
11391 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
11392 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
11393 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
11394 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
11395 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
11396 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
11397 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
11399 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
11403 @item gnus-visible-headers
11404 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
11405 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
11406 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
11407 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
11409 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
11410 the article and the subject, you'd say:
11413 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
11416 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11419 @item gnus-ignored-headers
11420 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
11421 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
11422 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
11423 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
11424 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
11426 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
11427 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
11430 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
11433 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11436 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
11437 variable will have no effect.
11441 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
11442 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
11443 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
11444 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
11445 the headers are to be displayed.
11447 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
11448 and then the subject, you might say something like:
11451 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
11454 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
11455 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
11457 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
11458 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
11459 You can hide further boring headers by setting
11460 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
11461 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
11462 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
11463 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
11466 These conditions are:
11469 Remove all empty headers.
11471 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
11472 @code{Newsgroups} header.
11474 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
11475 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
11478 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
11481 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11482 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
11484 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11485 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11487 Remove the @code{Cc} header if it only contains the address identical to
11488 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11490 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
11493 Remove the @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} header if it is very long.
11495 Remove all @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} headers if there are more than one.
11498 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
11501 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
11502 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
11505 This is also the default value for this variable.
11509 @section Using MIME
11510 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11512 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
11513 while people stand around yawning.
11515 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
11516 while all newsreaders die of fear.
11518 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
11519 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
11520 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
11522 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
11523 @findex gnus-display-mime
11524 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
11525 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
11526 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
11527 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
11529 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
11530 @acronym{MIME} button:
11533 @findex gnus-article-press-button
11534 @item RET (Article)
11535 @kindex RET (Article)
11536 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
11537 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
11538 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
11539 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
11540 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
11541 object is displayed inline.
11543 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
11544 @item M-RET (Article)
11545 @kindex M-RET (Article)
11547 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11548 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
11550 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
11552 @kindex t (Article)
11553 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
11554 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
11556 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
11558 @kindex C (Article)
11559 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11560 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
11562 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
11564 @kindex o (Article)
11565 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
11566 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
11568 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
11569 @item C-o (Article)
11570 @kindex C-o (Article)
11571 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
11572 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
11573 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
11574 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
11575 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
11576 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
11578 @findex gnus-mime-replace-part
11580 @kindex r (Article)
11581 Prompt for a file name, replace the @acronym{MIME} object with an
11582 external body refering to the file via the message/external-body
11583 @acronym{MIME} type. (@code{gnus-mime-replace-part}).
11585 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
11587 @kindex d (Article)
11588 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
11589 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
11590 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
11592 @c FIXME: gnus-auto-select-part should be documented here
11594 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
11596 @kindex c (Article)
11597 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
11598 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). If given a prefix, copy the raw contents
11599 without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual
11600 charset stuff (see @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in
11601 @ref{Paging the Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
11602 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
11603 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
11604 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11606 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
11608 @kindex p (Article)
11609 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
11610 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
11611 @file{.mailcap} file.
11613 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
11615 @kindex i (Article)
11616 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
11617 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as @samp{text/plain}. If given a prefix, insert
11618 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
11619 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
11620 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
11621 Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and @file{.bz2} are
11622 automatically decompressed depending on @code{jka-compr} regardless of
11623 @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed Files,, Accessing
11624 Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11626 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
11628 @kindex E (Article)
11629 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
11630 viewer is available, use an external viewer
11631 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
11633 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
11635 @kindex e (Article)
11636 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
11637 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
11639 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
11641 @kindex | (Article)
11642 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
11644 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
11646 @kindex . (Article)
11647 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
11648 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
11652 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
11653 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
11654 @acronym{MIME} manual.
11656 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
11657 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
11658 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
11659 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
11660 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
11661 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
11662 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
11663 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
11664 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
11666 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
11668 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
11671 @node Customizing Articles
11672 @section Customizing Articles
11673 @cindex article customization
11675 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
11676 exist. You can call these functions interactively
11677 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
11678 called automatically when you select the articles.
11680 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
11681 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
11682 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
11683 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
11685 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
11686 for sensible values.
11690 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
11693 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
11696 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
11699 @code{first}: Do this treatment on the first body part.
11702 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last body part.
11705 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
11709 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
11710 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
11711 regexps in the list.
11714 A list where the first element is not a string:
11716 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
11717 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
11718 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
11722 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
11727 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11728 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11729 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11730 considered to contain just a single part.
11732 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11733 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11734 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11735 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11736 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11737 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11738 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11741 @c Avoid sort of redundant entries in the same section for the printed
11742 @c manual, but add them in info to allow `i gnus-treat-foo-bar RET' or
11744 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize
11745 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize-head
11746 @vindex gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
11747 @vindex gnus-treat-overstrike
11748 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-cr
11749 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
11750 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
11751 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
11752 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-pem
11753 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
11754 @vindex gnus-treat-unsplit-urls
11755 @vindex gnus-treat-wash-html
11756 @vindex gnus-treat-date-english
11757 @vindex gnus-treat-date-iso8601
11758 @vindex gnus-treat-date-lapsed
11759 @vindex gnus-treat-date-local
11760 @vindex gnus-treat-date-original
11761 @vindex gnus-treat-date-user-defined
11762 @vindex gnus-treat-date-ut
11763 @vindex gnus-treat-from-picon
11764 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-picon
11765 @vindex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
11766 @vindex gnus-treat-display-smileys
11767 @vindex gnus-treat-body-boundary
11768 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11769 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11770 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11771 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
11772 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
11773 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
11774 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
11775 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
11776 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
11777 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
11778 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
11779 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
11780 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
11781 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
11782 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
11783 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
11784 @vindex gnus-treat-translate
11785 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
11786 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
11787 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
11788 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
11789 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
11792 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11793 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11794 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11795 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11798 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11799 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11801 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11803 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11804 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11805 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11806 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11807 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, first, integer)
11808 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11809 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11810 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11811 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11812 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11814 @xref{Article Washing}.
11816 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
11817 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
11818 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
11819 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
11820 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
11821 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
11822 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
11824 @xref{Article Date}.
11826 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11827 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11828 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11832 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
11834 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11836 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11837 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11838 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11842 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11843 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
11847 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11848 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
11852 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11853 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11854 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
11855 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
11856 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
11857 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
11858 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
11859 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
11860 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
11861 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
11862 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
11863 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
11864 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
11865 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
11866 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
11867 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
11868 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
11869 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
11870 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
11871 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
11873 @xref{Article Hiding}.
11875 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
11876 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
11877 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
11878 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
11879 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
11880 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
11882 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
11884 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
11885 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
11886 @vindex gnus-treat-translate
11887 @item gnus-treat-translate
11888 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
11889 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
11890 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
11892 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
11893 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
11894 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
11895 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
11896 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
11897 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
11898 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
11899 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
11901 @xref{Article Header}.
11906 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11907 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11908 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11909 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11910 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11914 @node Article Keymap
11915 @section Article Keymap
11917 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11918 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11919 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11920 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11923 @kindex v (Article)
11924 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Article)
11925 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
11926 command or better use it as a prefix key.
11928 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11933 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11934 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11935 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11936 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11939 @kindex DEL (Article)
11940 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11941 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11942 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11945 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11946 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11947 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11948 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11949 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11952 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11953 @findex gnus-article-mail
11954 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11955 given a prefix, include the mail.
11958 @kindex s (Article)
11959 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11960 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11961 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11964 @kindex ? (Article)
11965 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11966 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11967 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11970 @kindex TAB (Article)
11971 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11972 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11973 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11976 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11977 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11978 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11981 @kindex R (Article)
11982 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11983 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11984 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If the region is active,
11985 only yank the text in the region.
11988 @kindex S W (Article)
11989 @findex gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original
11990 Send a wide reply to the current article and yank the current article
11991 (@code{gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original}). If the region is
11992 active, only yank the text in the region.
11995 @kindex F (Article)
11996 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11997 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11998 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If the region is active,
11999 only yank the text in the region.
12006 @section Misc Article
12010 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
12011 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
12012 @cindex article buffers, several
12013 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
12014 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
12017 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
12018 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
12019 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
12020 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
12021 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
12023 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
12024 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
12025 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
12026 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
12027 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
12028 the contents of the article buffer.
12030 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
12031 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
12032 Hook called in article mode buffers.
12034 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12035 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12036 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
12037 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
12039 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
12040 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
12041 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
12042 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
12044 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
12045 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
12046 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
12047 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
12048 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
12049 with two extensions:
12054 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
12055 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
12056 performed. The characters and their meaning:
12061 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
12064 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
12067 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
12068 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
12069 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
12072 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
12075 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
12078 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
12083 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
12087 @vindex gnus-break-pages
12089 @item gnus-break-pages
12090 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
12091 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
12092 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
12093 paging will not be done.
12095 @item gnus-page-delimiter
12096 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
12097 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
12101 @cindex internationalized domain names
12102 @vindex gnus-use-idna
12103 @item gnus-use-idna
12104 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
12105 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
12106 @samp{Cc} headers. @xref{IDNA, ,IDNA,message, The Message Manual},
12107 for how to compose such messages. This requires
12108 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
12109 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
12114 @node Composing Messages
12115 @chapter Composing Messages
12116 @cindex composing messages
12119 @cindex sending mail
12124 @cindex using s/mime
12125 @cindex using smime
12127 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
12128 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
12129 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
12130 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
12131 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
12132 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
12135 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
12136 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
12137 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
12138 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
12139 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
12140 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
12141 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
12142 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
12143 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
12146 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
12147 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
12153 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
12156 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
12157 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
12158 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
12159 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
12160 @code{nil} include all headers.
12162 @item gnus-add-to-list
12163 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
12164 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
12165 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
12167 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12168 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12169 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you for a confirmation when you are
12170 about to reply to news articles by mail. If it is @code{nil}, nothing
12171 interferes in what you want to do. This can also be a function
12172 receiving the group name as the only parameter which should return
12173 non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is needed, or a regular expression
12174 matching group names, where confirmation should be asked for.
12176 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
12177 press @kbd{R} anyway, this variable might be for you.
12179 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12180 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12181 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
12182 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
12183 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
12188 @node Posting Server
12189 @section Posting Server
12191 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
12192 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
12194 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
12196 It can be quite complicated.
12198 @vindex gnus-post-method
12199 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
12200 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
12201 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
12202 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
12203 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
12204 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
12205 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
12206 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
12207 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
12210 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
12213 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
12214 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
12215 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
12216 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
12218 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
12219 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
12221 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
12222 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
12225 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
12226 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
12228 @vindex message-send-mail-function
12229 When sending mail, Message invokes the function specified by the
12230 variable @code{message-send-mail-function}. Gnus tries to set it to a
12231 value suitable for your system.
12232 @xref{Mail Variables, ,Mail Variables,message,Message manual}, for more
12235 @node POP before SMTP
12236 @section POP before SMTP
12237 @cindex pop before smtp
12238 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
12239 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
12241 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
12242 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
12243 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
12244 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
12245 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12248 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
12249 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
12253 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
12254 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
12255 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
12256 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
12257 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
12258 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
12259 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
12260 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
12262 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
12263 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
12264 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
12265 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
12266 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
12267 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
12270 (setq mail-source-primary-source
12271 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12272 :password "secret"))
12276 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
12277 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
12280 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
12282 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
12283 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12284 :password "secret")))
12285 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
12288 @node Mail and Post
12289 @section Mail and Post
12291 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
12295 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
12296 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
12297 @cindex mailing lists
12299 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
12300 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
12301 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
12302 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
12303 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
12304 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
12305 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
12306 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
12307 still a pain, though.
12309 @item gnus-user-agent
12310 @vindex gnus-user-agent
12313 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
12314 User-Agent header. It can be a list of symbols or a string. Valid
12315 symbols are @code{gnus} (show Gnus version) and @code{emacs} (show Emacs
12316 version). In addition to the Emacs version, you can add @code{codename}
12317 (show (S)XEmacs codename) or either @code{config} (show system
12318 configuration) or @code{type} (show system type). If you set it to a
12319 string, be sure to use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
12323 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
12324 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
12325 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
12328 @findex ispell-message
12330 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
12333 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
12334 you're in, you could say something like the following:
12337 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
12341 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
12342 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
12344 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
12347 Modify to suit your needs.
12349 @vindex gnus-message-highlight-citation
12350 If @code{gnus-message-highlight-citation} is t, different levels of
12351 citations are highlighted like in Gnus article buffers also in message
12354 @node Archived Messages
12355 @section Archived Messages
12356 @cindex archived messages
12357 @cindex sent messages
12359 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
12360 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
12361 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
12362 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
12365 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
12366 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
12369 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
12370 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
12371 use to store sent messages. The default is @code{"archive"}, and when
12372 actually being used it is expanded into:
12375 (nnfolder "archive"
12376 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
12377 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
12378 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
12379 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
12383 @vindex gnus-update-message-archive-method
12384 Note: a server like this is saved in the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file first
12385 so that it may be used as a real method of the server which is named
12386 @code{"archive"} (that is, for the case where
12387 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} is set to @code{"archive"}) ever
12388 since. If it once has been saved, it will never be updated by default
12389 even if you change the value of @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12390 afterward. Therefore, the server @code{"archive"} doesn't necessarily
12391 mean the @code{nnfolder} server like this at all times. If you want the
12392 saved method to reflect always the value of
12393 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, set the
12394 @code{gnus-update-message-archive-method} variable to a non-@code{nil}
12395 value. The default value of this variable is @code{nil}.
12398 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
12399 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
12400 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
12401 directory chosen, you could say something like:
12404 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
12405 '(nnfolder "archive"
12406 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
12407 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
12408 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
12411 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
12413 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
12414 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
12415 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
12417 This variable can be used to do the following:
12421 Messages will be saved in that group.
12423 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
12424 message will not be stored in the select method given by
12425 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
12426 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12427 has the default value shown above. Then setting
12428 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
12429 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
12430 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
12433 @item a list of strings
12434 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
12436 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
12437 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
12440 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
12445 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
12447 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
12450 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
12452 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
12455 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
12457 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12458 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
12459 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
12460 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
12463 More complex stuff:
12465 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12466 '((if (message-news-p)
12471 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
12472 messages in one file per month:
12475 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12476 '((if (message-news-p)
12478 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
12481 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
12482 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
12484 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
12485 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
12486 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
12487 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
12488 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
12489 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
12490 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
12491 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
12492 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
12493 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
12495 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
12496 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
12497 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
12498 this will disable archiving.
12501 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
12502 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
12503 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
12504 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
12505 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
12508 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
12509 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
12510 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
12513 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
12514 but the latter is the preferred method.
12516 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12517 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12518 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
12520 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12521 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12522 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
12523 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
12524 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
12525 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
12526 changed in the future.
12531 @node Posting Styles
12532 @section Posting Styles
12533 @cindex posting styles
12536 All them variables, they make my head swim.
12538 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
12539 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
12540 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
12543 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
12544 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
12545 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
12546 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
12547 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
12552 (signature "Peace and happiness")
12553 (organization "What me?"))
12555 (signature "Death to everybody"))
12556 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
12557 (organization "Emacs is it")))
12560 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
12561 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
12562 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
12563 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
12564 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
12565 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
12566 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
12567 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
12569 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
12570 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
12571 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
12572 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
12573 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
12574 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
12575 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
12576 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
12577 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
12578 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
12579 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
12580 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
12581 said to @dfn{match}.
12583 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
12584 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. In
12585 addition, you can also use the @code{(@var{name} :file @var{value})}
12586 form or the @code{(@var{name} :value @var{value})} form. Where
12587 @code{:file} signifies @var{value} represents a file name and its
12588 contents should be used as the attribute value, @code{:value} signifies
12589 @var{value} does not represent a file name explicitly. The attribute
12590 name can be one of:
12593 @item @code{signature}
12594 @item @code{signature-file}
12595 @item @code{x-face-file}
12596 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
12597 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
12601 Note that the @code{signature-file} attribute honors the variable
12602 @code{message-signature-directory}.
12604 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
12605 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
12606 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
12607 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
12608 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
12610 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
12611 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
12612 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
12613 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
12614 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
12615 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
12616 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
12617 references chars lines xref extra.
12619 @vindex message-reply-headers
12621 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
12622 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
12623 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
12625 @findex message-mail-p
12626 @findex message-news-p
12628 So here's a new example:
12631 (setq gnus-posting-styles
12633 (signature-file "~/.signature")
12635 (x-face-file "~/.xface")
12636 (x-url (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
12637 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
12639 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
12640 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
12641 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
12642 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
12643 (signature my-news-signature))
12644 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
12645 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
12646 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
12647 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
12648 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
12649 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
12650 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
12651 (address "user@@bar.foo")
12652 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
12653 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
12655 (From (save-excursion
12656 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
12657 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
12659 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
12662 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
12663 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
12664 if you fill many roles.
12665 You may also use @code{message-alternative-emails} instead.
12666 @xref{Message Headers, ,Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
12672 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
12673 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
12674 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
12675 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
12676 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
12678 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
12679 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
12680 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
12681 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
12682 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
12686 @vindex nndraft-directory
12687 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
12688 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
12689 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
12690 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
12691 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
12692 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
12694 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
12695 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
12696 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
12697 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
12698 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
12699 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
12700 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
12701 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
12702 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
12704 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
12705 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
12706 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
12707 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
12708 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
12709 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
12710 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
12711 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
12712 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
12713 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
12714 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
12715 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
12716 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
12717 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
12719 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
12720 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
12721 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
12723 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
12724 @kindex D e (Draft)
12725 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
12726 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
12727 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
12729 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
12732 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
12733 @kindex D s (Draft)
12734 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
12735 @kindex D S (Draft)
12736 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
12737 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
12738 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
12739 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
12740 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
12743 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
12744 @kindex D t (Draft)
12745 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
12746 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
12747 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
12750 @node Rejected Articles
12751 @section Rejected Articles
12752 @cindex rejected articles
12754 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
12755 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
12756 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
12757 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
12759 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
12760 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
12761 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
12762 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
12763 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
12765 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
12766 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
12767 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
12769 @node Signing and encrypting
12770 @section Signing and encrypting
12772 @cindex using s/mime
12773 @cindex using smime
12775 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
12776 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
12777 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
12778 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
12780 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
12781 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
12782 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
12783 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
12784 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
12785 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
12786 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
12787 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
12788 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
12789 automatically encrypted messages.
12791 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
12792 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
12793 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
12798 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
12799 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
12801 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12804 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
12805 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12807 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12810 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
12811 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12813 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12816 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
12817 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
12819 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12822 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
12823 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
12825 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12828 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
12829 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
12831 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12834 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
12835 @findex mml-unsecure-message
12836 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
12840 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
12842 @node Select Methods
12843 @chapter Select Methods
12844 @cindex foreign groups
12845 @cindex select methods
12847 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
12848 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
12849 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
12850 personal mail group.
12852 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
12853 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
12854 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
12855 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
12856 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
12857 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
12859 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
12860 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
12862 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
12865 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
12866 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
12867 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
12868 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
12869 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
12871 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
12874 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
12875 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
12876 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
12877 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
12878 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
12879 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
12880 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
12881 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
12882 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
12886 @node Server Buffer
12887 @section Server Buffer
12889 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
12890 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
12891 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
12892 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
12893 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
12894 back end represents a virtual server.
12896 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
12897 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
12898 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
12899 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
12901 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
12902 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
12903 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
12904 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
12905 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
12906 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
12907 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
12909 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
12910 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
12913 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
12914 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
12915 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
12916 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
12917 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
12918 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
12919 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
12922 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
12923 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
12926 @node Server Buffer Format
12927 @subsection Server Buffer Format
12928 @cindex server buffer format
12930 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
12931 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
12932 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
12933 variable, with some simple extensions:
12938 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
12941 The name of this server.
12944 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
12947 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
12950 Whether this server is agentized.
12953 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
12954 The mode line can also be customized by using the
12955 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
12956 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
12966 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12969 @node Server Commands
12970 @subsection Server Commands
12971 @cindex server commands
12977 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Server)
12978 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
12979 command or better use it as a prefix key.
12983 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12984 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12988 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12989 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12992 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12993 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12994 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12998 @findex gnus-server-exit
12999 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
13003 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
13004 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
13008 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
13009 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
13013 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13014 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
13018 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
13019 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
13023 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
13024 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
13025 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
13030 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
13031 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
13032 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
13033 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
13037 @findex gnus-server-compact-server
13039 Compact all groups in the server under point
13040 (@code{gnus-server-compact-server}). Currently implemented only in
13041 nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes gaps between article numbers,
13042 hence getting a correct total article count.
13047 @node Example Methods
13048 @subsection Example Methods
13050 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
13053 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
13056 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
13062 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
13063 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
13066 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
13067 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
13069 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
13070 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
13074 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
13077 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
13078 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
13080 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
13081 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
13082 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
13086 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
13089 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
13092 Here's the method for a public spool:
13096 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
13097 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
13103 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
13104 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
13105 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13106 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
13107 should probably look something like this:
13111 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
13112 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
13113 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
13114 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
13117 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
13118 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
13119 configuration to the example above:
13122 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13125 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}. Here's an example for
13126 an indirect connection:
13128 (setq gnus-select-method
13130 (nntp-address "news.server.example")
13131 (nntp-via-user-name "intermediate_user_name")
13132 (nntp-via-address "intermediate.host.example")
13133 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13134 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
13135 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
13136 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)))
13139 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
13140 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
13141 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
13145 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13146 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
13147 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
13148 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
13151 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
13152 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
13153 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
13154 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
13157 @node Creating a Virtual Server
13158 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
13160 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
13161 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
13163 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
13164 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
13165 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
13167 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
13169 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
13170 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
13171 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
13172 will contain the following:
13182 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
13183 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
13186 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
13187 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
13188 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
13191 @node Server Variables
13192 @subsection Server Variables
13193 @cindex server variables
13194 @cindex server parameters
13196 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
13197 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
13198 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
13199 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
13200 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
13202 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
13203 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
13204 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
13205 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
13206 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
13207 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
13208 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
13209 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
13210 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
13214 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
13215 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
13216 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
13219 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
13221 @node Servers and Methods
13222 @subsection Servers and Methods
13224 Wherever you would normally use a select method
13225 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
13226 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
13227 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
13231 @node Unavailable Servers
13232 @subsection Unavailable Servers
13234 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
13235 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
13236 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
13237 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
13238 actually the case or not.
13240 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
13241 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
13242 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
13243 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
13244 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
13245 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
13246 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
13247 it will regard that server as ``down''.
13249 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
13250 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
13252 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
13253 with the following commands:
13259 @findex gnus-server-open-server
13260 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
13261 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
13265 @findex gnus-server-close-server
13266 Close the connection (if any) to the server
13267 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
13271 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
13272 Mark the current server as unreachable
13273 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
13276 @kindex M-o (Server)
13277 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
13278 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
13279 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
13282 @kindex M-c (Server)
13283 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
13284 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
13285 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
13289 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
13290 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
13291 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
13295 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
13296 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
13302 @section Getting News
13303 @cindex reading news
13304 @cindex news back ends
13306 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
13307 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
13308 or it can read from a local spool.
13311 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13312 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
13320 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
13321 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
13322 server as the, uhm, address.
13324 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
13325 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
13326 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
13327 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13329 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
13330 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
13331 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
13333 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
13338 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
13339 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
13340 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
13342 @cindex authentication
13343 @cindex nntp authentication
13344 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13345 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
13346 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
13347 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
13348 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
13349 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
13350 present in this hook.
13352 @item nntp-authinfo-function
13353 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
13354 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13355 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
13356 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
13357 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
13358 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
13359 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
13360 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
13361 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
13362 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
13363 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
13367 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
13370 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
13372 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
13373 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
13374 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
13375 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
13376 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
13377 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
13378 @samp{force} is explained below.
13382 Here's an example file:
13385 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
13386 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
13389 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
13390 have to be first, for instance.
13392 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
13393 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
13394 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
13395 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
13396 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
13397 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
13398 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
13400 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
13401 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
13407 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
13408 previously mentioned.
13410 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
13412 @item nntp-server-action-alist
13413 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
13414 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
13415 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
13416 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
13419 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
13420 '(("innd" (ding))))
13423 You probably don't want to do that, though.
13425 The default value is
13428 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
13429 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
13430 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
13433 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
13434 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
13436 @item nntp-maximum-request
13437 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
13438 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
13439 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
13440 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
13441 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
13442 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
13443 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
13445 @item nntp-connection-timeout
13446 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
13447 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
13448 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
13449 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
13450 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
13451 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
13452 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
13453 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
13454 no timeouts are done.
13456 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
13457 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
13458 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
13459 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
13462 @item nntp-xover-commands
13463 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
13464 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
13466 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
13467 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
13471 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
13472 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
13473 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
13474 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
13475 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
13476 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
13477 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
13478 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
13479 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
13480 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
13481 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
13483 @item nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13484 @vindex nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13485 When Gnus refers to an article having the @code{Message-ID} that a user
13486 specifies or having the @code{Message-ID} of the parent article of the
13487 current one (@pxref{Finding the Parent}), Gnus sends a @code{HEAD}
13488 command to the @acronym{NNTP} server to know where it is, and the server
13489 returns the data containing the pairs of a group and an article number
13490 in the @code{Xref} header. Gnus normally uses the article number to
13491 refer to the article if the data shows that that article is in the
13492 current group, while it uses the @code{Message-ID} otherwise. However,
13493 some news servers, e.g., ones running Diablo, run multiple engines
13494 having the same articles but article numbers are not kept synchronized
13495 between them. In that case, the article number that appears in the
13496 @code{Xref} header varies by which engine is chosen, so you cannot refer
13497 to the parent article that is in the current group, for instance. If
13498 you connect to such a server, set this variable to a non-@code{nil}
13499 value, and Gnus never uses article numbers. For example:
13502 (setq gnus-select-method
13504 (nntp-address "newszilla.example.com")
13505 (nntp-xref-number-is-evil t)
13509 The default value of this server variable is @code{nil}.
13511 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
13512 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
13513 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13515 @item nntp-record-commands
13516 @vindex nntp-record-commands
13517 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
13518 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
13519 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
13520 that doesn't seem to work.
13522 @item nntp-open-connection-function
13523 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
13524 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
13525 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
13526 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
13527 Seven pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped
13528 in two categories: direct connection functions (four pre-made), and
13529 indirect ones (three pre-made).
13531 @item nntp-never-echoes-commands
13532 @vindex nntp-never-echoes-commands
13533 Non-@code{nil} means the nntp server never echoes commands. It is
13534 reported that some nntps server doesn't echo commands. So, you may want
13535 to set this to non-@code{nil} in the method for such a server setting
13536 @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream} for
13537 example. The default value is @code{nil}. Note that the
13538 @code{nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands} variable
13539 overrides the @code{nil} value of this variable.
13541 @item nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13542 @vindex nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13543 List of functions that never echo commands. Add or set a function which
13544 you set to @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to this list if it does
13545 not echo commands. Note that a non-@code{nil} value of the
13546 @code{nntp-never-echoes-commands} variable overrides this variable. The
13547 default value is @code{(nntp-open-network-stream)}.
13549 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
13550 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
13551 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
13552 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
13553 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
13554 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
13555 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
13558 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
13561 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
13562 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
13567 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
13568 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
13569 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
13570 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
13574 @node Direct Functions
13575 @subsubsection Direct Functions
13576 @cindex direct connection functions
13578 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
13579 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
13580 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
13581 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13584 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
13585 @item nntp-open-network-stream
13586 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
13589 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
13590 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
13591 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13592 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
13593 installed. You then define a server as follows:
13596 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13597 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
13599 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13600 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
13601 (nntp-port-number )
13602 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13605 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
13606 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
13607 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13608 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
13609 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
13610 then define a server as follows:
13613 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13614 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
13616 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13617 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
13618 (nntp-port-number 563)
13619 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13622 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
13623 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
13624 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
13625 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
13626 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
13627 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
13628 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
13629 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
13633 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13634 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
13635 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13638 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
13639 session, which is not a good idea.
13643 @node Indirect Functions
13644 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
13645 @cindex indirect connection functions
13647 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
13648 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13649 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
13650 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
13651 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
13652 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13655 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13656 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13657 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
13658 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
13659 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
13661 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13664 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13665 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13666 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13667 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13669 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13670 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13671 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13672 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
13673 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
13674 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
13675 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
13676 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
13680 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13681 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13683 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13684 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13685 Does essentially the same, but uses
13686 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} instead of @samp{telnet}
13687 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
13689 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
13692 @item nntp-via-netcat-command
13693 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-command
13694 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
13695 intermediate host. The default is @samp{nc}. You can also use other
13696 programs like @uref{http://www.imasy.or.jp/~gotoh/ssh/connect.html,
13699 @item nntp-via-netcat-switches
13700 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-switches
13701 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13702 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{nil}.
13704 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13705 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13706 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13707 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13709 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13710 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13711 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13712 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}.
13715 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13716 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13717 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
13718 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
13720 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13723 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
13724 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
13725 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
13728 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
13729 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
13730 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13731 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
13733 @item nntp-via-user-password
13734 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
13735 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
13737 @item nntp-via-envuser
13738 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
13739 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
13740 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
13741 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
13743 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
13744 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
13745 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
13746 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
13750 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13751 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13755 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
13760 @item nntp-via-user-name
13761 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
13762 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
13764 @item nntp-via-address
13765 @vindex nntp-via-address
13766 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
13771 @node Common Variables
13772 @subsubsection Common Variables
13774 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
13775 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
13776 affected (the values of the following variables will be used as the
13777 default if each virtual @code{nntp} server doesn't specify those server
13778 variables individually).
13782 @item nntp-pre-command
13783 @vindex nntp-pre-command
13784 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
13785 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
13786 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}). This is
13787 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
13790 @vindex nntp-address
13791 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13793 @item nntp-port-number
13794 @vindex nntp-port-number
13795 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13796 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
13797 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
13798 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
13799 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
13800 not work with named ports.
13802 @item nntp-end-of-line
13803 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
13804 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
13805 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
13806 using a non native telnet connection function.
13808 @item nntp-telnet-command
13809 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
13810 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
13811 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
13812 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13815 @item nntp-telnet-switches
13816 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
13817 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
13823 @subsubsection NNTP marks
13824 @cindex storing NNTP marks
13826 Gnus stores marks (@pxref{Marking Articles}) for @acronym{NNTP}
13827 servers in marks files. A marks file records what marks you have set
13828 in a group and each file is specific to the corresponding server.
13829 Marks files are stored in @file{~/News/marks}
13830 (@code{nntp-marks-directory}) under a classic hierarchy resembling
13831 that of a news server, for example marks for the group
13832 @samp{gmane.discuss} on the news.gmane.org server will be stored in
13833 the file @file{~/News/marks/news.gmane.org/gmane/discuss/.marks}.
13835 Marks files are useful because you can copy the @file{~/News/marks}
13836 directory (using rsync, scp or whatever) to another Gnus installation,
13837 and it will realize what articles you have read and marked. The data
13838 in @file{~/News/marks} has priority over the same data in
13839 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
13841 Note that marks files are very much server-specific: Gnus remembers
13842 the article numbers so if you don't use the same servers on both
13843 installations things are most likely to break (most @acronym{NNTP}
13844 servers do not use the same article numbers as any other server).
13845 However, if you use servers A, B, C on one installation and servers A,
13846 D, E on the other, you can sync the marks files for A and then you'll
13847 get synchronization for that server between the two installations.
13849 Using @acronym{NNTP} marks can possibly incur a performance penalty so
13850 if Gnus feels sluggish, try setting the @code{nntp-marks-is-evil}
13851 variable to @code{t}. Marks will then be stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
13857 @item nntp-marks-is-evil
13858 @vindex nntp-marks-is-evil
13859 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any marks files. The
13860 default is @code{nil}.
13862 @item nntp-marks-directory
13863 @vindex nntp-marks-directory
13864 The directory where marks for nntp groups will be stored.
13870 @subsection News Spool
13874 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
13875 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
13876 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
13879 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
13880 anything else) as the address.
13882 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
13883 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
13884 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
13885 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
13889 @item nnspool-inews-program
13890 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
13891 Program used to post an article.
13893 @item nnspool-inews-switches
13894 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
13895 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
13897 @item nnspool-spool-directory
13898 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
13899 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
13900 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
13902 @item nnspool-nov-directory
13903 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
13904 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
13905 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
13907 @item nnspool-lib-dir
13908 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
13909 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
13911 @item nnspool-active-file
13912 @vindex nnspool-active-file
13913 The name of the active file.
13915 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
13916 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
13917 The name of the group descriptions file.
13919 @item nnspool-history-file
13920 @vindex nnspool-history-file
13921 The name of the news history file.
13923 @item nnspool-active-times-file
13924 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
13925 The name of the active date file.
13927 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
13928 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
13929 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
13932 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13933 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13935 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
13936 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
13937 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
13944 @section Getting Mail
13945 @cindex reading mail
13948 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
13952 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
13953 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
13954 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
13955 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
13956 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
13957 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
13958 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
13959 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
13960 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
13961 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
13962 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
13963 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
13964 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
13968 @node Mail in a Newsreader
13969 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
13971 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
13972 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
13973 of a culture shock.
13975 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
13976 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
13978 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
13979 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
13980 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
13981 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
13983 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
13985 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
13986 deleted? How awful!
13988 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
13989 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
13990 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
13991 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
13994 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
13995 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
13996 they want to treat a message.
13998 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
13999 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
14000 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
14001 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
14002 archived somewhere else.
14004 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
14005 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
14006 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
14007 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
14008 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
14010 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
14011 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
14012 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
14014 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
14015 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
14018 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
14019 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
14020 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
14021 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
14022 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
14024 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
14025 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
14026 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
14027 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
14028 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
14029 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
14033 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
14034 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
14036 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
14037 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
14038 and things will happen automatically.
14040 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
14041 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14044 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14047 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
14048 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
14049 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
14050 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
14051 like any other group.
14053 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
14056 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14057 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14058 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14062 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
14063 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
14064 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
14067 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
14068 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
14069 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
14072 @node Splitting Mail
14073 @subsection Splitting Mail
14074 @cindex splitting mail
14075 @cindex mail splitting
14076 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
14078 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
14079 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
14080 to be split into groups.
14083 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14084 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14085 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14086 ("mail.other" "")))
14089 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
14090 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
14091 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
14092 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
14093 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
14094 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
14095 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
14098 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
14102 In that case, @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether
14103 the inserted text should be made lowercase. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14105 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14106 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
14107 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
14108 mail belongs in that group.
14110 @cindex @samp{bogus} group
14111 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
14112 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{""} so that it matches any mails
14113 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
14114 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first rule
14115 to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled. In
14116 that case, all matching rules will ``win''.) If no rule matched, the mail
14117 will end up in the @samp{bogus} group. When new groups are created by
14118 splitting mail, you may want to run @code{gnus-group-find-new-groups} to
14119 see the new groups. This also applies to the @samp{bogus} group.
14121 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
14122 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
14123 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
14124 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
14125 thinks should carry this mail message.
14127 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
14128 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
14129 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
14130 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
14132 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
14133 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
14134 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
14135 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
14136 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{""}) group.
14138 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
14141 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
14142 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
14143 links. If that's the case for you, set
14144 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
14145 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
14147 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
14148 @findex nnmail-split-history
14149 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
14150 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
14151 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
14152 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
14155 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
14156 Header lines longer than the value of
14157 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
14160 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
14161 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
14162 By default, splitting does not decode headers, so you can not match on
14163 non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. But it is useful if you want to match
14164 articles based on the raw header data. To enable it, set the
14165 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} variable to a non-@code{nil} value.
14166 In addition, the value of the @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
14167 variable is used for decoding non-@acronym{MIME} encoded string when
14168 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} is non-@code{nil}. The default
14169 value is @code{nil} which means not to decode non-@acronym{MIME} encoded
14170 string. A suitable value for you will be @code{undecided} or be the
14171 charset used normally in mails you are interested in.
14173 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14174 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
14175 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
14176 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
14177 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
14178 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
14179 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
14180 other kinds of entries.)
14182 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
14183 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
14184 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
14185 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
14186 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
14187 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
14188 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
14189 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
14190 month's rent money.
14194 @subsection Mail Sources
14196 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
14197 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
14198 maildir, for instance.
14201 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
14202 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
14203 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
14207 @node Mail Source Specifiers
14208 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
14210 @cindex mail server
14213 @cindex mail source
14215 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
14216 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
14221 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
14224 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
14225 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
14226 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
14229 The @code{mail-sources} is global for all mail groups. You can specify
14230 an additional mail source for a particular group by including the
14231 @code{group} mail specifier in @code{mail-sources}, and setting a
14232 @code{mail-source} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) specifying
14233 a single mail source. When this is used, @code{mail-sources} is
14234 typically just @code{(group)}; the @code{mail-source} parameter for a
14235 group might look like this:
14238 (mail-source . (file :path "home/user/spools/foo.spool"))
14241 This means that the group's (and only this group's) messages will be
14242 fetched from the spool file @samp{/user/spools/foo.spool}.
14244 The following mail source types are available:
14248 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
14254 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
14255 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
14256 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
14260 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14263 An example file mail source:
14266 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
14269 Or using the default file name:
14275 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
14276 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
14277 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
14278 mail spool while moving the mail.
14280 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
14284 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
14287 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
14291 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
14294 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
14296 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
14299 Alter this script to fit the @samp{movemail} and temporary
14300 file you want to use.
14304 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
14305 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
14306 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
14307 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
14308 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
14309 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
14310 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
14311 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
14312 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
14313 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
14315 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14316 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
14317 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
14318 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
14324 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
14328 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
14332 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
14333 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
14334 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
14335 predicate are considered.
14339 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14343 An example directory mail source:
14346 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
14351 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14357 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
14358 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14361 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
14362 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
14363 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
14364 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
14365 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
14368 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
14372 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
14373 the user is prompted.
14376 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
14377 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
14380 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
14383 The valid format specifier characters are:
14387 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
14388 included in this string.
14391 The name of the server.
14394 The port number of the server.
14397 The user name to use.
14400 The password to use.
14403 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14404 corresponding keywords.
14407 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14408 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14411 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14412 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14415 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
14416 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
14417 mail should be moved to.
14419 @item :authentication
14420 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
14421 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
14426 @vindex pop3-movemail
14427 @vindex pop3-leave-mail-on-server
14428 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
14429 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used. If @code{pop3-leave-mail-on-server}
14430 is non-@code{nil} the mail is to be left on the @acronym{POP} server
14431 after fetching when using @code{pop3-movemail}. Note that POP servers
14432 maintain no state information between sessions, so what the client
14433 believes is there and what is actually there may not match up. If they
14434 do not, then you may get duplicate mails or the whole thing can fall
14435 apart and leave you with a corrupt mailbox.
14437 Here are some examples for getting mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14438 Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server, using the default user
14439 name, and default fetcher:
14445 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
14448 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
14449 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
14452 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
14455 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
14459 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
14460 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
14461 contains exactly one mail.
14467 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
14468 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
14471 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
14472 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
14474 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
14475 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
14476 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
14479 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
14480 from locking problems).
14484 Two example maildir mail sources:
14487 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
14488 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
14492 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
14497 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
14498 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
14499 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
14500 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
14501 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
14503 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
14504 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
14510 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
14511 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14514 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
14515 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14518 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
14522 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
14526 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
14527 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
14528 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
14529 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
14531 @item :authentication
14532 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
14533 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
14534 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
14535 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
14538 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
14539 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
14540 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
14546 Make sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g.,
14547 don't forget to redirect the error output to the void. The valid format
14548 specifier characters are:
14552 The name of the server.
14555 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
14558 The port number of the server.
14561 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14562 corresponding keywords.
14565 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
14566 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
14569 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
14570 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
14571 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
14572 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
14573 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
14574 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
14577 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
14578 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
14579 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
14580 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
14583 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
14584 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
14588 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
14591 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
14593 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
14597 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{http://www.hotmail.com/},
14598 @uref{http://webmail.netscape.com/}, @uref{http://www.netaddress.com/},
14599 @uref{http://mail.yahoo.com/}.
14601 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
14602 required for url "4.0pre.46".
14604 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
14610 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
14611 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
14614 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
14618 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
14622 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
14623 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
14627 An example webmail source:
14630 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
14632 :password "secret")
14636 Get the actual mail source from the @code{mail-source} group parameter,
14637 @xref{Group Parameters}.
14642 @item Common Keywords
14643 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
14649 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
14650 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
14655 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
14660 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
14661 useful when you use local mail and news.
14666 @subsubsection Function Interface
14668 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
14669 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
14670 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
14671 consider the following mail-source setting:
14674 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
14675 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
14678 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
14679 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
14680 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
14681 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
14682 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
14684 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
14687 @node Mail Source Customization
14688 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
14690 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
14691 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
14695 @item mail-source-crash-box
14696 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
14697 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
14698 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
14701 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
14702 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
14703 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
14704 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
14705 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
14706 (the deletion will only happen when receiving new mail). You may also
14707 set @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
14708 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
14709 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{2} in alpha Gnusae
14710 and @code{10} in released Gnusae. @xref{Gnus Development}.
14712 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14713 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14714 If non-@code{nil}, ask for confirmation before deleting old incoming
14715 files. This variable only applies when
14716 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
14718 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
14719 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
14720 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
14722 @item mail-source-directory
14723 @vindex mail-source-directory
14724 Directory where incoming mail source files (if any) will be stored. The
14725 default is @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for
14726 is to say where the incoming files will be stored if the variable
14727 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a number.
14729 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
14730 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
14731 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
14732 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
14733 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
14734 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a
14737 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
14738 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
14739 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
14741 @item mail-source-movemail-program
14742 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
14743 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
14744 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
14749 @node Fetching Mail
14750 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
14752 @vindex mail-sources
14753 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
14754 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
14755 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
14757 If this variable is @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to
14758 fetch mail by themselves.
14760 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
14761 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
14766 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
14767 :password "secret")))
14770 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
14774 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
14775 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
14778 :password "secret")))
14782 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
14783 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
14784 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
14785 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
14786 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
14787 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
14791 @node Mail Back End Variables
14792 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
14794 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
14798 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
14799 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
14800 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
14801 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
14803 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
14804 @item nnmail-split-hook
14805 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
14806 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
14807 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
14808 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
14809 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
14810 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
14811 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
14812 in the buffer will show up in any files.
14813 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
14816 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14817 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14818 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14819 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14820 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
14821 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
14822 starting to handle the new mail) and
14823 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
14824 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
14825 default file modes the new mail files get:
14828 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14829 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
14831 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14832 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
14835 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
14836 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
14837 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
14838 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
14839 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
14840 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
14841 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
14843 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
14844 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
14845 @findex delete-file
14846 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
14848 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14849 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14850 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
14851 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
14852 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
14854 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
14855 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
14856 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
14857 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
14858 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
14860 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
14861 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
14862 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
14867 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
14868 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
14869 @cindex mail splitting
14870 @cindex fancy mail splitting
14872 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
14873 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
14874 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
14875 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
14876 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
14877 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
14879 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
14882 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
14883 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
14884 ;; @r{from real errors.}
14885 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
14887 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
14888 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
14889 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
14890 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
14891 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
14892 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
14893 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
14894 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
14895 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
14896 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
14897 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
14898 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
14899 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
14900 (any "mypackage@@somewhere" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
14901 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
14902 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
14903 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
14907 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
14908 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
14909 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
14914 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
14915 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
14917 @c Don't fold this line.
14918 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split} [@var{invert-partial}])
14919 The split can be a list containing at least three elements. If the
14920 first element @var{field} (a regexp matching a header) contains
14921 @var{value} (also a regexp) then store the message as specified by
14924 If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
14925 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
14926 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
14927 @var{split} is processed.
14929 The last element @var{invert-partial} is optional. If it is
14930 non-@code{nil}, the match-partial-words behavior controlled by the
14931 variable @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} (see below) is
14932 be inverted. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
14934 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
14935 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
14936 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
14937 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
14938 stored in one or more groups.
14940 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
14941 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
14942 process all @var{split}s in the list.
14945 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
14946 this message. Use with extreme caution.
14948 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
14949 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
14950 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
14951 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
14954 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
14955 body of the messages:
14958 (defun split-on-body ()
14962 (goto-char (point-min))
14963 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
14967 The buffer is narrowed to the header of the message in question when
14968 @var{function} is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called
14969 after @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
14970 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
14971 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
14972 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
14973 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
14975 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
14976 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
14977 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
14978 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
14979 should return a split.
14982 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
14986 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
14988 Normally, @var{value} in these splits must match a complete @emph{word}
14989 according to the fundamental mode syntax table. In other words, all
14990 @var{value}'s will be implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers,
14991 which are word delimiters. Therefore, if you use the following split,
14995 (any "joe" "joemail")
14999 messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will normally not be filed
15000 in @samp{joemail}. If you want to alter this behavior, you can use any
15001 of the following three ways:
15005 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
15006 You can set the @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} variable
15007 to non-@code{nil} in order to ignore word boundaries and instead the
15008 match becomes more like a grep. This variable controls whether partial
15009 words are matched during fancy splitting. The default value is
15012 Note that it influences all @var{value}'s in your split rules.
15015 @var{value} beginning with @code{.*} ignores word boundaries in front of
15016 a word. Similarly, if @var{value} ends with @code{.*}, word boundaries
15017 in the rear of a word will be ignored. For example, the @var{value}
15018 @code{"@@example\\.com"} does not match @samp{foo@@example.com} but
15019 @code{".*@@example\\.com"} does.
15022 You can set the @var{invert-partial} flag in your split rules of the
15023 @samp{(@var{field} @var{value} @dots{})} types, aforementioned in this
15024 section. If the flag is set, word boundaries on both sides of a word
15025 are ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15026 @code{nil}. Contrarily, if the flag is set, word boundaries are not
15027 ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15028 non-@code{nil}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15031 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
15032 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
15033 they are expanded as specified by the variable
15034 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
15035 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
15036 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
15037 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
15041 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
15043 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
15044 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
15046 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
15049 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
15050 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
15051 when all this splitting is performed.
15053 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
15054 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
15055 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
15058 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
15061 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
15062 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
15064 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
15065 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
15066 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
15067 groupings 1 through 9.
15069 @vindex nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded
15070 Where @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether the
15071 lowercase of the matched string should be used for the substitution.
15072 Setting it as non-@code{nil} is useful to avoid the creation of multiple
15073 groups when users send to an address using different case
15074 (i.e. mailing-list@@domain vs Mailing-List@@Domain). The default value
15077 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
15078 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
15079 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
15080 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
15081 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
15082 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
15083 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
15084 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
15085 it once per thread.
15087 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
15088 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
15089 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
15090 using the colon feature, like so:
15092 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
15093 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
15095 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
15096 ;; @r{other splits go here}
15100 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
15101 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
15102 in the file specified by the variable
15103 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
15104 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
15105 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
15106 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
15107 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
15108 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
15109 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
15110 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
15111 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
15112 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
15113 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
15114 300 kBytes in size.)
15115 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15116 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
15117 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
15118 messages goes into the new group.
15120 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
15121 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
15122 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
15123 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
15124 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
15125 ``outgoing'' group.
15128 @node Group Mail Splitting
15129 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
15130 @cindex mail splitting
15131 @cindex group mail splitting
15133 @findex gnus-group-split
15134 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
15135 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
15136 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
15137 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
15138 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
15139 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
15140 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
15141 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
15143 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
15144 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
15145 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
15146 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
15148 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
15149 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
15150 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
15151 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
15152 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
15153 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
15154 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
15156 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
15157 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
15158 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
15159 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
15160 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
15161 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
15162 @code{gnus-group-split}.
15164 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
15165 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
15166 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
15167 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
15168 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
15169 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
15170 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
15171 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
15172 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
15173 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
15174 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
15175 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
15176 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
15178 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
15183 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
15184 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
15186 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
15187 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
15188 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
15189 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
15191 ((split-spec . catch-all))
15194 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
15195 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
15196 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
15199 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
15200 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
15201 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
15205 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
15206 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
15207 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15211 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
15214 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
15215 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
15216 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
15217 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
15218 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
15219 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
15220 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
15221 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
15222 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
15224 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
15225 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
15226 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
15227 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
15228 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
15229 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
15230 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
15231 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
15232 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
15234 @findex gnus-group-split-update
15235 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
15236 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
15237 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
15238 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
15239 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
15242 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
15245 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
15246 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
15247 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
15248 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
15249 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
15252 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
15253 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
15254 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
15255 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
15257 @node Incorporating Old Mail
15258 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
15259 @cindex incorporating old mail
15260 @cindex import old mail
15262 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
15263 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
15264 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
15267 Doing so can be quite easy.
15269 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
15270 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
15271 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
15272 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
15273 your @code{nnml} groups.
15279 Go to the group buffer.
15282 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
15283 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15286 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
15289 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
15290 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15293 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
15294 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
15297 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
15298 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
15299 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
15300 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
15301 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
15303 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
15304 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
15305 using the new mail back end.
15308 @node Expiring Mail
15309 @subsection Expiring Mail
15310 @cindex article expiry
15311 @cindex expiring mail
15313 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
15314 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
15315 different approach to mail reading.
15317 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
15318 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
15319 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
15320 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
15321 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
15322 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
15325 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
15326 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
15327 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
15328 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
15329 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
15330 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
15331 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
15332 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
15333 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
15335 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
15336 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
15337 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
15338 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
15339 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
15340 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
15341 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
15344 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
15345 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
15346 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
15347 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
15348 into its own group.)
15350 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
15351 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
15352 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
15353 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
15354 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
15355 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
15356 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
15357 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
15360 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15361 Groups that match the regular expression
15362 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
15363 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
15364 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
15366 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
15367 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
15368 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
15369 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
15370 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15372 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
15374 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
15375 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
15376 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
15379 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
15380 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
15381 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
15382 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
15383 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
15385 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
15386 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
15389 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15390 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
15393 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
15394 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
15396 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
15397 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
15398 don't really mix very well.
15400 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
15401 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
15402 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
15403 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
15406 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
15407 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
15408 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
15409 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
15412 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15414 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15416 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
15418 ((string= group "mail.junk")
15420 ((string= group "important")
15426 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
15427 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
15429 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
15430 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
15431 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
15434 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
15435 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
15437 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
15438 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
15439 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
15440 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
15441 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
15442 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
15443 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
15444 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
15445 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
15446 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
15447 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
15448 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
15449 name or @code{delete}.
15451 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
15453 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
15456 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15457 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15458 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
15459 expire mail to groups according to the variable
15460 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
15463 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15464 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15465 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
15466 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
15467 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
15470 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
15471 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
15472 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
15473 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
15474 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
15475 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
15477 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
15478 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
15479 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
15480 easier for procmail users.
15482 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
15483 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
15484 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
15485 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
15486 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
15487 caution. Even more dangerous is the
15488 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
15489 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
15490 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
15491 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
15492 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
15493 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
15494 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
15497 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
15499 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
15500 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
15501 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
15502 auto-expire turned on.
15506 @subsection Washing Mail
15507 @cindex mail washing
15508 @cindex list server brain damage
15509 @cindex incoming mail treatment
15511 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
15512 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
15513 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
15514 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
15515 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
15516 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
15518 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
15519 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
15520 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
15523 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
15524 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
15525 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
15526 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
15529 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15530 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15531 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
15532 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
15533 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
15536 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15537 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15538 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
15539 Emacs running on MS machines.
15543 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15544 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15545 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
15546 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
15549 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15550 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15551 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
15552 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
15554 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
15555 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
15556 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
15557 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
15558 into a feature by documenting it.)
15560 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15561 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15562 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
15563 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
15564 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
15565 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
15566 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
15569 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
15570 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
15573 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
15574 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
15577 This can also be done non-destructively with
15578 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
15580 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
15581 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
15582 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
15584 @item nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15585 @findex nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15586 @c @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
15589 Some mail user agents (e.g. Eudora and Pegasus) produce broken
15590 @code{References} headers, but correct @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This
15591 function will get rid of the @code{References} header if the headers
15592 contain a line matching the regular expression
15593 @code{nnmail-broken-references-mailers}.
15597 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15598 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15599 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
15603 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
15604 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
15605 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
15612 @subsection Duplicates
15614 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
15615 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
15616 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
15617 @cindex duplicate mails
15618 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
15619 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
15620 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
15621 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
15622 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
15623 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
15624 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
15625 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
15626 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
15627 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
15628 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
15629 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
15630 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
15632 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
15633 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
15634 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
15635 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
15637 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
15640 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
15641 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
15645 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
15646 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
15647 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
15648 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
15649 (any mail "mail.misc")
15650 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15656 (setq nnmail-split-methods
15657 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
15658 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15662 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
15663 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
15664 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
15665 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
15666 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
15669 @node Not Reading Mail
15670 @subsection Not Reading Mail
15672 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
15673 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
15674 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
15676 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
15677 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
15678 mail, which should help.
15680 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15681 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15682 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15683 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15684 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15685 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
15686 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
15687 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
15688 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
15689 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
15690 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
15692 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
15693 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
15697 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
15698 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
15700 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
15701 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
15702 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
15704 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
15705 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
15706 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
15710 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
15711 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
15712 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
15713 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
15714 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
15715 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
15716 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
15720 @node Unix Mail Box
15721 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
15723 @cindex unix mail box
15725 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
15726 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
15727 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
15728 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
15729 which group it belongs in.
15731 Virtual server settings:
15734 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
15735 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
15736 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
15739 @item nnmbox-active-file
15740 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
15741 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
15742 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
15744 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
15745 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15746 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
15747 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
15752 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
15756 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
15757 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
15758 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
15759 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
15760 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
15762 Virtual server settings:
15765 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
15766 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
15767 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
15769 @item nnbabyl-active-file
15770 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
15771 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
15772 @file{~/.rmail-active}
15774 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15775 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15776 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
15782 @subsubsection Mail Spool
15784 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
15786 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
15787 format. It should be used with some caution.
15789 @vindex nnml-directory
15790 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
15791 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
15792 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
15793 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
15795 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
15798 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
15799 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
15800 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
15801 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
15802 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
15803 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
15804 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
15805 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
15807 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
15808 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
15809 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
15810 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
15812 @cindex self contained nnml servers
15814 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
15815 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15816 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15817 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
15818 for a group are usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
15819 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
15820 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
15821 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
15824 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
15825 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
15826 them next time it starts.
15828 Virtual server settings:
15831 @item nnml-directory
15832 @vindex nnml-directory
15833 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
15834 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
15837 @item nnml-active-file
15838 @vindex nnml-active-file
15839 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
15840 @file{~/Mail/active}.
15842 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
15843 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
15844 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15845 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
15847 @item nnml-get-new-mail
15848 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15849 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
15852 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
15853 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
15854 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15855 default is @code{nil}.
15857 @item nnml-nov-file-name
15858 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
15859 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
15861 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
15862 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
15863 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
15865 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
15866 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
15867 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15868 default is @code{nil}.
15870 @item nnml-marks-file-name
15871 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
15872 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
15874 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
15875 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
15876 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
15877 files. This requires @code{auto-compression-mode} to be enabled
15878 (@pxref{Compressed Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
15879 If the value of @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is a string, it is used
15880 as the file extension specifying the compression program. You can set it
15881 to @samp{.bz2} if your Emacs supports it. A value of @code{t} is
15882 equivalent to @samp{.gz}.
15884 @item nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
15885 @vindex nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
15886 Default size threshold for compressed message files. Message files with
15887 bodies larger than that many characters will be automatically compressed
15888 if @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil}.
15892 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
15893 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
15894 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
15895 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
15896 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
15897 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
15898 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
15903 @subsubsection MH Spool
15905 @cindex mh-e mail spool
15907 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
15908 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
15909 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
15910 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
15913 Virtual server settings:
15916 @item nnmh-directory
15917 @vindex nnmh-directory
15918 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
15919 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15922 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
15923 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15924 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
15928 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
15929 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
15930 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
15931 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
15932 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
15933 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
15934 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
15939 @subsubsection Maildir
15943 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
15944 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
15945 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
15946 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
15947 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
15950 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
15951 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
15952 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
15953 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
15954 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
15955 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
15956 that appear as group in Gnus.
15958 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
15959 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
15960 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
15962 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
15963 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
15964 another, and you will keep your marks.
15966 Virtual server settings:
15970 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
15971 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
15972 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
15973 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
15974 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
15975 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
15976 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
15977 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
15978 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
15979 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
15981 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
15982 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
15983 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
15984 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
15985 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
15986 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
15987 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
15988 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
15989 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
15990 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
15993 @item target-prefix
15994 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
15995 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
15996 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
15999 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
16000 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
16001 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
16002 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
16003 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
16004 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
16005 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
16006 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
16007 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
16009 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
16010 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
16011 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
16012 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
16013 symlinks pointing to them will be).
16015 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
16016 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
16017 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
16018 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
16019 @code{force} argument.
16021 @item directory-files
16022 This should be a function with the same interface as
16023 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
16024 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
16025 parameter is optional; the default is
16026 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
16027 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
16028 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
16029 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
16030 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
16031 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
16034 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
16035 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
16036 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
16037 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
16038 value is @code{nil}.
16040 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
16041 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
16042 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
16043 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
16044 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
16047 @subsubsection Group parameters
16049 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
16050 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
16051 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
16052 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
16053 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
16054 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
16057 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
16058 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
16059 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
16060 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
16061 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
16062 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
16063 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
16064 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
16065 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
16069 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
16070 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
16071 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
16072 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
16073 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (the
16074 @code{expiry-wait} group parameter overrides @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}
16075 and makes @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} ineffective). If you
16076 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
16077 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
16078 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
16079 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
16080 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
16081 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
16084 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
16086 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
16088 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
16089 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
16090 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
16091 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
16092 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
16093 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
16094 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
16095 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
16096 article. So that form can refer to
16097 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
16098 article. @emph{Even if this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir}
16099 does not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
16100 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
16103 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
16104 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
16105 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
16106 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
16107 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
16108 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
16109 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
16110 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
16111 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
16112 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
16113 contain extra copies of the articles.
16115 @item directory-files
16116 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
16117 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
16118 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
16119 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
16121 @item distrust-Lines:
16122 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
16123 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
16124 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
16127 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
16128 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16129 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
16130 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
16131 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
16132 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16135 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
16136 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16137 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
16138 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
16139 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
16140 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
16141 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16143 @item nov-cache-size
16144 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
16145 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
16146 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
16147 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
16148 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
16149 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
16150 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
16151 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
16152 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
16153 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
16154 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
16157 @subsubsection Article identification
16158 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
16159 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
16160 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
16161 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
16162 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
16163 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
16164 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
16165 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
16166 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
16167 request the article in the summary buffer.
16169 @subsubsection NOV data
16170 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
16171 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
16172 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
16173 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
16174 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
16175 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
16176 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
16177 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
16178 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
16179 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
16180 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
16182 @subsubsection Article marks
16183 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
16184 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
16185 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16186 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
16187 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16188 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
16189 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
16190 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
16192 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
16193 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
16194 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
16195 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
16196 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
16197 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
16198 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
16199 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
16200 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
16204 @subsubsection Mail Folders
16206 @cindex mbox folders
16207 @cindex mail folders
16209 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
16210 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
16211 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
16212 numbers and arrival dates.
16214 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
16216 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
16217 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
16218 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
16219 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
16220 Marks for a group are usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
16221 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
16222 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
16223 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
16224 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
16225 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
16227 Virtual server settings:
16230 @item nnfolder-directory
16231 @vindex nnfolder-directory
16232 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
16233 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
16234 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
16236 @item nnfolder-active-file
16237 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
16238 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
16240 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16241 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16242 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16243 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
16245 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
16246 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16247 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
16248 default is @code{t}
16250 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16251 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16252 @cindex backup files
16253 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
16254 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
16255 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
16256 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
16259 (defun turn-off-backup ()
16260 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
16262 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
16265 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16266 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16267 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
16268 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
16269 extract some information from it before removing it.
16271 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16272 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16273 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16274 default is @code{nil}.
16276 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16277 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16278 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
16280 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
16281 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
16282 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
16283 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16285 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16286 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16287 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
16288 default is @code{nil}.
16290 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16291 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16292 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
16294 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
16295 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
16296 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
16297 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16302 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
16303 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
16304 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
16305 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
16306 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
16307 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
16310 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
16311 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
16313 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
16314 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
16315 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
16316 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
16317 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
16319 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
16320 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
16321 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
16322 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
16323 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
16324 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
16325 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
16326 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
16329 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
16330 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
16331 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
16332 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
16337 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
16338 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
16339 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
16340 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
16341 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
16342 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
16343 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
16344 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
16345 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
16346 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
16347 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
16348 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
16349 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
16354 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
16355 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
16356 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
16357 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
16358 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
16359 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
16360 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
16361 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
16362 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
16363 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
16364 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
16365 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
16366 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
16367 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
16369 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
16370 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
16375 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
16376 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
16377 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
16378 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
16379 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
16380 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
16381 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
16382 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
16383 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
16384 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
16385 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
16386 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
16387 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
16388 provided by the active file and overviews.
16390 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
16391 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
16392 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
16393 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
16394 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
16397 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
16398 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
16403 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
16404 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
16405 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
16406 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
16407 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
16408 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
16409 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
16413 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
16414 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
16415 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
16416 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
16417 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
16418 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
16419 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
16420 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
16421 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
16423 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
16424 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
16425 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
16426 friendly mail back end all over.
16430 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
16431 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
16434 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
16435 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
16436 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
16437 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
16438 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
16439 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
16440 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
16441 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
16444 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
16445 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
16446 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
16447 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
16448 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
16449 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
16450 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
16451 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
16452 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
16453 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
16454 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
16456 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
16457 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
16458 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
16459 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
16460 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
16463 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
16464 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
16465 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
16466 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
16467 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
16468 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
16469 removed in the future.
16471 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
16472 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
16473 on your file system.
16475 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
16476 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
16481 @node Browsing the Web
16482 @section Browsing the Web
16484 @cindex browsing the web
16488 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
16489 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
16490 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
16491 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
16492 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
16493 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
16494 even know what a news group is.
16496 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
16497 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
16498 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
16499 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
16500 you mad in the end.
16502 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
16505 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
16506 interfaces to these sources.
16510 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
16511 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
16512 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
16513 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
16514 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
16515 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
16518 All the web sources require Emacs/W3 and the url library or those
16519 alternatives to work.
16521 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
16522 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
16523 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
16524 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
16525 though, you should be ok.
16527 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
16528 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
16529 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
16530 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
16531 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
16533 @node Archiving Mail
16534 @subsection Archiving Mail
16535 @cindex archiving mail
16536 @cindex backup of mail
16538 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
16539 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
16540 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
16541 marks is fairly simple.
16543 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
16544 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
16547 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
16548 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
16549 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
16550 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
16551 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
16552 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
16553 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
16554 before you restore the data.
16556 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
16557 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
16558 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
16559 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
16560 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
16561 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
16562 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
16563 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
16564 is unnecessary in that case.
16567 @subsection Web Searches
16572 @cindex Usenet searches
16573 @cindex searching the Usenet
16575 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
16576 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
16577 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
16578 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
16579 searches without having to use a browser.
16581 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
16582 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
16583 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
16584 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
16585 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
16587 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
16588 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
16589 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
16590 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
16591 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
16592 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
16593 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
16594 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
16595 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
16596 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
16599 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
16600 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
16601 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
16602 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
16603 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
16604 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
16606 You must have the @code{url} and @code{W3} package or those alternatives
16607 (try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{mm-url} variable group)
16608 installed to be able to use @code{nnweb}.
16610 Virtual server variables:
16615 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
16616 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
16617 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
16620 @vindex nnweb-search
16621 The search string to feed to the search engine.
16623 @item nnweb-max-hits
16624 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
16625 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
16628 @item nnweb-type-definition
16629 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
16630 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
16631 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
16636 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
16640 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
16643 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
16646 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
16650 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
16657 @subsection Slashdot
16661 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
16662 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
16663 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
16665 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
16666 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
16669 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
16670 '((nnslashdot "")))
16673 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
16674 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
16675 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
16676 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
16677 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
16680 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
16681 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
16683 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
16684 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
16685 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
16686 @samp{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @samp{br} added to
16687 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
16688 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
16689 @acronym{HTML} forms.
16691 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
16694 @item nnslashdot-threaded
16695 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
16696 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
16697 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
16698 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
16699 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
16700 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
16702 @item nnslashdot-login-name
16703 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
16704 The login name to use when posting.
16706 @item nnslashdot-password
16707 @vindex nnslashdot-password
16708 The password to use when posting.
16710 @item nnslashdot-directory
16711 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
16712 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
16713 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
16715 @item nnslashdot-active-url
16716 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
16717 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the
16718 information on news articles and comments. The default is@*
16719 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
16721 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
16722 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
16723 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch comments.
16725 @item nnslashdot-article-url
16726 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
16727 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the news
16728 article. The default is
16729 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
16731 @item nnslashdot-threshold
16732 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
16733 The score threshold. The default is -1.
16735 @item nnslashdot-group-number
16736 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
16737 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
16738 updated. The default is 0.
16745 @subsection Ultimate
16747 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
16749 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
16750 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
16751 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
16752 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16754 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
16755 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
16756 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @acronym{URL}
16757 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
16758 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
16759 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
16760 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
16762 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
16765 @item nnultimate-directory
16766 @vindex nnultimate-directory
16767 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
16768 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
16773 @subsection Web Archive
16775 @cindex Web Archive
16777 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
16778 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
16779 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
16780 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
16783 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
16784 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
16785 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
16786 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
16787 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
16788 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
16789 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
16790 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
16792 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
16795 @item nnwarchive-directory
16796 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
16797 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
16798 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
16800 @item nnwarchive-login
16801 @vindex nnwarchive-login
16802 The account name on the web server.
16804 @item nnwarchive-passwd
16805 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
16806 The password for your account on the web server.
16814 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
16815 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
16816 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
16817 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
16818 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
16820 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
16821 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16823 Note: you had better use Emacs which supports the @code{utf-8} coding
16824 system because @acronym{RSS} uses UTF-8 for encoding non-@acronym{ASCII}
16825 text by default. It is also used by default for non-@acronym{ASCII}
16828 @kindex G R (Group)
16829 Use @kbd{G R} from the group buffer to subscribe to a feed---you will be
16830 prompted for the location, the title and the description of the feed.
16831 The title, which allows any characters, will be used for the group name
16832 and the name of the group data file. The description can be omitted.
16834 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
16835 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
16836 subscribe to groups.
16838 The @code{nnrss} back end saves the group data file in
16839 @code{nnrss-directory} (see below) for each @code{nnrss} group. File
16840 names containing non-@acronym{ASCII} characters will be encoded by the
16841 coding system specified with the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}
16842 variable. If it is @code{nil}, in Emacs the coding system defaults to
16843 the value of @code{default-file-name-coding-system}. If you are using
16844 XEmacs and want to use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names, you should set
16845 the value for the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} variable properly.
16847 The @code{nnrss} back end generates @samp{multipart/alternative}
16848 @acronym{MIME} articles in which each contains a @samp{text/plain} part
16849 and a @samp{text/html} part.
16852 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
16853 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
16856 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
16857 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
16861 @defun nnrss-opml-export
16862 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
16863 @acronym{OPML} format.
16866 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
16869 @item nnrss-directory
16870 @vindex nnrss-directory
16871 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
16872 @file{~/News/rss/}.
16874 @item nnrss-file-coding-system
16875 @vindex nnrss-file-coding-system
16876 The coding system used when reading and writing the @code{nnrss} groups
16877 data files. The default is the value of
16878 @code{mm-universal-coding-system} (which defaults to @code{emacs-mule}
16879 in Emacs or @code{escape-quoted} in XEmacs).
16881 @item nnrss-ignore-article-fields
16882 @vindex nnrss-ignore-article-fields
16883 Some feeds update constantly article fields during their publications,
16884 e.g. to indicate the number of comments. However, if there is
16885 a difference between the local article and the distant one, the latter
16886 is considered to be new. To avoid this and discard some fields, set this
16887 variable to the list of fields to be ignored. The default is
16888 @code{'(slash:comments)}.
16890 @item nnrss-use-local
16891 @vindex nnrss-use-local
16892 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
16893 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
16894 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
16895 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
16896 download script using @command{wget}.
16898 @item nnrss-wash-html-in-text-plain-parts
16899 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{nnrss} renders text in @samp{text/plain}
16900 parts as @acronym{HTML}. The function specified by the
16901 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} variable (@pxref{Display Customization,
16902 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) will be used
16903 to render text. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default, text will
16904 simply be folded. Leave it @code{nil} if you prefer to see
16905 @samp{text/html} parts.
16908 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
16909 the summary buffer.
16912 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
16913 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
16915 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
16917 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
16918 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
16921 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
16925 (require 'browse-url)
16927 (defun browse-nnrss-url (arg)
16929 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
16932 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
16933 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
16936 (browse-url (cdr url))
16937 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
16938 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
16940 (eval-after-load "gnus"
16941 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
16942 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
16943 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
16946 Even if you have added @samp{text/html} to the
16947 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} variable (@pxref{Display
16948 Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
16949 Manual}) since you don't want to see @acronym{HTML} parts, it might be
16950 more useful especially in @code{nnrss} groups to display
16951 @samp{text/html} parts. Here's an example of setting
16952 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} as a group parameter (@pxref{Group
16953 Parameters}) in order to display @samp{text/html} parts only in
16954 @code{nnrss} groups:
16957 ;; @r{Set the default value of @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}.}
16958 (eval-after-load "gnus-sum"
16960 'gnus-newsgroup-variables
16961 '(mm-discouraged-alternatives
16962 . '("text/html" "image/.*"))))
16964 ;; @r{Display @samp{text/html} parts in @code{nnrss} groups.}
16967 '("\\`nnrss:" (mm-discouraged-alternatives nil)))
16971 @node Customizing W3
16972 @subsection Customizing W3
16978 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/W3 (or those
16979 alternatives) to display web pages. Emacs/W3 is documented in its own
16980 manual, but there are some things that may be more relevant for Gnus
16983 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/W3 follow links
16984 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
16985 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
16988 (eval-after-load "w3"
16990 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
16991 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
16992 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
16993 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
16995 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
16998 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in W3-rendered
16999 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
17006 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
17008 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
17009 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
17010 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
17011 specify the network address of the server.
17013 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
17014 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
17015 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
17016 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
17017 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
17018 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
17020 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
17021 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
17022 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
17023 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
17025 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
17026 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
17027 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
17028 usage explained in this section.
17030 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
17031 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
17032 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
17036 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
17037 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
17038 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
17040 (nnimap-address "localhost")
17041 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
17042 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
17044 (nnimap-server-port 143)
17045 (nnimap-address "localhost")
17046 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
17047 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
17048 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
17049 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
17050 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
17051 (nnimap-stream network))
17052 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
17054 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
17055 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
17056 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
17059 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
17060 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
17061 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
17062 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
17064 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
17069 @item nnimap-address
17070 @vindex nnimap-address
17072 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
17073 server name if not specified.
17075 @item nnimap-server-port
17076 @vindex nnimap-server-port
17077 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
17079 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
17082 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17083 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
17086 @item nnimap-list-pattern
17087 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
17088 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
17089 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
17090 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
17091 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
17092 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
17094 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
17095 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
17096 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
17099 Example server specification:
17102 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17103 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
17104 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
17107 @item nnimap-stream
17108 @vindex nnimap-stream
17109 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
17110 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
17111 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
17112 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
17113 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
17115 Example server specification:
17118 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17119 (nnimap-stream ssl))
17122 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
17126 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
17127 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
17129 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
17131 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
17132 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
17135 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
17136 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
17138 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
17139 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
17141 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
17143 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
17146 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
17147 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
17148 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
17149 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
17150 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
17151 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
17152 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
17153 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
17154 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
17157 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
17158 needed. It is available from
17159 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
17161 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
17162 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
17163 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
17164 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
17165 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
17166 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
17167 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
17170 @vindex imap-ssl-program
17171 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
17172 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
17173 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
17174 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
17175 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
17176 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
17179 @vindex imap-shell-program
17180 @vindex imap-shell-host
17181 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the
17182 variable @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call. Make
17183 sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g., don't
17184 forget to redirect the error output to the void.
17186 @item nnimap-authenticator
17187 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
17189 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
17190 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
17192 Example server specification:
17195 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17196 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
17199 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
17203 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
17204 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
17206 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
17209 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
17210 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
17212 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
17214 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
17216 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as ``anonymous'', supplying your email address as password.
17219 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
17221 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
17222 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
17223 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
17224 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
17225 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
17226 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
17229 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
17230 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
17231 running in circles yet?
17233 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
17234 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
17237 The possible options are:
17242 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
17245 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
17246 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
17247 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
17248 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
17250 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
17255 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
17256 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
17258 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
17259 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
17260 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
17261 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
17262 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
17265 Probably the only reason for frobbing this would be if you're trying
17266 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
17269 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
17270 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
17271 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
17272 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
17275 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
17276 as ticked for other users.
17278 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
17280 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
17281 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17283 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
17284 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
17285 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
17286 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
17288 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
17289 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
17290 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
17291 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
17293 However, if @code{nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil}
17294 is true, this variable has no effect since the search logic
17295 is reversed, as described below.
17297 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
17298 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
17300 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
17301 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
17302 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
17303 @ref{NNTP}. An example of an .authinfo line for an IMAP server, is:
17306 machine students.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis port imap
17309 Note that it should be @code{port imap}, or @code{port 143}, if you
17310 use a @code{nnimap-stream} of @code{tls} or @code{ssl}, even if the
17311 actual port number used is port 993 for secured IMAP. For
17312 convenience, Gnus will accept @code{port imaps} as a synonym of
17315 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
17316 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
17318 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
17319 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
17322 @item nnimap-nov-is-evil
17323 @vindex nnimap-nov-is-evil
17324 @cindex Courier @acronym{IMAP} server
17325 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
17327 Never generate or use a local @acronym{NOV} database. Defaults to the
17328 value of @code{gnus-agent}.
17330 Using a @acronym{NOV} database usually makes header fetching much
17331 faster, but it uses the @code{UID SEARCH UID} command, which is very
17332 slow on some servers (notably some versions of Courier). Since the Gnus
17333 Agent caches the information in the @acronym{NOV} database without using
17334 the slow command, this variable defaults to true if the Agent is in use,
17335 and false otherwise.
17337 @item nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil
17338 @vindex nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil
17339 @cindex Courier @acronym{IMAP} server
17340 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17342 Avoid the @code{UID SEARCH UID @var{message numbers} NOT SINCE
17343 @var{date}} command, which is slow on some @acronym{IMAP} servers
17344 (notably, some versions of Courier). Instead, use @code{UID SEARCH SINCE
17345 @var{date}} and prune the list of expirable articles within Gnus.
17347 When Gnus expires your mail (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), it starts with a
17348 list of expirable articles and asks the IMAP server questions like ``Of
17349 these articles, which ones are older than a week?'' While this seems
17350 like a perfectly reasonable question, some IMAP servers take a long time
17351 to answer it, since they seemingly go looking into every old article to
17352 see if it is one of the expirable ones. Curiously, the question ``Of
17353 @emph{all} articles, which ones are newer than a week?'' seems to be
17354 much faster to answer, so setting this variable causes Gnus to ask this
17355 question and figure out the answer to the real question itself.
17357 This problem can really sneak up on you: when you first configure Gnus,
17358 everything works fine, but once you accumulate a couple thousand
17359 messages, you start cursing Gnus for being so slow. On the other hand,
17360 if you get a lot of email within a week, setting this variable will
17361 cause a lot of network traffic between Gnus and the IMAP server.
17363 @item nnimap-logout-timeout
17364 @vindex nnimap-logout-timeout
17366 There is a case where a connection to a @acronym{IMAP} server is unable
17367 to close, when connecting to the server via a certain kind of network,
17368 e.g. @acronym{VPN}. In that case, it will be observed that a connection
17369 between Emacs and the local network looks alive even if the server has
17370 closed a connection for some reason (typically, a timeout).
17371 Consequently, Emacs continues waiting for a response from the server for
17372 the @code{LOGOUT} command that Emacs sent, or hangs in other words. If
17373 you are in such a network, setting this variable to a number of seconds
17374 will be helpful. If it is set, a hung connection will be closed
17375 forcibly, after this number of seconds from the time Emacs sends the
17376 @code{LOGOUT} command. It should not be too small value but too large
17377 value will be inconvenient too. Perhaps the value 1.0 will be a good
17378 candidate but it might be worth trying some other values.
17380 Example server specification:
17383 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17384 (nnimap-logout-timeout 1.0))
17390 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
17391 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
17392 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
17393 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
17394 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
17395 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
17400 @node Splitting in IMAP
17401 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
17402 @cindex splitting imap mail
17404 Splitting is something Gnus users have loved and used for years, and now
17405 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
17406 @acronym{IMAP} servers have server side splitting and those that have
17407 splitting seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that
17408 @acronym{IMAP} support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
17412 (Incidentally, people seem to have been dreaming on, and Sieve has
17413 gaining a market share and is supported by several IMAP servers.
17414 Fortunately, Gnus support it too, @xref{Sieve Commands}.)
17416 Here are the variables of interest:
17420 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
17421 @cindex splitting, crosspost
17423 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
17425 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
17426 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
17427 found will be used.
17429 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
17431 @item nnimap-split-inbox
17432 @cindex splitting, inbox
17434 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
17436 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
17437 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
17438 splitting is disabled!
17441 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
17442 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
17445 No nnmail equivalent.
17447 @item nnimap-split-rule
17448 @cindex splitting, rules
17449 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
17451 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
17454 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
17455 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
17456 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
17457 Neither did I, we need examples.
17460 (setq nnimap-split-rule
17462 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
17463 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
17464 ("INBOX.private" "")))
17467 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
17468 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
17469 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
17471 The first string may contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by
17472 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
17476 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
17479 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
17480 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
17482 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
17483 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
17484 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
17485 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
17487 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
17488 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
17489 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
17490 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
17491 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
17492 them every time you fetch new mail.)
17494 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
17495 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
17496 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
17498 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
17499 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
17500 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
17502 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
17504 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
17505 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
17506 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
17509 (setq nnimap-split-rule
17510 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
17511 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
17512 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
17513 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
17514 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
17517 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
17518 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
17519 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
17520 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
17521 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
17522 group/function elements.
17524 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
17526 @item nnimap-split-predicate
17528 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
17530 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
17531 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
17533 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
17534 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
17535 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
17538 @item nnimap-split-fancy
17539 @cindex splitting, fancy
17540 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
17541 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
17543 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
17544 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
17545 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
17547 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
17548 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
17549 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
17550 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
17555 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
17556 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
17559 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
17561 @item nnimap-split-download-body
17562 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
17563 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
17565 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
17566 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
17567 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
17568 splitting function that analyzes the body to split the article.
17572 @node Expiring in IMAP
17573 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
17574 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17576 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
17577 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
17578 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
17579 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
17580 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
17581 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
17584 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
17585 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
17586 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
17587 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
17588 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
17589 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
17590 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
17591 messages. Most do, fortunately.
17593 If expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail seems very slow, try setting the server
17594 variable @code{nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil}.
17598 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
17599 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
17601 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
17602 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
17604 @item nnmail-expiry-target
17606 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
17607 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
17608 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
17609 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
17613 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
17614 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
17615 @cindex editing imap acls
17616 @cindex Access Control Lists
17617 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
17618 @kindex G l (Group)
17619 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
17621 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
17622 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
17623 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
17626 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
17627 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
17628 editing window with detailed instructions.
17630 Some possible uses:
17634 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
17635 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
17636 follow the list without subscribing to it.
17638 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
17639 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
17640 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
17644 @node Expunging mailboxes
17645 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
17649 @cindex manual expunging
17650 @kindex G x (Group)
17651 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
17653 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
17654 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
17655 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
17657 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
17660 @node A note on namespaces
17661 @subsection A note on namespaces
17662 @cindex IMAP namespace
17665 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
17666 by the following text in the RFC2060:
17669 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
17671 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
17672 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
17673 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
17674 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
17676 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
17677 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
17678 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
17679 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
17680 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
17681 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
17684 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
17685 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
17686 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
17688 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
17689 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
17690 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
17691 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
17692 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
17693 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
17694 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
17695 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
17698 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
17699 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
17700 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
17702 @node Debugging IMAP
17703 @subsection Debugging IMAP
17704 @cindex IMAP debugging
17705 @cindex protocol dump (IMAP)
17707 @acronym{IMAP} is a complex protocol, more so than @acronym{NNTP} or
17708 @acronym{POP3}. Implementation bugs are not unlikely, and we do our
17709 best to fix them right away. If you encounter odd behavior, chances
17710 are that either the server or Gnus is buggy.
17712 If you are familiar with network protocols in general, you will
17713 probably be able to extract some clues from the protocol dump of the
17714 exchanges between Gnus and the server. Even if you are not familiar
17715 with network protocols, when you include the protocol dump in
17716 @acronym{IMAP}-related bug reports you are helping us with data
17717 critical to solving the problem. Therefore, we strongly encourage you
17718 to include the protocol dump when reporting IMAP bugs in Gnus.
17722 Because the protocol dump, when enabled, generates lots of data, it is
17723 disabled by default. You can enable it by setting @code{imap-log} as
17730 This instructs the @code{imap.el} package to log any exchanges with
17731 the server. The log is stored in the buffer @samp{*imap-log*}. Look
17732 for error messages, which sometimes are tagged with the keyword
17733 @code{BAD}---but when submitting a bug, make sure to include all the
17736 @node Other Sources
17737 @section Other Sources
17739 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
17740 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
17744 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
17745 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
17746 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
17747 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
17748 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
17752 @node Directory Groups
17753 @subsection Directory Groups
17755 @cindex directory groups
17757 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
17758 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
17761 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
17762 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
17763 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
17764 back end to read directories. Big deal.
17766 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
17767 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
17768 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
17769 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
17770 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
17772 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
17774 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
17775 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
17776 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
17777 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
17780 @node Anything Groups
17781 @subsection Anything Groups
17784 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
17785 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
17786 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
17789 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
17790 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
17791 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
17792 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
17793 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
17794 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
17795 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
17796 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
17797 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
17798 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
17801 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
17802 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
17803 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
17804 in the article buffer, just as usual.
17806 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
17807 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
17808 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
17809 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
17811 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
17812 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
17813 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
17814 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
17815 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
17816 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
17817 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
17818 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
17823 @item nneething-map-file-directory
17824 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
17825 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
17826 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
17828 @item nneething-exclude-files
17829 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
17830 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
17831 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
17833 @item nneething-include-files
17834 @vindex nneething-include-files
17835 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
17836 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
17838 @item nneething-map-file
17839 @vindex nneething-map-file
17840 Name of the map files.
17844 @node Document Groups
17845 @subsection Document Groups
17847 @cindex documentation group
17850 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
17851 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
17857 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
17862 The standard Unix mbox file.
17864 @cindex MMDF mail box
17866 The MMDF mail box format.
17869 Several news articles appended into a file.
17871 @cindex rnews batch files
17873 The rnews batch transport format.
17876 Netscape mail boxes.
17879 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
17881 @item standard-digest
17882 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
17885 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
17887 @item lanl-gov-announce
17888 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
17890 @cindex forwarded messages
17891 @item rfc822-forward
17892 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
17895 The Outlook mail box.
17898 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
17901 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
17904 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
17907 An RFC934-forwarded message.
17913 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
17916 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
17922 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
17923 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
17924 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
17927 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
17928 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
17929 group. And that's it.
17931 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
17932 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
17933 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
17934 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
17935 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
17936 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
17937 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
17938 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
17939 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
17940 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
17942 Virtual server variables:
17945 @item nndoc-article-type
17946 @vindex nndoc-article-type
17947 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
17948 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
17949 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
17950 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
17951 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
17953 @item nndoc-post-type
17954 @vindex nndoc-post-type
17955 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
17956 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
17961 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
17965 @node Document Server Internals
17966 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
17968 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
17969 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
17970 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
17971 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
17973 First, here's an example document type definition:
17977 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
17978 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
17981 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
17982 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
17983 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
17984 types can be defined with very few settings:
17987 @item first-article
17988 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
17989 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
17992 @item article-begin
17993 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
17994 says what the beginning of each article looks like. To do more
17995 complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you can
17996 use @code{article-begin-function} instead of this.
17998 @item article-begin-function
17999 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the beginning
18000 of each article. This setting overrides @code{article-begin}.
18003 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
18004 article. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a
18005 simple regexp, you can use @code{head-begin-function} instead of this.
18007 @item head-begin-function
18008 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
18009 the article. This setting overrides @code{head-begin}.
18012 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
18013 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
18016 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
18017 to @samp{^\n}. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with
18018 a simple regexp, you can use @code{body-begin-function} instead of this.
18020 @item body-begin-function
18021 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
18022 of the article. This setting overrides @code{body-begin}.
18025 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. To do
18026 more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you
18027 can use @code{body-end-function} instead of this.
18029 @item body-end-function
18030 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
18031 the article. This setting overrides @code{body-end}.
18034 If present, this should match the beginning of the file. All text
18035 before this regexp will be totally ignored.
18038 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
18039 regexp will be totally ignored.
18043 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
18044 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
18045 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
18046 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
18047 something that's palatable for Gnus:
18050 @item prepare-body-function
18051 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
18052 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
18053 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
18055 @item article-transform-function
18056 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
18057 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
18058 body of the article.
18060 @item generate-head-function
18061 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
18062 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
18063 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
18064 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
18066 @item generate-article-function
18067 If present, this function is called to generate an entire article that
18068 Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a
18069 parameter when requesting all articles.
18071 @item dissection-function
18072 If present, this function is called to dissect a document by itself,
18073 overriding @code{first-article}, @code{article-begin},
18074 @code{article-begin-function}, @code{head-begin},
18075 @code{head-begin-function}, @code{head-end}, @code{body-begin},
18076 @code{body-begin-function}, @code{body-end}, @code{body-end-function},
18077 @code{file-begin}, and @code{file-end}.
18081 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
18086 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
18087 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
18088 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
18089 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
18090 (head-end . "^ ?$")
18091 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
18092 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
18093 (subtype digest guess))
18096 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
18097 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
18098 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
18099 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
18100 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
18102 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
18103 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
18104 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
18105 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
18106 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
18107 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
18108 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
18109 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
18110 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
18111 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
18112 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
18113 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
18121 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
18122 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
18123 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
18125 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
18126 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
18127 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
18130 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
18131 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
18132 that interested in doing things properly.
18134 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
18135 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
18138 First some terminology:
18143 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
18144 get news and/or mail from.
18147 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
18148 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
18151 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
18155 @item message packets
18156 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
18157 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
18158 default, where @var{x} is a number.
18160 @item response packets
18161 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
18162 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
18163 default, where @var{x} is a number.
18173 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
18174 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
18175 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
18176 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
18179 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
18182 You put the packet in your home directory.
18185 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
18186 the native or secondary server.
18189 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
18190 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
18193 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
18197 You transfer this packet to the server.
18200 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
18203 You then repeat until you die.
18207 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
18208 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
18211 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
18212 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
18213 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
18217 @node SOUP Commands
18218 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
18220 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
18224 @kindex G s b (Group)
18225 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
18226 Pack all unread articles in the current group
18227 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
18228 process/prefix convention.
18231 @kindex G s w (Group)
18232 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
18233 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
18236 @kindex G s s (Group)
18237 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
18238 Send all replies from the replies packet
18239 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
18242 @kindex G s p (Group)
18243 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
18244 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
18247 @kindex G s r (Group)
18248 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
18249 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
18252 @kindex O s (Summary)
18253 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
18254 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
18255 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
18256 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18261 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
18266 @item gnus-soup-directory
18267 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
18268 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
18269 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
18271 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
18272 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
18273 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
18274 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
18276 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
18277 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
18278 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
18279 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
18281 @item gnus-soup-packer
18282 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
18283 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
18284 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
18286 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
18287 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
18288 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
18289 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
18291 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
18292 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
18293 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
18295 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
18296 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
18297 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
18298 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
18304 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
18307 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
18308 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
18309 you can read them at leisure.
18311 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
18315 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
18316 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
18317 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
18318 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
18320 @item nnsoup-directory
18321 @vindex nnsoup-directory
18322 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
18323 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
18325 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
18326 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
18327 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
18328 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
18330 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
18331 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
18332 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
18333 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
18334 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
18336 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
18337 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
18338 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
18339 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
18341 @item nnsoup-active-file
18342 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
18343 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
18344 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
18345 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
18346 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
18348 @item nnsoup-packer
18349 @vindex nnsoup-packer
18350 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
18351 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
18353 @item nnsoup-unpacker
18354 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
18355 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
18356 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
18358 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
18359 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
18360 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
18363 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
18364 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
18365 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
18368 @item nnsoup-always-save
18369 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
18370 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
18376 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
18378 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
18379 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
18380 more for that to happen.
18382 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
18383 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
18384 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
18387 In specific, this is what it does:
18390 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
18391 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
18394 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
18395 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
18396 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
18399 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
18400 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
18401 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
18404 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
18405 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
18406 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
18408 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
18414 @item nngateway-address
18415 @vindex nngateway-address
18416 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
18418 @item nngateway-header-transformation
18419 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
18420 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
18421 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
18422 transformation should be called, and defaults to
18423 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
18424 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
18427 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
18428 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
18429 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
18432 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
18435 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
18438 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
18441 The following pre-defined functions exist:
18443 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
18446 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
18447 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
18448 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
18450 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
18452 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
18453 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
18454 @code{nngateway-address}.
18462 (setq gnus-post-method
18464 "mail2news@@replay.com"
18465 (nngateway-header-transformation
18466 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
18469 So, to use this, simply say something like:
18472 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
18477 @node Combined Groups
18478 @section Combined Groups
18480 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
18484 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
18485 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
18489 @node Virtual Groups
18490 @subsection Virtual Groups
18492 @cindex virtual groups
18493 @cindex merging groups
18495 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
18498 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
18499 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
18500 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
18502 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
18503 regexp to match component groups.
18505 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
18506 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
18507 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
18508 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
18509 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
18510 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
18511 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
18512 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
18514 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
18515 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
18518 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
18521 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
18522 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
18524 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
18525 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
18526 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
18527 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
18530 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
18533 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
18534 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
18535 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
18537 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
18538 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
18539 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
18540 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
18541 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
18543 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
18544 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
18545 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
18547 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
18548 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} variable is non-@code{nil} (which
18549 is the default), @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread
18550 articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil}
18551 and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has
18552 been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up
18553 when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you
18554 have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If
18555 that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}. Or you can
18556 just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before you enter
18557 it---it'll have much the same effect.
18559 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
18560 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
18561 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
18562 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
18563 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
18564 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
18565 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
18567 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
18568 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
18570 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
18571 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
18575 @node Kibozed Groups
18576 @subsection Kibozed Groups
18580 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by the @acronym{OED} as ``grepping through
18581 (parts of) the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will
18582 do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server
18583 down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness!
18585 @kindex G k (Group)
18586 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
18589 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
18590 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
18591 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
18592 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
18594 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
18595 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
18596 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
18598 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
18599 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
18600 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
18601 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
18602 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
18603 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
18604 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
18605 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
18607 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
18608 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
18609 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
18610 Stranger things have happened.
18612 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
18613 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
18615 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
18616 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
18617 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/kiboze/} by default.
18618 One contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in
18619 the group, and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store
18620 information on what groups have been searched through to find
18621 component articles.
18623 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
18624 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
18627 @node Email Based Diary
18628 @section Email Based Diary
18630 @cindex email based diary
18633 This section describes a special mail back end called @code{nndiary},
18634 and its companion library @code{gnus-diary}. It is ``special'' in the
18635 sense that it is not meant to be one of the standard alternatives for
18636 reading mail with Gnus. See @ref{Choosing a Mail Back End} for that.
18637 Instead, it is used to treat @emph{some} of your mails in a special way,
18638 namely, as event reminders.
18640 Here is a typical scenario:
18644 You've got a date with Andy Mc Dowell or Bruce Willis (select according
18645 to your sexual preference) in one month. You don't want to forget it.
18647 So you send a ``reminder'' message (actually, a diary one) to yourself.
18649 You forget all about it and keep on getting and reading new mail, as usual.
18651 From time to time, as you type `g' in the group buffer and as the date
18652 is getting closer, the message will pop up again to remind you of your
18653 appointment, just as if it were new and unread.
18655 Read your ``new'' messages, this one included, and start dreaming again
18656 of the night you're gonna have.
18658 Once the date is over (you actually fell asleep just after dinner), the
18659 message will be automatically deleted if it is marked as expirable.
18662 The Gnus Diary back end has the ability to handle regular appointments
18663 (that wouldn't ever be deleted) as well as punctual ones, operates as a
18664 real mail back end and is configurable in many ways. All of this is
18665 explained in the sections below.
18668 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
18669 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
18670 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
18674 @node The NNDiary Back End
18675 @subsection The NNDiary Back End
18677 @cindex the nndiary back end
18679 @code{nndiary} is a back end very similar to @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
18680 Spool}). Actually, it could appear as a mix of @code{nnml} and
18681 @code{nndraft}. If you know @code{nnml}, you're already familiar with
18682 the message storing scheme of @code{nndiary}: one file per message, one
18683 directory per group.
18685 Before anything, there is one requirement to be able to run
18686 @code{nndiary} properly: you @emph{must} use the group timestamp feature
18687 of Gnus. This adds a timestamp to each group's parameters. @ref{Group
18688 Timestamp} to see how it's done.
18691 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
18692 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
18693 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
18696 @node Diary Messages
18697 @subsubsection Diary Messages
18698 @cindex nndiary messages
18699 @cindex nndiary mails
18701 @code{nndiary} messages are just normal ones, except for the mandatory
18702 presence of 7 special headers. These headers are of the form
18703 @code{X-Diary-<something>}, @code{<something>} being one of
18704 @code{Minute}, @code{Hour}, @code{Dom}, @code{Month}, @code{Year},
18705 @code{Time-Zone} and @code{Dow}. @code{Dom} means ``Day of Month'', and
18706 @code{dow} means ``Day of Week''. These headers actually behave like
18707 crontab specifications and define the event date(s):
18711 For all headers except the @code{Time-Zone} one, a header value is
18712 either a star (meaning all possible values), or a list of fields
18713 (separated by a comma).
18715 A field is either an integer, or a range.
18717 A range is two integers separated by a dash.
18719 Possible integer values are 0--59 for @code{Minute}, 0--23 for
18720 @code{Hour}, 1--31 for @code{Dom}, 1--12 for @code{Month}, above 1971
18721 for @code{Year} and 0--6 for @code{Dow} (0 meaning Sunday).
18723 As a special case, a star in either @code{Dom} or @code{Dow} doesn't
18724 mean ``all possible values'', but ``use only the other field''. Note
18725 that if both are star'ed, the use of either one gives the same result.
18727 The @code{Time-Zone} header is special in that it can only have one
18728 value (@code{GMT}, for instance). A star doesn't mean ``all possible
18729 values'' (because it makes no sense), but ``the current local time
18730 zone''. Most of the time, you'll be using a star here. However, for a
18731 list of available time zone values, see the variable
18732 @code{nndiary-headers}.
18735 As a concrete example, here are the diary headers to add to your message
18736 for specifying ``Each Monday and each 1st of month, at 12:00, 20:00,
18737 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 24:00, from 1999 to 2010'' (I'll let you find
18742 X-Diary-Hour: 12, 20-24
18745 X-Diary-Year: 1999-2010
18747 X-Diary-Time-Zone: *
18750 @node Running NNDiary
18751 @subsubsection Running NNDiary
18752 @cindex running nndiary
18753 @cindex nndiary operation modes
18755 @code{nndiary} has two modes of operation: ``traditional'' (the default)
18756 and ``autonomous''. In traditional mode, @code{nndiary} does not get new
18757 mail by itself. You have to move (@kbd{B m}) or copy (@kbd{B c}) mails
18758 from your primary mail back end to nndiary groups in order to handle them
18759 as diary messages. In autonomous mode, @code{nndiary} retrieves its own
18760 mail and handles it independently from your primary mail back end.
18762 One should note that Gnus is not inherently designed to allow several
18763 ``master'' mail back ends at the same time. However, this does make
18764 sense with @code{nndiary}: you really want to send and receive diary
18765 messages to your diary groups directly. So, @code{nndiary} supports
18766 being sort of a ``second primary mail back end'' (to my knowledge, it is
18767 the only back end offering this feature). However, there is a limitation
18768 (which I hope to fix some day): respooling doesn't work in autonomous
18771 In order to use @code{nndiary} in autonomous mode, you have several
18776 Allow @code{nndiary} to retrieve new mail by itself. Put the following
18777 line in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
18780 (setq nndiary-get-new-mail t)
18783 You must arrange for diary messages (those containing @code{X-Diary-*}
18784 headers) to be split in a private folder @emph{before} Gnus treat them.
18785 Again, this is needed because Gnus cannot (yet ?) properly handle
18786 multiple primary mail back ends. Getting those messages from a separate
18787 source will compensate this misfeature to some extent.
18789 As an example, here's my procmailrc entry to store diary files in
18790 @file{~/.nndiary} (the default @code{nndiary} mail source file):
18799 Once this is done, you might want to customize the following two options
18800 that affect the diary mail retrieval and splitting processes:
18802 @defvar nndiary-mail-sources
18803 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
18804 @code{mail-sources} variable. It obeys the same syntax, and defaults to
18805 @code{(file :path "~/.nndiary")}.
18808 @defvar nndiary-split-methods
18809 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
18810 @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable. It obeys the same syntax.
18813 Finally, you may add a permanent @code{nndiary} virtual server
18814 (something like @code{(nndiary "diary")} should do) to your
18815 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}.
18817 Hopefully, almost everything (see the TODO section in
18818 @file{nndiary.el}) will work as expected when you restart Gnus: in
18819 autonomous mode, typing @kbd{g} and @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer, will
18820 also get your new diary mails and split them according to your
18821 diary-specific rules, @kbd{F} will find your new diary groups etc.
18823 @node Customizing NNDiary
18824 @subsubsection Customizing NNDiary
18825 @cindex customizing nndiary
18826 @cindex nndiary customization
18828 Now that @code{nndiary} is up and running, it's time to customize it.
18829 The custom group is called @code{nndiary} (no, really ?!). You should
18830 browse it to figure out which options you'd like to tweak. The following
18831 two variables are probably the only ones you will want to change:
18833 @defvar nndiary-reminders
18834 This is the list of times when you want to be reminded of your
18835 appointments (e.g. 3 weeks before, then 2 days before, then 1 hour
18836 before and that's it). Remember that ``being reminded'' means that the
18837 diary message will pop up as brand new and unread again when you get new
18841 @defvar nndiary-week-starts-on-monday
18842 Rather self-explanatory. Otherwise, Sunday is assumed (this is the
18847 @node The Gnus Diary Library
18848 @subsection The Gnus Diary Library
18850 @cindex the gnus diary library
18852 Using @code{nndiary} manually (I mean, writing the headers by hand and
18853 so on) would be rather boring. Fortunately, there is a library called
18854 @code{gnus-diary} written on top of @code{nndiary}, that does many
18855 useful things for you.
18857 In order to use it, add the following line to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
18860 (require 'gnus-diary)
18863 Also, you shouldn't use any @code{gnus-user-format-function-[d|D]}
18864 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} provides both of these
18865 (sorry if you used them before).
18869 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
18870 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
18871 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
18872 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
18875 @node Diary Summary Line Format
18876 @subsubsection Diary Summary Line Format
18877 @cindex diary summary buffer line
18878 @cindex diary summary line format
18880 Displaying diary messages in standard summary line format (usually
18881 something like @samp{From Joe: Subject}) is pretty useless. Most of
18882 the time, you're the one who wrote the message, and you mostly want to
18883 see the event's date.
18885 @code{gnus-diary} provides two supplemental user formats to be used in
18886 summary line formats. @code{D} corresponds to a formatted time string
18887 for the next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00''),
18888 while @code{d} corresponds to an approximative remaining time until the
18889 next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``in 6 months, 1 week'').
18891 For example, here's how Joe's birthday is displayed in my
18892 @code{nndiary+diary:birthdays} summary buffer (note that the message is
18893 expirable, but will never be deleted, as it specifies a periodic event):
18896 E Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00: Joe's birthday (in 6 months, 1 week)
18899 In order to get something like the above, you would normally add the
18900 following line to your diary groups'parameters:
18903 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z %uD: %(%s%) (%ud)\n")
18906 However, @code{gnus-diary} does it automatically (@pxref{Diary Group
18907 Parameters}). You can however customize the provided summary line format
18908 with the following user options:
18910 @defvar gnus-diary-summary-line-format
18911 Defines the summary line format used for diary groups (@pxref{Summary
18912 Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} uses it to automatically update the
18913 diary groups'parameters.
18916 @defvar gnus-diary-time-format
18917 Defines the format to display dates in diary summary buffers. This is
18918 used by the @code{D} user format. See the docstring for details.
18921 @defvar gnus-diary-delay-format-function
18922 Defines the format function to use for displaying delays (remaining
18923 times) in diary summary buffers. This is used by the @code{d} user
18924 format. There are currently built-in functions for English and French;
18925 you can also define your own. See the docstring for details.
18928 @node Diary Articles Sorting
18929 @subsubsection Diary Articles Sorting
18930 @cindex diary articles sorting
18931 @cindex diary summary lines sorting
18932 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule
18933 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule
18934 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-schedule
18936 @code{gnus-diary} provides new sorting functions (@pxref{Sorting the
18937 Summary Buffer} ) called @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule},
18938 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule} and
18939 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-schedule}. These functions let you organize
18940 your diary summary buffers from the closest event to the farthest one.
18942 @code{gnus-diary} automatically installs
18943 @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule} as a menu item in the summary
18944 buffer's ``sort'' menu, and the two others as the primary (hence
18945 default) sorting functions in the group parameters (@pxref{Diary Group
18948 @node Diary Headers Generation
18949 @subsubsection Diary Headers Generation
18950 @cindex diary headers generation
18951 @findex gnus-diary-check-message
18953 @code{gnus-diary} provides a function called
18954 @code{gnus-diary-check-message} to help you handle the @code{X-Diary-*}
18955 headers. This function ensures that the current message contains all the
18956 required diary headers, and prompts you for values or corrections if
18959 This function is hooked into the @code{nndiary} back end, so that
18960 moving or copying an article to a diary group will trigger it
18961 automatically. It is also bound to @kbd{C-c D c} in @code{message-mode}
18962 and @code{article-edit-mode} in order to ease the process of converting
18963 a usual mail to a diary one.
18965 This function takes a prefix argument which will force prompting of
18966 all diary headers, regardless of their presence or validity. That way,
18967 you can very easily reschedule an already valid diary message, for
18970 @node Diary Group Parameters
18971 @subsubsection Diary Group Parameters
18972 @cindex diary group parameters
18974 When you create a new diary group, or visit one, @code{gnus-diary}
18975 automatically checks your group parameters and if needed, sets the
18976 summary line format to the diary-specific value, installs the
18977 diary-specific sorting functions, and also adds the different
18978 @code{X-Diary-*} headers to the group's posting-style. It is then easier
18979 to send a diary message, because if you use @kbd{C-u a} or @kbd{C-u m}
18980 on a diary group to prepare a message, these headers will be inserted
18981 automatically (although not filled with proper values yet).
18983 @node Sending or Not Sending
18984 @subsection Sending or Not Sending
18986 Well, assuming you've read all of the above, here are two final notes on
18987 mail sending with @code{nndiary}:
18991 @code{nndiary} is a @emph{real} mail back end. You really send real diary
18992 messsages for real. This means for instance that you can give
18993 appointments to anybody (provided they use Gnus and @code{nndiary}) by
18994 sending the diary message to them as well.
18996 However, since @code{nndiary} also has a @code{request-post} method, you
18997 can also use @kbd{C-u a} instead of @kbd{C-u m} on a diary group and the
18998 message won't actually be sent; just stored locally in the group. This
18999 comes in very handy for private appointments.
19002 @node Gnus Unplugged
19003 @section Gnus Unplugged
19008 @cindex Gnus unplugged
19010 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
19011 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
19012 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
19013 read news. Believe it or not.
19015 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
19016 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
19017 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
19018 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
19019 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
19021 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
19022 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
19023 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
19024 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
19025 reading news on a machine.
19027 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
19028 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
19029 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
19031 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
19034 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
19035 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
19036 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
19037 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
19038 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
19039 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
19040 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
19041 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
19042 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
19043 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
19044 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
19045 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
19046 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
19047 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
19052 @subsection Agent Basics
19054 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
19056 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
19057 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
19058 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
19059 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
19061 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
19062 connected to the net continuously.
19064 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
19065 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
19067 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
19068 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
19069 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
19070 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
19071 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
19073 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
19074 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
19075 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
19076 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
19077 they're kinda like plugged always).
19079 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
19080 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
19081 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
19084 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
19085 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
19086 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
19087 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
19088 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
19090 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
19095 @findex gnus-unplugged
19096 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
19097 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
19098 already fetched while in this mode.
19101 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
19102 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
19103 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
19104 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
19105 Source Specifiers}).
19108 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
19109 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
19110 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
19111 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
19112 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
19115 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
19116 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
19117 then you read the news offline.
19120 And then you go to step 2.
19123 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
19129 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
19130 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
19131 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
19132 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
19133 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
19134 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
19135 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
19136 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
19139 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
19140 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
19141 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
19142 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
19144 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
19145 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
19146 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
19147 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
19148 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
19149 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
19153 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
19157 @node Agent Categories
19158 @subsection Agent Categories
19160 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
19161 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
19162 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
19163 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
19164 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
19165 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
19166 you're interested in the articles anyway.
19168 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
19169 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
19170 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
19171 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
19172 buffer for creating and managing categories.
19174 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
19175 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
19176 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
19177 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
19178 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
19181 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
19182 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
19183 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
19184 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
19185 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
19186 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
19190 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
19191 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
19192 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
19196 @node Category Syntax
19197 @subsubsection Category Syntax
19199 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
19200 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
19201 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
19204 @cindex Agent Parameters
19207 The list of groups that are in this category.
19209 @item agent-predicate
19210 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
19211 are eligible for downloading; and
19214 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
19215 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
19216 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
19218 @item agent-enable-expiration
19219 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
19220 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
19221 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
19222 only groups that should not be expired.
19224 @item agent-days-until-old
19225 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
19226 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
19228 @item agent-low-score
19229 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
19231 @item agent-high-score
19232 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
19234 @item agent-short-article
19235 an integer that overrides the value of
19236 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
19238 @item agent-long-article
19239 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
19241 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
19242 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
19243 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
19244 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
19245 undownloaded faces.
19248 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
19251 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
19252 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
19253 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
19256 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
19257 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
19258 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
19259 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
19261 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
19262 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
19263 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
19265 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
19266 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
19267 operators sprinkled in between.
19269 Perhaps some examples are in order.
19271 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
19272 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
19278 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
19279 short (for some value of ``short'').
19281 Here's a more complex predicate:
19290 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
19291 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
19294 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
19295 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
19296 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
19298 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
19299 you want to do, you can write your own.
19301 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
19302 bound to the value determined by calling
19303 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
19304 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
19305 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
19306 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
19307 predicate to individual groups.
19311 True if the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
19312 lines; default 100.
19315 True if the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
19316 lines; default 200.
19319 True if the article has a download score less than
19320 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
19323 True if the article has a download score greater than
19324 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
19327 True if the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
19328 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
19329 checksum and sees whether articles match.
19338 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
19339 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
19340 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
19343 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
19344 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
19345 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
19346 something along the lines of the following:
19349 (defun my-article-old-p ()
19350 "Say whether an article is old."
19351 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
19352 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
19355 with the predicate then defined as:
19358 (not my-article-old-p)
19361 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
19362 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
19366 (require 'gnus-agent)
19367 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
19368 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
19369 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
19372 and simply specify your predicate as:
19378 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
19379 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
19380 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
19381 just don't give a damn.
19383 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
19384 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
19385 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
19386 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
19387 parameters like so:
19390 (agent-predicate . short)
19393 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
19394 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
19395 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
19397 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
19400 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
19403 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
19404 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
19405 predicate is assumed to be a list.
19408 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
19409 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
19410 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
19411 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
19412 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
19413 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
19415 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
19416 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
19417 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
19418 if it's to be specific to that group.
19420 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
19427 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
19428 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
19434 Category specification
19438 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
19444 Group/Topic Parameter specification
19447 (agent-score ("from"
19448 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
19453 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
19459 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
19460 keywords stated above.
19466 Category specification
19469 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
19475 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
19479 Group Parameter specification
19482 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
19485 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
19490 Use @code{normal} score files
19492 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
19493 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
19494 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
19495 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
19497 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
19498 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
19499 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
19500 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
19504 Category Specification
19511 Group Parameter specification
19514 (agent-score . file)
19519 @node Category Buffer
19520 @subsubsection Category Buffer
19522 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
19523 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
19524 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
19526 The following commands are available in this buffer:
19530 @kindex q (Category)
19531 @findex gnus-category-exit
19532 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
19535 @kindex e (Category)
19536 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
19537 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
19538 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
19541 @kindex k (Category)
19542 @findex gnus-category-kill
19543 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
19546 @kindex c (Category)
19547 @findex gnus-category-copy
19548 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
19551 @kindex a (Category)
19552 @findex gnus-category-add
19553 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
19556 @kindex p (Category)
19557 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
19558 Edit the predicate of the current category
19559 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
19562 @kindex g (Category)
19563 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
19564 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
19565 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
19568 @kindex s (Category)
19569 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
19570 Edit the download score rule of the current category
19571 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
19574 @kindex l (Category)
19575 @findex gnus-category-list
19576 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
19580 @node Category Variables
19581 @subsubsection Category Variables
19584 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
19585 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
19586 Hook run in category buffers.
19588 @item gnus-category-line-format
19589 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
19590 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
19591 Variables}). Valid elements are:
19595 The name of the category.
19598 The number of groups in the category.
19601 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
19602 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
19603 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
19605 @item gnus-agent-short-article
19606 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
19607 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
19609 @item gnus-agent-long-article
19610 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
19611 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
19613 @item gnus-agent-low-score
19614 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
19615 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
19618 @item gnus-agent-high-score
19619 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
19620 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
19623 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
19624 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
19625 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
19626 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
19627 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
19628 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
19629 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
19630 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
19634 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
19635 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
19636 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
19637 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
19638 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
19639 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
19640 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
19645 @node Agent Commands
19646 @subsection Agent Commands
19647 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
19648 @kindex J j (Agent)
19650 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
19651 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
19652 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
19656 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
19657 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
19658 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
19664 @node Group Agent Commands
19665 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
19669 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
19670 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
19671 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
19672 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
19675 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
19676 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
19677 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
19680 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
19681 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
19682 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
19683 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
19686 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
19687 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
19688 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
19689 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
19692 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
19693 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
19694 Add the current group to an Agent category
19695 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
19696 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19699 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
19700 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
19701 Remove the current group from its category, if any
19702 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
19703 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19706 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
19707 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19708 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
19714 @node Summary Agent Commands
19715 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
19719 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
19720 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
19721 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
19724 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
19725 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
19726 Remove the downloading mark from the article
19727 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
19731 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
19732 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
19733 Toggle whether to download the article
19734 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
19738 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
19739 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
19740 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
19743 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
19744 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
19745 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
19746 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
19749 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
19750 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series
19751 Download all processable articles in this group.
19752 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series}).
19755 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
19756 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
19757 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
19758 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
19763 @node Server Agent Commands
19764 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
19768 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
19769 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
19770 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
19771 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
19774 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
19775 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
19776 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
19777 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
19782 @node Agent Visuals
19783 @subsection Agent Visuals
19785 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
19786 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
19787 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
19788 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
19789 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
19790 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
19791 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
19792 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
19793 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
19794 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
19796 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
19797 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
19798 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
19799 way, ``If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
19800 less than satisfying unplugged session''. For this reason, the Agent
19801 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
19802 the download status of each article so that you always know which
19803 articles will be available when unplugged.
19805 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
19806 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
19807 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
19808 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
19809 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
19810 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
19811 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
19812 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
19814 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
19815 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
19816 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
19817 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
19818 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
19819 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
19820 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
19821 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
19822 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
19824 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
19825 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
19826 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
19827 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
19828 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
19829 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
19830 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
19831 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
19832 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
19833 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
19835 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
19836 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
19837 group parameter to @code{t}. This parameter, like all other agent
19838 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}),
19839 a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an individual group
19840 (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19842 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
19843 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
19844 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
19845 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
19846 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
19847 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
19848 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
19849 expiring'' articles.
19851 @node Agent as Cache
19852 @subsection Agent as Cache
19854 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
19855 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
19856 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
19857 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
19858 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
19859 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
19860 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
19861 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
19862 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
19864 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
19865 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
19866 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
19867 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
19868 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
19871 @subsection Agent Expiry
19873 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
19874 @findex gnus-agent-expire
19875 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
19876 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
19877 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
19878 @cindex agent expiry
19879 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
19880 @cindex expiry, in Gnus agent
19882 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
19883 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
19884 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
19885 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
19886 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
19887 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
19888 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
19889 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
19891 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
19892 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
19893 synchronized with the group.
19895 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
19896 prevent expiration in selected groups.
19898 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
19899 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
19900 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
19901 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
19902 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
19903 be kept indefinitely.
19905 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
19906 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
19907 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
19908 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
19910 @node Agent Regeneration
19911 @subsection Agent Regeneration
19913 @cindex agent regeneration
19914 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
19915 @cindex regeneration
19917 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
19918 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
19919 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
19920 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
19921 internal inconsistencies.
19923 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
19924 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
19925 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
19926 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
19927 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
19928 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
19930 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
19931 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
19932 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
19933 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
19934 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
19935 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
19937 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19938 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19939 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
19940 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
19941 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
19942 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
19945 @node Agent and flags
19946 @subsection Agent and flags
19948 The Agent works with any Gnus back end including those, such as
19949 nnimap, that store flags (read, ticked, etc) on the server. Sadly,
19950 the Agent does not actually know which backends keep their flags in
19951 the backend server rather than in @file{.newsrc}. This means that the
19952 Agent, while unplugged or disconnected, will always record all changes
19953 to the flags in its own files.
19955 When you plug back in, Gnus will then check to see if you have any
19956 changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the
19957 server. This behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
19959 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19960 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19961 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19962 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19963 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19964 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19966 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
19967 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
19968 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
19969 in the group buffer.
19971 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
19972 all local flags to the server, but rather by incrementally updated the
19973 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
19974 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group then
19975 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
19976 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
19977 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
19978 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
19980 @node Agent and IMAP
19981 @subsection Agent and IMAP
19983 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
19984 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
19985 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
19986 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
19988 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
19989 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
19994 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
19997 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
20001 @node Outgoing Messages
20002 @subsection Outgoing Messages
20004 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
20005 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
20006 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
20008 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
20009 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
20010 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
20012 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
20013 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
20014 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
20015 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
20018 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
20019 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
20020 ask you to confirm your action (see
20021 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
20023 @node Agent Variables
20024 @subsection Agent Variables
20029 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
20030 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
20031 automatically mark some back ends as agentized. You may change which
20032 back ends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
20034 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
20035 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
20038 @item gnus-agent-directory
20039 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
20040 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
20041 @file{~/News/agent/}.
20043 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
20044 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
20045 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
20046 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
20047 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
20050 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
20051 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
20052 Hook run when connecting to the network.
20054 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
20055 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
20056 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
20058 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
20059 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
20060 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
20062 @item gnus-agent-cache
20063 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
20064 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
20065 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
20066 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
20068 @item gnus-agent-go-online
20069 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
20070 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
20071 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
20072 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
20073 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
20074 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
20077 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
20078 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
20079 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
20080 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
20081 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
20082 read. The default is @code{t}.
20084 @item gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20085 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20086 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
20087 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
20088 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
20089 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
20090 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
20092 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
20093 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
20094 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
20095 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
20096 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
20097 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
20098 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
20099 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
20100 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
20101 over and over again.
20103 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
20104 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
20105 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
20106 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
20107 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
20108 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
20109 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
20110 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
20111 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
20112 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
20113 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
20114 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
20117 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
20118 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
20119 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
20120 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
20121 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
20122 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
20123 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
20124 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
20125 is only valid if the Agent is used.
20127 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
20128 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
20129 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
20130 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
20131 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
20132 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
20134 The valid values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
20135 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
20136 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
20137 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
20138 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
20140 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
20141 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
20142 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
20143 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
20144 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
20145 mail. The default is @code{t}.
20147 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
20148 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
20149 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
20150 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
20151 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
20153 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
20154 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
20155 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
20156 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
20157 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
20158 which back ends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
20159 to agentize remote back ends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
20160 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
20161 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
20162 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
20163 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
20168 @node Example Setup
20169 @subsection Example Setup
20171 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
20172 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
20173 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
20176 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
20177 ;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
20178 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
20180 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
20181 ;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
20182 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
20184 ;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
20185 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
20187 ;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
20188 ;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
20189 ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
20192 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
20193 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
20196 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
20197 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
20198 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
20199 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
20200 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
20203 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
20204 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
20205 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
20206 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
20207 back all the killed groups.)
20209 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
20210 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
20211 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
20214 @node Batching Agents
20215 @subsection Batching Agents
20216 @findex gnus-agent-batch
20218 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
20219 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
20220 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
20222 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
20223 following incantation:
20227 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
20231 @node Agent Caveats
20232 @subsection Agent Caveats
20234 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
20235 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
20239 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
20241 @strong{No}. If you want this behavior, add
20242 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
20243 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
20245 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
20246 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
20248 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
20252 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
20253 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
20254 locally stored articles.
20261 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
20262 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
20263 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
20266 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
20267 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
20268 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
20269 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
20270 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
20272 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
20273 before generating the summary buffer.
20275 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
20276 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
20277 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
20279 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
20280 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
20281 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
20282 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
20285 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
20286 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
20287 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
20288 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
20289 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
20290 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
20291 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
20292 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
20293 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
20294 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
20295 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
20296 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
20297 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
20298 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
20299 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
20300 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
20304 @node Summary Score Commands
20305 @section Summary Score Commands
20306 @cindex score commands
20308 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
20309 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
20310 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
20311 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
20312 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
20314 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
20315 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
20316 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
20317 score file the current one.
20319 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
20324 @kindex V s (Summary)
20325 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
20326 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
20329 @kindex V S (Summary)
20330 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
20331 Display the score of the current article
20332 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
20335 @kindex V t (Summary)
20336 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
20337 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
20338 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
20339 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
20340 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
20341 score file and edit it.
20344 @kindex V w (Summary)
20345 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
20346 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
20349 @kindex V R (Summary)
20350 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
20351 Run the current summary through the scoring process
20352 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
20353 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
20354 effect you're having.
20357 @kindex V c (Summary)
20358 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
20359 Make a different score file the current
20360 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
20363 @kindex V e (Summary)
20364 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
20365 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
20366 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
20370 @kindex V f (Summary)
20371 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
20372 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
20373 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
20376 @kindex V F (Summary)
20377 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
20378 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
20379 after editing score files.
20382 @kindex V C (Summary)
20383 @findex gnus-score-customize
20384 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
20385 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
20389 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
20394 @kindex V m (Summary)
20395 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
20396 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
20397 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
20400 @kindex V x (Summary)
20401 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
20402 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
20403 expunge all articles below this score
20404 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
20407 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
20408 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
20411 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
20412 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
20416 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
20417 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
20419 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
20420 keys are available:
20424 Score on the author name.
20427 Score on the subject line.
20430 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
20433 Score on the @code{References} line.
20439 Score on the number of lines.
20442 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
20445 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
20446 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
20449 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
20450 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
20451 @file{ADAPT} files.)
20460 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
20466 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
20467 what headers you are scoring on.
20479 Substring matching.
20482 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
20511 Greater than number.
20516 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
20517 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
20518 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
20523 Temporary score entry.
20526 Permanent score entry.
20529 Immediately scoring.
20533 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
20534 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
20535 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
20539 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
20540 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
20541 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
20542 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
20544 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
20545 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
20546 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
20547 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
20548 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
20550 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
20551 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
20552 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
20553 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
20554 current score file.
20556 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
20557 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
20558 pretend they are keymaps or not.
20561 @node Group Score Commands
20562 @section Group Score Commands
20563 @cindex group score commands
20565 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
20570 @kindex W e (Group)
20571 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
20572 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
20573 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
20576 @kindex W f (Group)
20577 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
20578 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
20579 all the time. This command will flush the cache
20580 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
20584 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
20586 @findex gnus-batch-score
20587 @cindex batch scoring
20589 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
20593 @node Score Variables
20594 @section Score Variables
20595 @cindex score variables
20599 @item gnus-use-scoring
20600 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
20601 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
20602 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
20604 @item gnus-kill-killed
20605 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
20606 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
20607 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
20608 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
20609 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
20610 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
20611 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
20613 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
20614 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
20615 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
20616 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
20617 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
20619 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
20620 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
20621 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
20622 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
20624 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
20625 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
20626 @cindex score cache
20627 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
20628 score files. However, this might make your Emacs grow big and
20629 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
20630 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
20631 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
20632 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
20633 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
20636 @item gnus-save-score
20637 @vindex gnus-save-score
20638 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
20639 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
20640 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20642 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
20643 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
20644 across group visits.
20646 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
20647 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
20648 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
20649 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
20650 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
20651 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
20652 manually entered data.
20654 @item gnus-summary-default-score
20655 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
20656 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
20658 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
20659 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
20660 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
20661 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
20662 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
20663 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
20665 @item gnus-score-over-mark
20666 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
20667 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
20668 default. Default is @samp{+}.
20670 @item gnus-score-below-mark
20671 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
20672 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
20673 default. Default is @samp{-}.
20675 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
20676 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
20677 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
20678 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
20680 Predefined functions available are:
20683 @item gnus-score-find-single
20684 @findex gnus-score-find-single
20685 Only apply the group's own score file.
20687 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
20688 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
20689 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
20690 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
20691 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
20692 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
20693 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
20694 then a regexp match is done.
20696 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
20697 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
20699 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
20700 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
20701 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
20702 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
20704 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
20705 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
20706 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
20707 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
20708 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
20712 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
20713 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
20714 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
20715 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
20716 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
20717 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
20718 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
20721 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
20722 overall score file, you could use the value
20724 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
20725 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
20728 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
20729 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
20730 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
20731 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
20732 are expired. It's 7 by default.
20734 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
20735 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
20736 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
20737 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
20738 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
20739 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
20740 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
20741 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
20743 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
20744 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
20745 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
20747 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
20748 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
20749 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
20750 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
20751 threading---according to the current value of
20752 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
20753 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
20754 simplified in this manner.
20759 @node Score File Format
20760 @section Score File Format
20761 @cindex score file format
20763 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
20764 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
20765 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
20767 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
20771 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
20773 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
20775 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
20777 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
20782 (mark-and-expunge -10)
20786 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
20787 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
20788 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
20789 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
20793 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
20794 Scoring}, for a different approach.
20796 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
20797 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
20798 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
20800 Six keys are supported by this alist:
20805 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
20806 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
20807 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
20808 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
20809 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
20810 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
20811 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
20812 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
20813 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
20814 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
20815 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
20816 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
20817 to articles that matches these score entries.
20819 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
20820 score entry has one to four elements.
20824 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
20825 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
20829 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
20830 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
20831 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
20832 is successful. If this element is not present, the
20833 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
20834 instead. This is 1000 by default.
20837 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
20838 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
20839 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
20840 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
20841 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
20844 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
20845 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
20846 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
20847 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
20850 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
20851 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
20852 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
20853 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
20854 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
20855 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
20856 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
20857 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
20858 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
20859 instead, if you feel like.
20862 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
20863 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
20864 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
20865 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
20866 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
20867 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
20871 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
20872 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
20876 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
20877 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
20879 These predicates are true if
20882 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
20885 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
20886 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
20893 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
20894 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
20895 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
20896 it's not. I think.)
20898 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
20899 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
20900 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
20901 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
20904 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
20905 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
20906 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
20907 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
20908 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
20909 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
20910 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
20914 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
20915 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
20916 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
20917 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
20918 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
20919 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
20920 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
20921 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
20924 @item Head, Body, All
20925 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
20929 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
20930 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
20931 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
20932 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
20933 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
20934 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
20935 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
20939 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
20940 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
20941 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
20942 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
20943 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
20944 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
20945 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
20946 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
20947 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
20948 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
20949 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
20953 @cindex score file atoms
20955 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20956 lower than this number will be marked as read.
20959 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20960 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
20962 @item mark-and-expunge
20963 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20964 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
20967 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
20968 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
20969 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
20970 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
20971 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
20974 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
20975 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
20978 @item exclude-files
20979 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
20980 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
20984 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
20985 ignored when handling global score files.
20988 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
20989 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
20990 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
20991 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
20994 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
20995 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
20996 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
20997 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
20999 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
21003 (mark-and-expunge -100)
21006 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
21007 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
21008 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
21009 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
21010 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
21012 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
21013 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
21014 scoring rules exist.
21017 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
21018 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
21019 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
21020 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
21021 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
21022 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
21023 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
21024 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
21025 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
21026 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
21027 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
21031 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
21032 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
21033 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
21034 file for a number of groups.
21037 @cindex local variables
21038 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
21039 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
21040 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
21041 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
21042 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
21047 @node Score File Editing
21048 @section Score File Editing
21050 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
21051 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
21052 with a mode for that.
21054 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
21055 additional commands:
21060 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
21061 @findex gnus-score-edit-exit
21062 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
21063 (@code{gnus-score-edit-exit}).
21066 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
21067 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
21068 Insert the current date in numerical format
21069 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
21070 you were wondering.
21073 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
21074 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
21075 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
21076 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
21077 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
21082 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
21084 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
21085 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
21087 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
21088 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
21091 @node Adaptive Scoring
21092 @section Adaptive Scoring
21093 @cindex adaptive scoring
21095 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
21096 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
21097 stupidity, to be precise.
21099 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
21100 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
21101 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
21102 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
21103 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
21104 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
21105 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
21106 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
21107 variable to @code{(word line)}.
21109 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
21110 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
21111 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
21112 might look something like this:
21115 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
21116 '((gnus-unread-mark)
21117 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
21118 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
21119 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
21120 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
21121 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
21122 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
21123 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
21124 (gnus-ancient-mark)
21125 (gnus-low-score-mark)
21126 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
21129 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
21130 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
21131 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
21132 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
21133 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
21134 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
21137 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
21138 will be applied to each article.
21140 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
21141 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
21142 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
21143 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
21145 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
21146 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
21147 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
21148 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
21150 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
21151 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
21152 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
21153 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
21155 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
21156 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
21157 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
21158 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
21159 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
21160 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
21162 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
21163 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
21164 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
21166 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
21167 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
21168 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
21170 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
21171 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
21172 let you use different rules in different groups.
21174 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
21175 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
21176 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
21179 @vindex gnus-adaptive-pretty-print
21180 Adaptive score files can get huge and are not meant to be edited by
21181 human hands. If @code{gnus-adaptive-pretty-print} is @code{nil} (the
21182 deafult) those files will not be written in a human readable way.
21184 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
21185 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
21186 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
21187 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
21188 the length of the match is less than
21189 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
21190 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
21193 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
21194 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
21195 headers. If you adapt on words, the
21196 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
21197 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
21200 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
21201 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
21202 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
21203 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
21204 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
21207 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
21208 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
21209 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
21210 score with 30 points.
21212 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
21213 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
21214 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
21215 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
21216 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
21218 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
21219 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
21220 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
21221 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
21222 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
21224 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
21225 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
21226 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
21227 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
21229 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
21230 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
21231 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
21232 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
21234 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
21235 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
21236 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
21237 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
21238 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
21240 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
21241 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
21242 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
21244 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
21245 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
21246 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
21247 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
21250 @node Home Score File
21251 @section Home Score File
21253 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
21254 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
21255 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
21256 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
21258 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
21259 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
21260 could perhaps use the same home score file.
21262 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
21263 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
21268 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
21272 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
21273 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
21277 A list. The elements in this list can be:
21281 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
21282 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
21285 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
21286 be used as the home score file. The function will be called with the
21287 name of the group as the parameter.
21290 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
21293 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
21298 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
21301 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21302 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
21305 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
21306 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
21308 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
21310 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21311 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
21314 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
21315 Other functions include
21318 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
21319 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
21320 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
21321 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
21325 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
21326 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
21327 their own home score files:
21330 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21331 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
21332 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
21333 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
21334 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
21337 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
21338 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
21339 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
21340 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
21341 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
21343 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
21344 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
21345 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
21346 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
21347 precedence over this variable.
21350 @node Followups To Yourself
21351 @section Followups To Yourself
21353 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
21354 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
21355 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
21356 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
21357 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
21358 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
21362 @item gnus-score-followup-article
21363 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
21364 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
21367 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
21368 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
21369 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
21373 @vindex message-sent-hook
21374 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
21375 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
21377 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
21381 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
21382 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
21386 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
21387 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
21390 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
21391 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
21396 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
21400 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
21401 is system-dependent.
21404 @node Scoring On Other Headers
21405 @section Scoring On Other Headers
21406 @cindex scoring on other headers
21408 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
21409 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
21410 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
21411 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
21412 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
21414 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
21415 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
21416 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
21417 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
21418 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
21420 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21423 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
21424 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
21427 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
21428 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
21429 time if you have much mail.
21431 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
21432 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
21436 @vindex gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring
21437 You can inhibit scoring the slow scoring on headers or body by setting
21438 the variable @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring}. If
21439 @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring} is regexp, slow scoring is inhibited if
21440 the group matches the regexp. If it is t, slow scoring on it is
21441 inhibited for all groups.
21445 @section Scoring Tips
21446 @cindex scoring tips
21452 @cindex scoring crossposts
21453 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
21454 the @code{Xref} header.
21456 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
21459 @item Multiple crossposts
21460 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
21461 more than, say, 3 groups:
21464 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
21468 @item Matching on the body
21469 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
21470 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
21471 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
21472 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
21473 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
21474 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
21475 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
21478 @item Marking as read
21479 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
21480 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
21481 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
21485 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
21487 @item Negated character classes
21488 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
21489 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
21490 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
21494 @node Reverse Scoring
21495 @section Reverse Scoring
21496 @cindex reverse scoring
21498 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
21499 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
21500 like this in your score file:
21504 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
21509 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
21510 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
21513 @node Global Score Files
21514 @section Global Score Files
21515 @cindex global score files
21517 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
21518 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
21519 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
21521 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
21522 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
21523 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
21525 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
21526 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
21527 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
21528 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
21529 files are applicable to which group.
21531 To use the score file
21532 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
21533 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
21537 (setq gnus-global-score-files
21538 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
21539 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
21542 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
21544 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
21545 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
21546 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
21547 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
21549 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
21550 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
21552 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
21553 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
21554 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
21555 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
21556 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
21557 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
21559 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
21565 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
21567 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
21569 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
21571 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
21572 lowered out of existence.
21574 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
21575 articles completely.
21578 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
21579 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
21580 old articles for a long time.
21583 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
21584 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
21585 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
21586 holding our breath yet?
21590 @section Kill Files
21593 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
21594 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
21595 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
21597 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
21598 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
21599 files into score files.
21601 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
21602 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
21603 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
21604 that isn't a very good idea.
21606 Normal kill files look like this:
21609 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21610 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
21614 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
21615 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
21617 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
21618 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
21621 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
21626 @kindex M-k (Summary)
21627 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
21628 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
21631 @kindex M-K (Summary)
21632 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
21633 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
21636 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
21641 @kindex M-k (Group)
21642 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
21643 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
21646 @kindex M-K (Group)
21647 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
21648 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
21651 Kill file variables:
21654 @item gnus-kill-file-name
21655 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
21656 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
21657 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
21658 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
21659 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
21660 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
21662 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
21663 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
21664 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
21665 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
21668 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
21669 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
21670 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
21671 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
21672 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
21673 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
21674 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
21675 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
21676 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
21678 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
21679 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
21680 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
21685 @node Converting Kill Files
21686 @section Converting Kill Files
21688 @cindex converting kill files
21690 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
21691 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
21692 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
21695 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
21696 You can fetch it from
21697 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
21699 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
21700 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
21701 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
21705 @node Advanced Scoring
21706 @section Advanced Scoring
21708 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
21709 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
21710 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
21711 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
21712 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
21714 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
21718 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
21719 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
21720 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
21724 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
21725 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
21727 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
21728 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
21729 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
21730 non-@code{nil} value.
21732 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
21733 operator, and various match operators.
21740 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
21741 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
21742 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
21747 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
21748 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
21749 then this operator will return @code{false}.
21754 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
21755 logical negation of the value of its argument.
21759 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
21760 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
21761 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
21762 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
21763 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
21764 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
21765 the ancestry you want to go.
21767 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
21768 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
21769 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
21770 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
21771 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
21774 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
21775 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
21777 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
21778 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
21781 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
21782 when he's talking about Gnus:
21787 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21788 ("subject" "Gnus"))
21795 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
21799 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21806 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
21807 really don't want to read what he's written:
21811 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21812 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigil Logge")))
21816 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
21817 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
21818 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
21825 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
21826 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
21827 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
21828 ("body" "white.*socks"))
21832 Suppose you're reading a high volume group and you're only interested
21833 in replies. The plan is to score down all articles that don't have
21834 subject that begin with "Re:", "Fw:" or "Fwd:" and then score up all
21835 parents of articles that have subjects that begin with reply marks.
21838 ((! ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
21840 ((1- ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
21844 The possibilities are endless.
21846 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
21847 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
21849 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
21850 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
21851 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
21852 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
21853 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
21854 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
21855 @samp{subject}) first.
21857 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
21858 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
21869 Then that means ``score on the from header of the grandparent of the
21870 current article''. An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
21876 ("subject" "Gnus")))
21883 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
21884 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
21889 @section Score Decays
21890 @cindex score decays
21893 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
21894 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
21895 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
21896 use them in any sensible way.
21898 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
21899 @findex gnus-decay-score
21900 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
21901 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
21902 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
21903 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
21904 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
21905 If @code{gnus-decay-scores} is a regexp, only score files matching this
21906 regexp are treated. E.g. you may set it to @samp{\\.ADAPT\\'} if only
21907 @emph{adaptive} score files should be decayed. The decay itself if
21908 performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function} function, which is
21909 @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the definition of that
21913 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
21914 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
21915 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
21917 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
21919 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
21921 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
21922 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
21923 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
21924 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
21925 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
21927 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
21931 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
21932 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
21933 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
21934 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
21938 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
21941 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
21944 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
21948 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
21949 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
21950 the new score, which should be an integer.
21952 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
21953 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
21958 @include message.texi
21959 @chapter Emacs MIME
21960 @include emacs-mime.texi
21962 @include sieve.texi
21974 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
21975 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
21976 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
21977 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
21978 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
21979 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
21980 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
21981 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
21982 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
21983 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
21984 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
21985 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
21986 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
21987 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
21988 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
21989 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
21990 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
21991 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
21992 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
21993 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
21994 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
21995 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
21999 @node Process/Prefix
22000 @section Process/Prefix
22001 @cindex process/prefix convention
22003 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
22004 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
22006 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
22007 command to be performed on.
22011 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
22012 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
22013 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
22014 with the current one.
22016 @vindex transient-mark-mode
22017 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
22018 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
22020 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
22021 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
22024 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
22025 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
22027 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
22030 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
22031 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
22032 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
22033 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22035 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
22036 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
22037 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
22038 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
22039 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
22040 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
22041 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
22042 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
22044 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
22045 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
22046 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
22047 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
22048 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
22052 @section Interactive
22053 @cindex interaction
22057 @item gnus-novice-user
22058 @vindex gnus-novice-user
22059 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
22060 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
22061 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
22062 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
22065 @item gnus-expert-user
22066 @vindex gnus-expert-user
22067 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
22068 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
22069 matter how strange.
22071 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
22072 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
22073 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
22074 is @code{t} by default.
22076 @item gnus-interactive-exit
22077 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
22078 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22083 @node Symbolic Prefixes
22084 @section Symbolic Prefixes
22085 @cindex symbolic prefixes
22087 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
22088 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
22089 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
22090 rule of 900 to the current article.
22092 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
22093 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
22094 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
22095 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
22096 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
22097 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
22098 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
22100 @kindex M-i (Summary)
22101 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
22102 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
22103 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
22104 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
22105 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
22106 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
22107 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
22108 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
22110 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
22111 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
22112 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
22114 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
22118 @node Formatting Variables
22119 @section Formatting Variables
22120 @cindex formatting variables
22122 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
22123 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
22124 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
22125 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
22126 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
22129 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
22130 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
22131 lots of percentages everywhere.
22134 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
22135 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
22136 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
22137 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
22138 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
22139 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
22140 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
22141 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
22144 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
22145 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
22146 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
22147 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
22148 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
22149 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
22150 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
22151 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
22153 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
22154 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
22156 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
22157 @findex gnus-update-format
22158 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
22159 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
22160 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
22161 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
22165 @node Formatting Basics
22166 @subsection Formatting Basics
22168 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
22169 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
22170 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
22172 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
22173 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
22174 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
22175 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
22176 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
22179 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
22180 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
22181 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
22182 less than 4 characters wide.
22184 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
22185 @samp{%&user-date;}.
22188 @node Mode Line Formatting
22189 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
22191 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
22192 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
22193 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
22194 with the following two differences:
22199 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
22202 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
22203 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
22204 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
22205 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
22206 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
22207 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
22208 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
22213 @node Advanced Formatting
22214 @subsection Advanced Formatting
22216 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
22217 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
22218 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
22219 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
22221 These are the valid modifiers:
22226 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
22230 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
22235 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
22238 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
22243 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
22246 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
22249 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
22252 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
22258 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
22263 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
22264 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
22265 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
22266 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
22267 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
22268 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
22269 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
22271 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
22272 last operation, padding.
22274 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
22275 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
22276 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
22277 @xref{Compilation}.
22280 @node User-Defined Specs
22281 @subsection User-Defined Specs
22283 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
22284 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
22285 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
22286 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
22287 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
22288 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
22289 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
22290 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
22291 should protect against that.
22293 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
22294 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
22296 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
22297 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
22298 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
22299 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
22303 @node Formatting Fonts
22304 @subsection Formatting Fonts
22307 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22308 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
22309 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
22310 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
22311 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
22315 @vindex gnus-face-0
22316 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
22317 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
22318 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
22319 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
22320 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
22321 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
22323 @cindex %<<, %>>, guillemets
22324 @c @cindex %<<, %>>, %«, %», guillemets
22325 @vindex gnus-balloon-face-0
22326 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
22327 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
22328 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
22329 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
22330 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
22331 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
22332 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
22333 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
22334 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
22335 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
22336 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
22339 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
22342 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
22343 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
22344 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
22346 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
22347 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
22348 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
22349 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
22350 ;; @r{Set the color.}
22351 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
22352 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
22354 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
22355 (setq gnus-group-line-format
22356 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
22359 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
22360 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
22362 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
22363 mode-line variables.
22365 @node Positioning Point
22366 @subsection Positioning Point
22368 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
22369 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
22370 line. You can customize this behavior in three different ways.
22372 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
22374 @findex gnus-goto-colon
22375 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
22376 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
22378 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
22379 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
22380 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
22385 @subsection Tabulation
22387 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
22388 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
22389 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
22390 about lining up the following text afterwards.
22392 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
22393 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
22395 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22396 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
22397 This is the soft tabulator.
22399 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22400 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
22401 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
22404 @node Wide Characters
22405 @subsection Wide Characters
22407 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
22408 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
22409 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
22411 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
22412 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
22413 these countries, that's not true.
22415 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
22416 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
22417 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
22418 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
22422 @node Window Layout
22423 @section Window Layout
22424 @cindex window layout
22426 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
22428 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
22429 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
22430 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
22431 @code{t} by default.
22433 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
22434 glitches. Use at your own peril.
22436 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
22437 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
22438 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
22441 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
22442 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
22443 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22447 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
22448 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
22449 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
22450 possible names is listed below.
22452 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
22453 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
22456 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22460 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
22461 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
22462 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
22463 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
22464 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
22465 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
22466 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
22467 size spec per split.
22469 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
22470 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
22471 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
22472 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
22473 present) gets focus.
22475 Here's a more complicated example:
22478 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
22479 (summary 0.25 point)
22480 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
22484 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
22485 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
22486 occupy, not a percentage.
22488 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
22489 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
22490 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
22491 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
22492 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
22495 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
22498 (article (horizontal 1.0
22503 (summary 0.25 point)
22508 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
22509 @code{horizontal} thingie?
22511 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
22512 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
22513 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
22514 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
22515 the screen is to be given to this strip.
22517 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
22518 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
22519 lines from the splits.
22521 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
22526 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
22527 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
22528 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
22529 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
22530 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
22531 size = number | frame-params
22532 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
22536 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
22537 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
22538 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
22539 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
22541 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
22542 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
22543 @cindex window height
22544 @cindex window width
22545 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
22546 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
22547 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
22548 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
22549 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
22550 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
22552 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
22553 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
22554 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
22555 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
22557 @findex gnus-configure-frame
22558 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
22559 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
22560 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
22561 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
22562 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
22563 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
22564 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
22565 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
22566 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
22567 configuration list.
22570 (gnus-configure-frame
22574 (article 0.3 point))
22582 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
22583 @code{frame} split:
22586 (gnus-configure-frame
22589 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
22591 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
22592 (user-position . t)
22593 (left . -1) (top . 1))
22598 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
22599 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
22600 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
22601 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
22602 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
22603 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
22604 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
22605 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
22607 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
22608 be found in its default value.
22610 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
22611 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
22612 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
22616 (message (horizontal 1.0
22617 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
22619 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
22624 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
22625 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
22626 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
22631 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
22632 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
22633 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
22634 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
22635 (name . "Message"))
22636 (message 1.0 point))))
22639 @findex gnus-add-configuration
22640 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
22641 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
22642 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
22643 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
22646 (gnus-add-configuration
22647 '(article (vertical 1.0
22649 (summary .25 point)
22653 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
22654 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
22655 Gnus has been loaded.
22657 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
22658 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
22659 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
22660 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
22661 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
22663 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
22664 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
22665 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
22668 @subsection Example Window Configurations
22672 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
22673 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
22688 (gnus-add-configuration
22691 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22693 (summary 0.16 point)
22696 (gnus-add-configuration
22699 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22700 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
22706 @node Faces and Fonts
22707 @section Faces and Fonts
22712 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
22713 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
22714 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
22719 @section Compilation
22720 @cindex compilation
22721 @cindex byte-compilation
22723 @findex gnus-compile
22725 Remember all those line format specification variables?
22726 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
22727 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
22728 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
22729 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
22730 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
22733 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
22734 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
22735 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
22736 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
22737 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
22738 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
22739 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
22743 @section Mode Lines
22746 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
22747 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
22748 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
22749 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
22750 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
22751 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
22752 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
22755 @cindex display-time
22757 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
22758 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
22759 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
22760 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
22761 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
22762 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
22763 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
22764 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
22767 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
22769 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
22770 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
22772 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
22773 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
22774 (length display-time-string)))))
22777 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
22778 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
22779 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
22780 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
22781 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
22784 @node Highlighting and Menus
22785 @section Highlighting and Menus
22787 @cindex highlighting
22790 @vindex gnus-visual
22791 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
22792 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
22793 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
22796 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
22797 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
22800 @item group-highlight
22801 Do highlights in the group buffer.
22802 @item summary-highlight
22803 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
22804 @item article-highlight
22805 Do highlights in the article buffer.
22807 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
22809 Create menus in the group buffer.
22811 Create menus in the summary buffers.
22813 Create menus in the article buffer.
22815 Create menus in the browse buffer.
22817 Create menus in the server buffer.
22819 Create menus in the score buffers.
22821 Create menus in all buffers.
22824 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
22825 buffers, you could say something like:
22828 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
22831 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
22834 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
22837 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
22838 in all Gnus buffers.
22840 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
22843 @item gnus-mouse-face
22844 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22845 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
22846 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
22850 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
22854 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
22855 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
22856 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
22858 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
22859 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
22860 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
22862 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
22863 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
22864 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
22866 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
22867 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
22868 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
22870 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
22871 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
22872 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
22874 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
22875 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
22876 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
22887 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
22888 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
22889 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
22890 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
22891 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
22895 @vindex gnus-carpal
22896 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
22897 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
22898 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
22903 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
22904 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
22905 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
22907 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
22908 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
22909 Face used on buttons.
22911 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
22912 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
22913 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
22915 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
22916 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
22917 Buttons in the group buffer.
22919 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
22920 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
22921 Buttons in the summary buffer.
22923 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
22924 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
22925 Buttons in the server buffer.
22927 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
22928 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
22929 Buttons in the browse buffer.
22932 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
22933 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
22934 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
22942 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
22943 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
22944 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
22945 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
22946 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
22948 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
22949 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
22950 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
22952 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
22953 been idle for thirty minutes:
22956 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
22959 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
22963 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
22966 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
22967 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
22968 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
22970 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
22971 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
22972 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
22973 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
22975 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
22976 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
22977 @var{idle} minutes.
22979 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
22980 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
22983 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
22984 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
22985 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
22987 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
22988 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
22989 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
22990 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
22992 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
22993 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22995 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
22997 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
23000 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
23001 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
23002 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
23003 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
23004 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
23005 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
23006 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
23007 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
23008 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
23009 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
23010 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
23012 @findex gnus-demon-init
23013 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
23014 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
23015 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
23016 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
23017 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
23019 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
23020 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
23021 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
23030 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
23031 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
23033 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
23034 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
23035 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
23036 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
23039 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
23040 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
23041 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
23042 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
23044 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
23045 this will make spam disappear.
23047 There are some variables to customize, of course:
23050 @item gnus-use-nocem
23051 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
23052 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
23055 You can also set this variable to a positive number as a group level.
23056 In that case, Gnus scans NoCeM messages when checking new news if this
23057 value is not exceeding a group level that you specify as the prefix
23058 argument to some commands, e.g. @code{gnus},
23059 @code{gnus-group-get-new-news}, etc. Otherwise, Gnus does not scan
23060 NoCeM messages if you specify a group level to those commands. For
23061 example, if you use 1 or 2 on the mail groups and the levels on the news
23062 groups remain the default, 3 is the best choice.
23064 @item gnus-nocem-groups
23065 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
23066 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
23069 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
23070 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
23073 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
23074 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
23075 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
23076 people you want to listen to. The default is
23078 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
23079 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
23081 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
23083 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
23084 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
23086 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
23087 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
23088 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
23089 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
23090 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
23091 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
23092 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
23093 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
23094 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
23095 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
23097 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
23098 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
23101 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
23104 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
23105 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
23108 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
23111 The specs are applied left-to-right.
23114 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
23115 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
23117 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
23118 says she is. The default is @code{pgg-verify}, which returns
23119 non-@code{nil} if the verification is successful, otherwise (including
23120 the case the NoCeM message was not signed) returns @code{nil}. If this
23121 is too slow and you don't care for verification (which may be dangerous),
23122 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
23124 Formerly the default was @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
23125 function. While you can still use it, you can change it into
23126 @code{pgg-verify} running with GnuPG if you are willing to add the
23127 @acronym{PGP} public keys to GnuPG's keyring.
23129 @item gnus-nocem-directory
23130 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
23131 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
23132 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
23134 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
23135 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
23136 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
23137 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
23138 might then see old spam.
23140 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
23141 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
23142 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
23143 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
23144 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
23147 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
23148 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
23149 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
23150 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
23154 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
23155 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
23156 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
23157 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
23164 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
23165 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
23166 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
23168 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
23169 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
23170 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
23171 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
23172 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
23173 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
23174 @code{undo} function.
23176 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
23177 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
23178 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
23179 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
23180 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
23181 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
23182 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
23183 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
23184 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
23185 never be totally undoable.
23187 @findex gnus-undo-mode
23188 @vindex gnus-use-undo
23190 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
23191 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
23192 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
23193 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
23197 @node Predicate Specifiers
23198 @section Predicate Specifiers
23199 @cindex predicate specifiers
23201 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
23202 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
23203 to type all that much.
23205 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
23210 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
23211 gnus-article-unread-p)
23214 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
23215 functions all take one parameter.
23217 @findex gnus-make-predicate
23218 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
23219 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
23220 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
23225 @section Moderation
23228 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
23229 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
23230 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
23233 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
23237 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
23240 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
23242 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
23247 You split your incoming mail by matching on
23248 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
23249 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
23252 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
23253 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
23256 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
23257 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
23261 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
23264 (setq gnus-moderated-list
23265 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
23269 @node Fetching a Group
23270 @section Fetching a Group
23271 @cindex fetching a group
23273 @findex gnus-fetch-group
23274 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
23275 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
23276 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
23277 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
23278 It takes the group name as a parameter.
23281 @node Image Enhancements
23282 @section Image Enhancements
23284 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
23285 support images, Emacs 22 does.} and up, are able to display pictures and
23286 stuff, so Gnus has taken advantage of that.
23289 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
23290 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
23291 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
23292 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
23293 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
23301 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
23302 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
23303 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
23307 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
23308 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
23309 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
23317 Viewing an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
23318 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions have), or that you
23319 have suitable conversion or display programs installed. If your Emacs
23320 has image support the default action is to display the face before the
23321 @code{From} header. If there's no native @code{X-Face} support, Gnus
23322 will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using external programs
23323 from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends, see below. For XEmacs it's
23324 faster if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support. The
23325 default action under Emacs without image support is to fork off the
23326 @code{display} program.
23328 On a GNU/Linux system, the @code{display} program is included in the
23329 ImageMagick package. For external conversion programs look for packages
23330 with names like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.
23331 On Windows, you may use the packages @code{netpbm} and @code{compface}
23332 from @url{http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net}. You need to add the
23333 @code{bin} directory to your @code{PATH} environment variable.
23334 @c In fact only the following DLLs and binaries seem to be required:
23335 @c compface1.dll uncompface.exe libnetpbm10.dll icontopbm.exe
23337 The variable @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} controls which programs
23338 are used to display the @code{X-Face} header. If this variable is a
23339 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
23340 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
23341 If @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches the
23342 @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
23344 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
23352 @vindex gnus-x-face
23353 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
23354 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
23355 default colors are black and white.
23357 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
23358 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
23359 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
23360 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
23361 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
23362 XEmacs. Here are examples:
23365 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
23366 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23367 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
23368 (png . (:ascent 80))))
23370 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
23371 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23372 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
23373 (png . (:relief -2))))
23376 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
23377 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
23378 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
23379 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
23380 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
23381 @samp{libcompface} library.
23384 If you use posting styles, you can use an @code{x-face-file} entry in
23385 @code{gnus-posting-styles}, @xref{Posting Styles}. If you don't, Gnus
23386 provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow easier
23387 insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages. You also need the
23388 above mentioned ImageMagick, netpbm or other image conversion packages
23389 (depending the values of the variables below) for these functions.
23391 @findex gnus-random-x-face
23392 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
23393 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
23394 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
23395 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
23396 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
23397 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
23398 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
23399 header data as a string.
23401 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
23402 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
23403 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
23404 randomly generated data.
23406 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
23407 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
23408 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
23409 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
23410 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
23412 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
23413 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23416 (setq message-required-news-headers
23417 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23418 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
23421 Using the last function would be something like this:
23424 (setq message-required-news-headers
23425 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23426 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
23427 (gnus-x-face-from-file
23428 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
23436 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces' implementations should really be harmonized.
23438 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
23439 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
23440 represent the author of the message.
23443 @findex gnus-article-display-face
23444 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
23445 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
23448 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
23449 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
23451 Viewing an @code{Face} header requires an Emacs that is able to display
23454 @c (if (featurep 'xemacs)
23456 @c (image-type-available-p 'png))
23458 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
23459 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
23461 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
23462 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
23463 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
23465 @findex gnus-face-from-file
23466 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
23467 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
23468 converts the file to Face format by using the
23469 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
23471 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
23472 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23475 (setq message-required-news-headers
23476 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23477 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
23478 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
23483 @subsection Smileys
23488 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
23493 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
23494 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
23496 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
23497 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23500 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
23503 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
23504 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
23505 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
23506 text and maps that to file names.
23508 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
23509 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
23510 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
23511 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
23512 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
23515 The following variables customize the appearance of the smileys:
23520 @vindex smiley-style
23521 Specifies the smiley style. Predefined smiley styles include
23522 @code{low-color} (small 13x14 pixel, three-color images), @code{medium}
23523 (more colorful images, 16x16 pixel), and @code{grayscale} (grayscale
23524 images, 14x14 pixel). The default depends on the height of the default
23527 @item smiley-data-directory
23528 @vindex smiley-data-directory
23529 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files. You shouldn't set this
23530 variable anymore. Customize @code{smiley-style} instead.
23532 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
23533 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
23534 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
23548 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
23549 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
23550 over your shoulder as you read news.
23552 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
23561 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
23562 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
23563 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
23564 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
23565 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
23566 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
23567 @code{GIF} formats.
23570 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23571 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
23572 point your Web browser at
23573 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
23575 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
23576 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
23578 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
23579 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
23582 @vindex gnus-picon-style
23583 The variable @code{gnus-picon-style} controls how picons are displayed.
23584 If @code{inline}, the textual representation is replaced. If
23585 @code{right}, picons are added right to the textual representation.
23587 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
23591 @item gnus-picon-databases
23592 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23593 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
23594 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
23595 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
23596 "/usr/local/faces")}.
23598 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
23599 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
23600 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23601 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
23603 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
23604 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
23605 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
23606 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
23608 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
23609 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
23610 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23611 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
23612 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
23614 @item gnus-picon-file-types
23615 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
23616 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
23617 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
23623 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
23626 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23627 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23628 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
23629 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
23630 unusual directory structure.
23632 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23633 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23634 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
23639 @subsubsection Toolbar
23643 @item gnus-use-toolbar
23644 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
23645 This variable specifies the position to display the toolbar. If
23646 @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If it is non-@code{nil}, it should
23647 be one of the symbols @code{default}, @code{top}, @code{bottom},
23648 @code{right}, and @code{left}. @code{default} means to use the default
23649 toolbar, the rest mean to display the toolbar on the place which those
23650 names show. The default is @code{default}.
23652 @item gnus-toolbar-thickness
23653 @vindex gnus-toolbar-thickness
23654 Cons of the height and the width specifying the thickness of a toolbar.
23655 The height is used for the toolbar displayed on the top or the bottom,
23656 the width is used for the toolbar displayed on the right or the left.
23657 The default is that of the default toolbar.
23659 @item gnus-group-toolbar
23660 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
23661 The toolbar in the group buffer.
23663 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
23664 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
23665 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
23667 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23668 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23669 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
23680 @node Fuzzy Matching
23681 @section Fuzzy Matching
23682 @cindex fuzzy matching
23684 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
23685 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
23687 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
23688 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
23689 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
23691 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
23692 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
23693 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
23694 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
23695 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
23698 @node Thwarting Email Spam
23699 @section Thwarting Email Spam
23703 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23705 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
23706 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
23707 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
23708 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
23709 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
23710 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
23711 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
23712 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
23715 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
23716 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
23717 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
23718 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
23719 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
23720 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
23722 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
23725 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
23726 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
23727 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
23728 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
23731 @node The problem of spam
23732 @subsection The problem of spam
23734 @cindex spam filtering approaches
23735 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
23737 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23739 First, some background on spam.
23741 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
23742 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
23743 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
23744 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
23745 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
23746 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
23747 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
23748 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
23749 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
23751 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
23752 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
23753 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
23754 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
23755 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
23756 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
23757 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
23758 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
23759 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
23762 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
23763 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
23764 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
23765 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
23766 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
23767 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
23768 from Bulgarian IPs.
23770 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
23771 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
23772 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
23773 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
23775 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
23776 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
23777 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
23778 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
23780 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
23781 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
23782 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
23783 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
23784 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
23785 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
23786 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
23787 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
23788 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
23790 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
23791 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
23792 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
23793 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
23794 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
23795 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
23796 down for some time because of the incident.
23798 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
23799 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
23800 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
23801 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
23802 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
23803 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
23804 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
23805 to store the database of spam analysis. Statistical analysis on the
23806 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
23807 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
23808 the server that it has misclassified mail.
23810 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
23811 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
23812 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
23813 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
23814 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
23815 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
23816 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
23819 @node Anti-Spam Basics
23820 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
23824 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23826 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
23827 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
23829 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
23830 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
23831 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
23832 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
23833 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
23834 part of the mail address.)
23837 (setq message-default-news-headers
23838 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
23841 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23842 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23846 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
23847 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
23848 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
23853 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
23854 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
23855 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
23856 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
23858 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
23859 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
23860 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
23861 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
23862 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
23863 your fancy split rule in this way:
23868 (to "larsi" "misc")
23872 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
23873 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
23874 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
23875 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
23876 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
23878 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
23879 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
23880 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
23881 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
23883 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
23887 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
23888 @cindex SpamAssassin
23889 @cindex Vipul's Razor
23892 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
23893 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
23894 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
23895 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
23896 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
23897 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
23898 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
23900 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
23901 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
23902 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
23905 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
23906 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
23907 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
23908 Specifiers}) follow.
23912 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
23916 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
23919 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
23920 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
23921 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
23924 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
23928 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23931 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
23932 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
23936 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
23937 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
23938 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
23939 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
23942 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
23944 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
23948 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
23949 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
23953 Note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will not be
23954 downloaded by default. You need to set
23955 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
23956 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
23958 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
23959 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
23960 spam. And here is the nifty function:
23963 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
23964 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
23966 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
23967 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
23968 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
23972 @subsection Hashcash
23975 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
23976 costly and demonstrably unique for each message they send. This has
23977 the obvious drawback that you cannot rely on everyone in the world
23978 using this technique, since it is not part of the Internet standards,
23979 but it may be useful in smaller communities.
23981 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
23982 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
23983 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
23984 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
23985 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
23986 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
23987 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
23988 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
23989 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
23990 one of them separately.
23993 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
23994 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
23995 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:} header.
23996 For more details, and for the external application @code{hashcash} you
23997 need to install to use this feature, see
23998 @uref{http://www.hashcash.org/}. Even more information can be found
23999 at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
24001 If you wish to generate hashcash for each message you send, you can
24002 customize @code{message-generate-hashcash} (@pxref{Mail Headers, ,Mail
24003 Headers,message, The Message Manual}), as in:
24006 (setq message-generate-hashcash t)
24009 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
24013 @item hashcash-default-payment
24014 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
24015 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
24016 should consist of. By default this is 20. Suggested useful values
24019 @item hashcash-payment-alist
24020 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
24021 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
24022 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
24023 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
24024 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
24025 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
24026 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
24027 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
24029 @item hashcash-path
24030 @vindex hashcash-path
24031 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed. This variable should
24032 be automatically set by @code{executable-find}, but if it's @code{nil}
24033 (usually because the @code{hashcash} binary is not in your path)
24034 you'll get a warning when you check hashcash payments and an error
24035 when you generate hashcash payments.
24039 Gnus can verify hashcash cookies, although this can also be done by
24040 hand customized mail filtering scripts. To verify a hashcash cookie
24041 in a message, use the @code{mail-check-payment} function in the
24042 @code{hashcash.el} library. You can also use the @code{spam.el}
24043 package with the @code{spam-use-hashcash} back end to validate hashcash
24044 cookies in incoming mail and filter mail accordingly (@pxref{Anti-spam
24045 Hashcash Payments}).
24048 @section Spam Package
24049 @cindex spam filtering
24052 The Spam package provides Gnus with a centralized mechanism for
24053 detecting and filtering spam. It filters new mail, and processes
24054 messages according to whether they are spam or ham. (@dfn{Ham} is the
24055 name used throughout this manual to indicate non-spam messages.)
24058 * Spam Package Introduction::
24059 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
24060 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
24061 * Spam and Ham Processors::
24062 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
24064 * Extending the Spam package::
24065 * Spam Statistics Package::
24068 @node Spam Package Introduction
24069 @subsection Spam Package Introduction
24070 @cindex spam filtering
24071 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
24074 You must read this section to understand how the Spam package works.
24075 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
24077 Make sure you read the section on the @code{spam.el} sequence of
24078 events. See @xref{Extending the Spam package}.
24080 @cindex spam-initialize
24081 @vindex spam-use-stat
24082 To use the Spam package, you @strong{must} first run the function
24083 @code{spam-initialize}:
24089 This autoloads @code{spam.el} and installs the various hooks necessary
24090 to let the Spam package do its job. In order to make use of the Spam
24091 package, you have to set up certain group parameters and variables,
24092 which we will describe below. All of the variables controlling the
24093 Spam package can be found in the @samp{spam} customization group.
24095 There are two ``contact points'' between the Spam package and the rest
24096 of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and leaving a group.
24098 Checking new mail for spam is done in one of two ways: while splitting
24099 incoming mail, or when you enter a group.
24101 The first way, checking for spam while splitting incoming mail, is
24102 suited to mail back ends such as @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap}, where
24103 new mail appears in a single spool file. The Spam package processes
24104 incoming mail, and sends mail considered to be spam to a designated
24105 ``spam'' group. @xref{Filtering Incoming Mail}.
24107 The second way is suited to back ends such as @code{nntp}, which have
24108 no incoming mail spool, or back ends where the server is in charge of
24109 splitting incoming mail. In this case, when you enter a Gnus group,
24110 the unseen or unread messages in that group are checked for spam.
24111 Detected spam messages are marked as spam. @xref{Detecting Spam in
24114 @cindex spam back ends
24115 In either case, you have to tell the Spam package what method to use
24116 to detect spam messages. There are several methods, or @dfn{spam back
24117 ends} (not to be confused with Gnus back ends!) to choose from: spam
24118 ``blacklists'' and ``whitelists'', dictionary-based filters, and so
24119 forth. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24121 In the Gnus summary buffer, messages that have been identified as spam
24122 always appear with a @samp{$} symbol.
24124 The Spam package divides Gnus groups into three categories: ham
24125 groups, spam groups, and unclassified groups. You should mark each of
24126 the groups you subscribe to as either a ham group or a spam group,
24127 using the @code{spam-contents} group parameter (@pxref{Group
24128 Parameters}). Spam groups have a special property: when you enter a
24129 spam group, all unseen articles are marked as spam. Thus, mail split
24130 into a spam group is automatically marked as spam.
24132 Identifying spam messages is only half of the Spam package's job. The
24133 second half comes into play whenever you exit a group buffer. At this
24134 point, the Spam package does several things:
24136 First, it calls @dfn{spam and ham processors} to process the articles
24137 according to whether they are spam or ham. There is a pair of spam
24138 and ham processors associated with each spam back end, and what the
24139 processors do depends on the back end. At present, the main role of
24140 spam and ham processors is for dictionary-based spam filters: they add
24141 the contents of the messages in the group to the filter's dictionary,
24142 to improve its ability to detect future spam. The @code{spam-process}
24143 group parameter specifies what spam processors to use. @xref{Spam and
24146 If the spam filter failed to mark a spam message, you can mark it
24147 yourself, so that the message is processed as spam when you exit the
24157 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24158 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24159 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark
24160 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}).
24164 Similarly, you can unmark an article if it has been erroneously marked
24165 as spam. @xref{Setting Marks}.
24167 Normally, a ham message found in a non-ham group is not processed as
24168 ham---the rationale is that it should be moved into a ham group for
24169 further processing (see below). However, you can force these articles
24170 to be processed as ham by setting
24171 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
24172 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups}.
24174 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24175 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24176 The second thing that the Spam package does when you exit a group is
24177 to move ham articles out of spam groups, and spam articles out of ham
24178 groups. Ham in a spam group is moved to the group specified by the
24179 variable @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}, or the group parameter
24180 @code{ham-process-destination}. Spam in a ham group is moved to the
24181 group specified by the variable @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations},
24182 or the group parameter @code{spam-process-destination}. If these
24183 variables are not set, the articles are left in their current group.
24184 If an article cannot be moved (e.g., with a read-only backend such
24185 as @acronym{NNTP}), it is copied.
24187 If an article is moved to another group, it is processed again when
24188 you visit the new group. Normally, this is not a problem, but if you
24189 want each article to be processed only once, load the
24190 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and set the variable
24191 @code{spam-log-to-registry} to @code{t}. @xref{Spam Package
24192 Configuration Examples}.
24194 Normally, spam groups ignore @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations}.
24195 However, if you set @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only} to
24196 @code{nil}, spam will also be moved out of spam groups, depending on
24197 the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter.
24199 The final thing the Spam package does is to mark spam articles as
24200 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
24202 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
24203 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
24204 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
24206 @node Filtering Incoming Mail
24207 @subsection Filtering Incoming Mail
24208 @cindex spam filtering
24209 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
24212 To use the Spam package to filter incoming mail, you must first set up
24213 fancy mail splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}. The Spam package
24214 defines a special splitting function that you can add to your fancy
24215 split variable (either @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
24216 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on your mail back end):
24222 @vindex spam-split-group
24224 The @code{spam-split} function scans incoming mail according to your
24225 chosen spam back end(s), and sends messages identified as spam to a
24226 spam group. By default, the spam group is a group named @samp{spam},
24227 but you can change this by customizing @code{spam-split-group}. Make
24228 sure the contents of @code{spam-split-group} are an unqualified group
24229 name. For instance, in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server},
24230 the value @samp{spam} means @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The value
24231 @samp{nnimap+server:spam} is therefore wrong---it gives the group
24232 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam}.
24234 @code{spam-split} does not modify the contents of messages in any way.
24236 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
24237 Note for IMAP users: if you use the @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
24238 @code{spam-check-ifile}, and @code{spam-check-stat} spam back ends,
24239 you should also set set the variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body}
24240 to @code{t}. These spam back ends are most useful when they can
24241 ``scan'' the full message body. By default, the nnimap back end only
24242 retrieves the message headers; @code{nnimap-split-download-body} tells
24243 it to retrieve the message bodies as well. We don't set this by
24244 default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and that is not an
24245 appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user. @xref{Splitting
24248 You have to specify one or more spam back ends for @code{spam-split}
24249 to use, by setting the @code{spam-use-*} variables. @xref{Spam Back
24250 Ends}. Normally, @code{spam-split} simply uses all the spam back ends
24251 you enabled in this way. However, you can tell @code{spam-split} to
24252 use only some of them. Why this is useful? Suppose you are using the
24253 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and @code{spam-use-blackholes} spam back
24254 ends, and the following split rule:
24257 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24258 (any "ding" "ding")
24260 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24265 The problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the ding
24266 folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam detected by
24267 SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through, when it's
24268 sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to the ding
24269 list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the invocation
24270 of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
24272 The solution is to let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, and
24273 perform the other @code{spam-split} rules (including a second
24274 invocation of the regex-headers check) after the ding rule. This is
24275 done by passing a parameter to @code{spam-split}:
24280 ;; @r{spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
24281 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24282 (any "ding" "ding")
24283 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
24285 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24290 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
24291 your particular needs, and target the results of those checks to a
24292 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
24293 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
24294 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
24295 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
24296 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
24298 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24299 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24300 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24301 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24303 @c @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
24304 @c statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
24307 @node Detecting Spam in Groups
24308 @subsection Detecting Spam in Groups
24310 To detect spam when visiting a group, set the group's
24311 @code{spam-autodetect} and @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group
24312 parameters. These are accessible with @kbd{G c} or @kbd{G p}, as
24313 usual (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24315 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24316 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24317 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24318 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
24320 By default, only unseen articles are processed for spam. You can
24321 force Gnus to recheck all messages in the group by setting the
24322 variable @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages} to @code{t}.
24324 If you use the @code{spam-autodetect} method of checking for spam, you
24325 can specify different spam detection methods for different groups.
24326 For instance, the @samp{ding} group may have @code{spam-use-BBDB} as
24327 the autodetection method, while the @samp{suspect} group may have the
24328 @code{spam-use-blacklist} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods
24329 enabled. Unlike with @code{spam-split}, you don't have any control
24330 over the @emph{sequence} of checks, but this is probably unimportant.
24332 @node Spam and Ham Processors
24333 @subsection Spam and Ham Processors
24334 @cindex spam filtering
24335 @cindex spam filtering variables
24336 @cindex spam variables
24339 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
24340 Spam and ham processors specify special actions to take when you exit
24341 a group buffer. Spam processors act on spam messages, and ham
24342 processors on ham messages. At present, the main role of these
24343 processors is to update the dictionaries of dictionary-based spam back
24344 ends such as Bogofilter (@pxref{Bogofilter}) and the Spam Statistics
24345 package (@pxref{Spam Statistics Filtering}).
24347 The spam and ham processors that apply to each group are determined by
24348 the group's@code{spam-process} group parameter. If this group
24349 parameter is not defined, they are determined by the variable
24350 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups}.
24352 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24353 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
24354 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
24355 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
24356 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
24357 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
24358 by customizing the corresponding variable
24359 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
24360 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
24361 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
24362 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
24363 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
24364 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
24365 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
24368 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
24370 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
24371 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
24372 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
24373 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
24374 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
24375 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
24376 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
24377 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
24378 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
24379 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
24380 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
24381 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
24382 processor which will study them as spam samples.
24384 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
24385 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
24386 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
24387 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
24388 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
24389 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
24390 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
24391 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
24394 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24395 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
24396 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
24397 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
24398 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
24399 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
24400 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
24405 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24406 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
24407 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
24408 you really want to.
24411 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
24412 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
24413 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
24414 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
24415 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
24416 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
24419 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24420 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
24421 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
24422 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
24423 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
24424 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
24425 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
24426 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
24427 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
24428 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
24429 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
24430 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
24431 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
24432 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
24433 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
24435 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24436 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24438 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24439 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
24440 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
24442 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
24443 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
24445 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
24446 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
24447 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
24448 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
24449 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
24451 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
24452 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
24453 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
24454 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
24455 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
24458 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24459 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
24460 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
24461 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
24462 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
24463 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
24464 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
24465 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
24466 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
24467 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
24468 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
24469 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
24470 group buffer then you need it here as well.
24472 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24473 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24475 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24476 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
24479 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
24480 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
24481 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
24482 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
24483 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
24484 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
24485 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
24487 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
24488 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
24489 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
24490 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
24492 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
24493 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
24494 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
24495 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
24496 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
24497 from the mail server.
24499 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
24500 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
24501 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
24502 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
24504 @node Spam Package Configuration Examples
24505 @subsection Spam Package Configuration Examples
24506 @cindex spam filtering
24507 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
24508 @cindex spam configuration examples
24511 @subsubheading Ted's setup
24513 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
24515 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
24516 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
24517 (gnus-registry-initialize)
24521 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
24523 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
24524 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
24525 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24526 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24527 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
24528 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
24529 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
24530 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
24531 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
24532 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
24533 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24534 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
24535 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
24536 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
24537 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24538 (any "ding" "ding")
24539 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
24541 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24544 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
24546 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
24547 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
24548 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
24549 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
24551 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24553 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
24554 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
24555 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
24556 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
24557 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24559 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
24560 ((spam-autodetect . t))
24562 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
24564 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
24565 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
24567 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
24568 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
24569 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
24571 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
24573 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
24574 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
24576 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
24577 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
24578 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
24580 (gnus-ticked-mark))
24581 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
24582 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
24583 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
24585 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
24586 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
24587 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
24591 @subsubheading Using @code{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
24592 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24594 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
24595 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
24596 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
24597 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
24598 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
24599 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
24600 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
24601 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
24602 @samp{training.spam} folders.
24604 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
24605 does most of the job for me:
24608 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
24609 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
24610 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
24611 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24612 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
24613 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
24614 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
24619 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
24621 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
24622 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
24623 bogofilter or DCC).
24625 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
24626 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
24627 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark
24628 (@code{ham-marks}, @ref{Spam and Ham Processors}). On group exit,
24629 those messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want
24630 to have the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter)
24631 and deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
24633 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
24634 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
24635 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
24636 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
24637 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
24638 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
24640 @item @b{Ham folders:}
24642 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
24643 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
24644 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
24645 @samp{training.spam}.
24648 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
24650 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24652 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
24653 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
24654 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
24658 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
24661 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
24662 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
24663 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
24664 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
24665 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
24667 @node Spam Back Ends
24668 @subsection Spam Back Ends
24669 @cindex spam back ends
24671 The spam package offers a variety of back ends for detecting spam.
24672 Each back end defines a set of methods for detecting spam
24673 (@pxref{Filtering Incoming Mail}, @pxref{Detecting Spam in Groups}),
24674 and a pair of spam and ham processors (@pxref{Spam and Ham
24678 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
24679 * BBDB Whitelists::
24680 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
24681 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
24683 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
24685 * SpamAssassin back end::
24686 * ifile spam filtering::
24687 * Spam Statistics Filtering::
24691 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
24692 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
24693 @cindex spam filtering
24694 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
24695 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
24698 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
24700 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
24701 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
24702 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
24703 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
24708 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
24710 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
24711 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
24712 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24713 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
24714 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24718 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
24720 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
24721 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24722 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
24726 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
24728 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24729 customizing the group parameters or the
24730 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24731 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24732 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
24736 Instead of the obsolete
24737 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
24738 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
24739 the same way, we promise.
24743 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
24745 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24746 customizing the group parameters or the
24747 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24748 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24749 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24754 Instead of the obsolete
24755 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
24756 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
24757 the same way, we promise.
24761 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
24762 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
24763 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
24764 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
24765 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
24767 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
24768 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
24769 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
24770 Emacs regular expression syntax.
24772 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
24773 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
24774 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
24775 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
24776 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
24777 @file{blacklist} respectively.
24779 @node BBDB Whitelists
24780 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
24781 @cindex spam filtering
24782 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
24783 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
24786 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
24788 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24789 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
24790 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
24791 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
24792 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24793 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
24794 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24798 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
24800 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
24801 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24802 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
24803 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
24804 classified as spammers.
24806 While @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} @emph{can} be used as an alias
24807 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} as far as @code{spam.el} is concerned, it is
24808 @emph{not} a separate back end. If you set
24809 @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} to t, @emph{all} your BBDB splitting
24814 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
24816 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24817 customizing the group parameters or the
24818 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24819 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24820 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24825 Instead of the obsolete
24826 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
24827 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
24828 the same way, we promise.
24832 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
24833 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
24834 @cindex spam reporting
24835 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24836 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24839 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
24841 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24842 customizing the group parameters or the
24843 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24844 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
24845 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
24848 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
24852 Instead of the obsolete
24853 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
24854 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
24855 same way, we promise.
24859 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
24861 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
24862 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
24863 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
24864 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
24865 @code{spam-report.el} will fetch the number from the article headers.
24869 @defvar spam-report-user-mail-address
24871 Mail address exposed in the User-Agent spam reports to Gmane. It allows
24872 the Gmane administrators to contact you in case of misreports. The
24873 default is @code{user-mail-address}.
24877 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24878 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24879 @cindex spam filtering
24880 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
24883 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
24885 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24886 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
24887 instead of the sender address. Messages without a hashcash payment
24888 token will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an explicit
24889 filter, meaning that unless a hashcash token is found, the messages
24890 are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24895 @subsubsection Blackholes
24896 @cindex spam filtering
24897 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
24900 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
24902 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
24903 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
24904 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
24905 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
24906 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
24907 contains outdated servers.
24909 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
24910 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
24911 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
24912 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
24913 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
24914 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
24918 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
24920 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
24924 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
24926 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
24927 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
24931 @defvar spam-use-dig
24933 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
24934 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
24938 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
24939 ham processor for blackholes.
24941 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
24942 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
24943 @cindex spam filtering
24944 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
24947 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
24949 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
24950 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
24951 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
24952 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
24953 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
24954 message is spam or ham, respectively.
24958 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
24960 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24961 the message, positively identify it as spam.
24965 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
24967 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24968 the message, positively identify it as ham.
24972 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
24973 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
24976 @subsubsection Bogofilter
24977 @cindex spam filtering
24978 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
24981 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
24983 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
24986 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
24987 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
24988 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
24989 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
24990 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
24991 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
24993 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
24994 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
24997 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
24998 processing will be turned off.
25000 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
25009 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
25010 Get the Bogofilter spamicity score (@code{spam-bogofilter-score}).
25013 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
25015 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25016 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
25017 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
25018 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
25019 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
25020 installation documents for details.
25022 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
25026 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
25027 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25028 customizing the group parameters or the
25029 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25030 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
25031 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
25035 Instead of the obsolete
25036 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25037 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25038 the same way, we promise.
25041 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
25042 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25043 customizing the group parameters or the
25044 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25045 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25046 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
25047 of non-spam messages.
25051 Instead of the obsolete
25052 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25053 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25054 the same way, we promise.
25057 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
25059 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
25060 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
25061 database directory.
25065 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
25066 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25067 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
25068 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
25069 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
25070 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
25072 @node SpamAssassin back end
25073 @subsubsection SpamAssassin back end
25074 @cindex spam filtering
25075 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
25078 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
25080 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
25082 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
25083 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
25084 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
25085 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
25088 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
25089 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
25090 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
25091 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
25094 You should not enable this if you use
25095 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
25099 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
25101 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
25102 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
25104 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
25108 @defvar spam-spamassassin-program
25110 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
25111 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
25112 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
25113 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
25117 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
25118 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
25119 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
25120 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
25121 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
25122 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
25123 to test this functionality.
25125 @node ifile spam filtering
25126 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
25127 @cindex spam filtering
25128 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
25131 @defvar spam-use-ifile
25133 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
25134 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
25138 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
25140 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
25141 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
25142 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
25146 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
25148 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
25149 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
25150 the default value of @samp{spam}.
25153 @defvar spam-ifile-database
25155 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
25156 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
25160 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
25161 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25162 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
25163 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
25166 @node Spam Statistics Filtering
25167 @subsubsection Spam Statistics Filtering
25168 @cindex spam filtering
25169 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
25173 This back end uses the Spam Statistics Emacs Lisp package to perform
25174 statistics-based filtering (@pxref{Spam Statistics Package}). Before
25175 using this, you may want to perform some additional steps to
25176 initialize your Spam Statistics dictionary. @xref{Creating a
25177 spam-stat dictionary}.
25179 @defvar spam-use-stat
25183 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
25184 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25185 customizing the group parameters or the
25186 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25187 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
25188 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
25192 Instead of the obsolete
25193 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25194 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25195 the same way, we promise.
25198 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
25199 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25200 customizing the group parameters or the
25201 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25202 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25203 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
25204 of non-spam messages.
25208 Instead of the obsolete
25209 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25210 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25211 the same way, we promise.
25214 This enables @code{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
25215 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
25216 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
25217 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
25218 @code{spam-split} are provided.
25221 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
25222 @cindex spam filtering
25226 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
25227 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
25228 installed separately.
25230 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
25231 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
25232 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
25233 mail as a spam mail or not.
25235 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
25236 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
25237 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
25239 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Spam Package})
25242 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
25243 To enable SpamOracle usage by @code{spam.el}, set the variable
25244 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
25245 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}. @xref{Spam
25246 Package}. In this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is
25247 filtered using SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be
25248 moved to @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham
25249 messages stay in @samp{INBOX}:
25252 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
25253 spam-split-group "Junk"
25254 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
25255 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
25256 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
25259 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
25260 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
25264 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
25265 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
25266 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
25270 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
25271 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
25272 store its analysis. This is controlled by the variable
25273 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
25274 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
25275 database to live somewhere special, set
25276 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
25279 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
25280 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
25281 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns
25282 the characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
25283 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
25284 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary
25285 buffer and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using
25286 @file{spam.el}'s spam- and ham-processors, which is much more
25287 convenient. For a detailed description of spam- and ham-processors,
25288 @xref{Spam Package}.
25290 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
25291 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25292 customizing the group parameter or the
25293 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25294 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
25295 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
25299 Instead of the obsolete
25300 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25301 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25302 the same way, we promise.
25305 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
25306 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25307 customizing the group parameter or the
25308 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25309 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
25310 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
25315 Instead of the obsolete
25316 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25317 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25318 the same way, we promise.
25321 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
25322 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
25325 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
25326 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
25327 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
25329 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
25330 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
25331 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
25332 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
25333 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
25334 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
25336 @node Extending the Spam package
25337 @subsection Extending the Spam package
25338 @cindex spam filtering
25339 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
25340 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
25342 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
25343 incoming mail, provide the following:
25351 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
25352 "True if blackbox should be used.")
25355 Write @code{spam-check-blackbox} if Blackbox can check incoming mail.
25357 Write @code{spam-blackbox-register-routine} and
25358 @code{spam-blackbox-unregister-routine} using the bogofilter
25359 register/unregister routines as a start, or other restister/unregister
25360 routines more appropriate to Blackbox, if Blackbox can
25361 register/unregister spam and ham.
25366 The @code{spam-check-blackbox} function should return @samp{nil} or
25367 @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other conventions. See the
25368 existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can
25369 do, and stick to the template unless you fully understand the reasons
25374 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
25381 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
25382 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
25384 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
25385 variables. Instead the form @code{(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
25386 @code{(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
25387 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
25390 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
25391 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
25392 Only applicable to spam groups.")
25394 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
25395 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
25396 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
25405 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
25406 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
25408 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
25409 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
25410 variable customization.
25414 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
25416 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
25417 @code{gnus.el} if Blackbox can check incoming mail for spam contents.
25419 Finally, use the appropriate @code{spam-install-*-backend} function in
25420 @code{spam.el}. Here are the available functions.
25426 @code{spam-install-backend-alias}
25428 This function will simply install an alias for a back end that does
25429 everything like the original back end. It is currently only used to
25430 make @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} act like @code{spam-use-BBDB}.
25433 @code{spam-install-nocheck-backend}
25435 This function installs a back end that has no check function, but can
25436 register/unregister ham or spam. The @code{spam-use-gmane} back end is
25440 @code{spam-install-checkonly-backend}
25442 This function will install a back end that can only check incoming mail
25443 for spam contents. It can't register or unregister messages.
25444 @code{spam-use-blackholes} and @code{spam-use-hashcash} are such
25448 @code{spam-install-statistical-checkonly-backend}
25450 This function installs a statistical back end (one which requires the
25451 full body of a message to check it) that can only check incoming mail
25452 for contents. @code{spam-use-regex-body} is such a filter.
25455 @code{spam-install-statistical-backend}
25457 This function install a statistical back end with incoming checks and
25458 registration/unregistration routines. @code{spam-use-bogofilter} is
25462 @code{spam-install-backend}
25464 This is the most normal back end installation, where a back end that can
25465 check and register/unregister messages is set up without statistical
25466 abilities. The @code{spam-use-BBDB} is such a back end.
25469 @code{spam-install-mover-backend}
25471 Mover back ends are internal to @code{spam.el} and specifically move
25472 articles around when the summary is exited. You will very probably
25473 never install such a back end.
25478 @node Spam Statistics Package
25479 @subsection Spam Statistics Package
25480 @cindex Paul Graham
25481 @cindex Graham, Paul
25482 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
25483 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
25484 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
25486 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
25487 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
25488 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
25489 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
25490 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
25491 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
25492 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
25493 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
25494 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
25497 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
25498 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
25499 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
25500 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
25501 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
25502 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
25503 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
25504 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
25506 The Spam Statistics package adds support to Gnus for this kind of
25507 filtering. It can be used as one of the back ends of the Spam package
25508 (@pxref{Spam Package}), or by itself.
25510 Before using the Spam Statistics package, you need to set it up.
25511 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
25512 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
25513 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
25514 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
25517 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
25518 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
25519 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
25522 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25523 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25525 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
25526 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
25527 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
25528 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
25529 need several hundred emails in both collections.
25531 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
25532 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
25533 per mail. Use the following:
25535 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
25536 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
25537 is treated as one spam mail.
25540 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
25541 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
25542 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
25545 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
25546 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds to
25547 the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
25548 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
25549 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds to the group
25550 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
25552 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
25553 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
25554 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
25555 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
25556 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
25559 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
25560 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
25561 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
25562 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
25565 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
25566 reset the dictionary.
25568 @defun spam-stat-reset
25569 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
25572 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
25573 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
25574 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
25575 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
25576 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
25577 only non-spam mails.
25579 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
25580 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
25581 to update the dictionary incrementally.
25584 @defun spam-stat-save
25585 Save the dictionary.
25588 @defvar spam-stat-file
25589 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
25590 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
25593 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
25594 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
25596 This section describes how to use the Spam statistics
25597 @emph{independently} of the @xref{Spam Package}.
25599 First, add the following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25602 (require 'spam-stat)
25606 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
25609 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
25610 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
25611 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
25612 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
25614 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
25615 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
25616 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
25617 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
25620 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25621 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25625 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
25626 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
25629 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
25630 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
25631 expression are considered potential spam.
25634 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25635 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25636 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25640 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
25641 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
25642 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
25643 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
25644 mails, when creating the dictionary!
25647 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25648 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25649 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25653 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
25654 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
25655 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
25656 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
25657 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
25661 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25662 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
25663 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25664 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25669 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25670 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25672 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
25674 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
25675 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
25676 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25679 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
25680 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
25681 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25684 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
25685 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
25686 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
25687 already been processed as non-spam.
25690 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
25691 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
25692 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
25693 been processed as spam.
25696 @defun spam-stat-save
25697 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
25698 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25701 @defun spam-stat-load
25702 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
25703 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25706 @defun spam-stat-score-word
25707 Return the spam score for a word.
25710 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
25711 Return the spam score for a buffer.
25714 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
25715 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
25716 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
25719 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
25720 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25723 (require 'spam-stat)
25727 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
25730 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25731 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25732 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25733 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25734 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25735 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25736 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25737 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25738 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25739 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25740 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25741 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25742 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25743 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25746 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
25749 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25750 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25751 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25752 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
25753 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25754 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25758 @section Interaction with other modes
25763 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provides some useful functions for dired
25764 buffers. It is enabled with
25766 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
25771 @findex gnus-dired-attach
25772 @cindex attachments, selection via dired
25773 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
25774 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
25777 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
25778 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
25779 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
25783 @findex gnus-dired-print
25784 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
25785 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
25788 @node Various Various
25789 @section Various Various
25795 @item gnus-home-directory
25796 @vindex gnus-home-directory
25797 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
25798 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
25800 @item gnus-directory
25801 @vindex gnus-directory
25802 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
25803 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
25804 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
25806 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
25807 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
25808 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
25809 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
25811 @item gnus-default-directory
25812 @vindex gnus-default-directory
25813 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
25814 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
25815 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
25816 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
25817 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
25818 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
25821 @vindex gnus-verbose
25822 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
25823 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
25824 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
25825 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
25826 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
25828 @item gnus-verbose-backends
25829 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
25830 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
25831 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
25833 @item gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
25834 @vindex gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
25835 This variable controls whether to add timestamps to messages that are
25836 controlled by @code{gnus-verbose} and @code{gnus-verbose-backends} and
25837 are issued. The default value is @code{nil} which means never to add
25838 timestamp. If it is @code{log}, add timestamps to only the messages
25839 that go into the @samp{*Messages*} buffer (in XEmacs, it is the
25840 @w{@samp{ *Message-Log*}} buffer). If it is neither @code{nil} nor
25841 @code{log}, add timestamps not only to log messages but also to the ones
25842 displayed in the echo area.
25844 @item nnheader-max-head-length
25845 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
25846 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
25847 as little as possible. This variable (default 8192) specifies
25848 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
25849 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
25850 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
25851 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
25852 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
25853 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
25855 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
25856 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
25857 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
25858 read when doing the operation described above.
25860 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25861 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25863 @cindex invalid characters in file names
25864 @cindex characters in file names
25865 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
25866 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
25867 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
25871 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25876 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
25877 Windows (phooey) systems.
25879 @item gnus-hidden-properties
25880 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
25881 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
25882 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
25883 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
25885 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
25886 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
25887 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
25888 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
25889 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
25891 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
25892 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
25893 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
25895 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
25896 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
25898 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
25899 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
25900 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
25901 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
25904 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
25912 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
25913 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
25915 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
25917 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
25923 Not because of victories @*
25926 but for the common sunshine,@*
25928 the largess of the spring.
25932 but for the day's work done@*
25933 as well as I was able;@*
25934 not for a seat upon the dais@*
25935 but at the common table.@*
25940 @chapter Appendices
25943 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
25944 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
25945 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
25946 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
25947 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
25948 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
25949 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
25950 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
25951 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
25958 @cindex installing under XEmacs
25960 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
25961 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
25962 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
25963 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
25964 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{W3},
25965 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
25972 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
25973 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
25975 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
25976 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
25977 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
25978 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
25979 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
25981 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
25982 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
25983 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
25984 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
25985 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
25986 appropriate name, don't you think?)
25988 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
25989 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
25990 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
25991 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
25994 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
25995 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
25996 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
25997 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
25998 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
25999 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
26000 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
26001 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
26002 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
26006 @node Gnus Versions
26007 @subsection Gnus Versions
26009 @cindex September Gnus
26011 @cindex Quassia Gnus
26012 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
26015 @cindex Gnus versions
26017 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
26018 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
26019 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
26021 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
26022 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
26024 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
26025 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
26027 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
26028 It was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
26030 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
26031 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
26034 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun and was released as
26035 Gnus 5.10 on May 1st 2003 (24 releases).
26037 On the January 4th 2004, No Gnus was begun.
26039 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
26040 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
26041 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'', ``No Gnus'' -- don't panic.
26042 Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever
26043 you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach.
26044 Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
26047 @node Other Gnus Versions
26048 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
26051 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
26052 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
26053 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
26054 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
26056 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
26057 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
26058 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
26059 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
26066 What's the point of Gnus?
26068 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
26069 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
26070 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
26071 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
26072 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
26073 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
26074 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
26075 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
26076 keep track of millions of people who post?
26078 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
26079 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
26080 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
26081 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
26082 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
26083 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
26084 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
26085 every one of you to explore and invent.
26087 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
26088 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
26091 @node Compatibility
26092 @subsection Compatibility
26094 @cindex compatibility
26095 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
26096 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
26097 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
26102 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
26106 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
26109 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
26112 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
26113 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
26114 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
26115 important variables have their values copied into their global
26116 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
26117 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
26119 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
26120 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
26121 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
26122 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
26123 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
26127 @cindex highlighting
26128 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
26129 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
26130 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
26131 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
26132 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
26133 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
26136 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
26137 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
26138 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
26139 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
26141 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
26142 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
26143 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
26144 to stop doing it the old way.
26146 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
26148 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26150 @cindex reporting bugs
26152 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
26153 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
26154 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
26156 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
26157 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
26158 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
26159 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
26164 @subsection Conformity
26166 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
26167 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
26175 There are no known breaches of this standard.
26179 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
26181 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
26182 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
26183 We do have some breaches to this one.
26189 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
26190 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
26191 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
26192 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
26193 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
26198 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
26199 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
26200 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
26201 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
26203 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
26204 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
26205 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
26207 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
26208 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
26210 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
26213 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
26214 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
26215 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
26216 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
26217 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
26220 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
26221 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
26222 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RFC 1991/2440 format.
26223 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
26225 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
26226 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
26228 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
26229 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
26230 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
26231 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
26232 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
26233 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
26234 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
26235 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
26239 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
26240 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
26245 @subsection Emacsen
26251 Gnus should work on:
26259 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
26263 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
26264 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
26265 Emacs versions. Particularly, Gnus 5.10.8 should also work on Emacs
26266 20.7 and XEmacs 21.1.
26269 @node Gnus Development
26270 @subsection Gnus Development
26272 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
26273 discussion on the development mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}, where people
26274 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
26275 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
26276 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
26277 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
26278 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
26279 have names like ``Oort Gnus'' and ``No Gnus''. @xref{Gnus Versions}.
26281 After futzing around for 10-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
26282 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
26283 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.10.1'' instead. Normal people are
26284 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
26285 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup. This newgroup is mirrored to the
26286 mailing list @samp{info-gnus-english@@gnu.org} which is carried on Gmane
26287 as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.user}. These releases are finally integrated
26291 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26292 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26293 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26294 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26295 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26297 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
26298 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
26299 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
26300 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
26301 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
26302 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
26303 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
26304 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
26305 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
26306 can't be assumed to do so.
26308 So if you have problems with or questions about the alpha versions,
26309 direct those to the ding mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}. This list
26310 is also available on Gmane as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.general}.
26313 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26314 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26315 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26316 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26317 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26320 @subsection Contributors
26321 @cindex contributors
26323 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
26324 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
26325 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
26326 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
26327 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
26328 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
26329 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
26330 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
26331 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
26332 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
26334 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
26340 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
26343 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
26344 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
26345 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
26346 functionality and stuff.
26349 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
26350 well as numerous other things).
26353 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
26356 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
26359 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
26362 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
26365 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
26366 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
26369 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
26372 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
26375 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
26378 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
26381 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
26384 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
26387 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
26388 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
26391 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
26394 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
26397 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
26400 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
26404 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
26407 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
26410 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
26413 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
26414 well as autoconf support.
26418 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
26419 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
26421 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
26436 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
26438 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
26442 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
26452 Alexei V. Barantsev,
26467 Massimo Campostrini,
26472 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
26473 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
26477 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
26480 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
26486 Michael Welsh Duggan,
26491 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
26495 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
26503 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
26505 Michelangelo Grigni,
26509 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
26511 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
26513 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
26521 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
26522 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
26523 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
26525 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
26535 Peter Skov Knudsen,
26536 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
26538 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
26539 Thor Kristoffersen,
26542 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
26560 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
26561 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
26568 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
26573 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
26577 John McClary Prevost,
26583 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
26588 Christian von Roques,
26591 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
26598 Philippe Schnoebelen,
26600 Randal L. Schwartz,
26614 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
26619 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
26639 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
26640 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
26641 (550kB and counting).
26643 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
26646 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
26647 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
26651 @subsection New Features
26652 @cindex new features
26655 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
26656 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
26657 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
26658 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
26659 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
26660 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
26661 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
26664 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
26665 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
26666 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
26669 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
26671 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
26676 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
26677 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
26680 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
26681 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
26684 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
26687 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
26688 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
26689 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
26692 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
26693 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
26694 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
26695 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26698 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
26699 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26702 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
26703 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
26704 (@pxref{The Active File}).
26707 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
26708 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
26711 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
26712 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
26713 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
26716 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
26717 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
26718 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
26721 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
26722 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
26725 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
26726 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
26729 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
26730 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
26733 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
26734 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26737 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
26738 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
26741 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
26742 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
26745 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
26748 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
26749 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
26752 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
26753 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
26756 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
26757 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
26760 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
26763 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
26764 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
26767 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
26771 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
26775 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
26776 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
26779 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
26785 @node September Gnus
26786 @subsubsection September Gnus
26790 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
26794 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
26799 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
26800 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
26804 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
26805 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
26809 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
26813 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
26814 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
26817 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
26821 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
26824 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
26827 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
26830 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
26834 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
26835 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
26838 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
26842 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
26846 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
26850 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
26854 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
26857 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
26858 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
26861 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
26865 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
26866 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
26869 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
26872 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
26873 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
26874 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
26877 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
26881 The Gnus cache is much faster.
26884 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
26888 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
26889 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
26892 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
26893 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
26896 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
26897 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
26900 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
26901 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
26902 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
26905 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
26906 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
26909 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
26912 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
26915 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
26918 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
26921 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
26922 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
26925 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
26929 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
26932 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
26937 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
26940 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
26944 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26947 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
26951 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
26954 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
26957 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
26958 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26961 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
26962 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
26966 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
26967 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
26970 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
26974 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
26975 buffer to allow easier treatment.
26978 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
26981 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
26985 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
26989 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
26990 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
26993 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
26997 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
26998 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27001 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
27002 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27005 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
27009 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27012 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
27015 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
27021 @subsubsection Red Gnus
27023 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
27027 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
27034 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
27037 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
27038 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27041 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
27042 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
27046 Article washing status can be displayed in the
27047 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
27050 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
27053 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
27054 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
27057 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
27061 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
27062 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
27066 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
27067 Server Internals}).
27070 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
27074 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
27077 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
27078 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
27081 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
27082 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
27083 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
27086 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
27087 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27090 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
27091 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
27094 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
27098 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
27099 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27102 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
27103 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27106 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
27110 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
27113 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
27117 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
27118 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27121 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
27122 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27125 A new command for reading collections of documents
27126 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
27127 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
27130 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
27134 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
27135 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
27138 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
27139 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
27140 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
27143 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
27144 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
27148 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
27152 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
27156 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
27161 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
27165 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
27169 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
27170 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
27173 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
27179 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
27181 New features in Gnus 5.6:
27186 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
27187 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
27188 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
27191 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
27192 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
27193 group, which is created automatically.
27196 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
27200 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
27203 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
27204 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
27207 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
27211 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
27214 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
27215 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
27218 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
27221 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
27225 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
27226 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
27229 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
27230 control over simplification.
27233 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
27236 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
27240 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
27243 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
27246 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
27247 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
27248 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
27251 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
27252 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
27255 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
27259 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
27260 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
27263 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
27264 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
27267 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
27271 A history of where mails have been split is available.
27274 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
27277 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
27278 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
27281 A new function for citing in Message has been
27282 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
27285 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
27288 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
27292 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
27293 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
27296 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
27297 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
27300 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
27303 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
27307 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
27308 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
27310 New features in Gnus 5.8:
27315 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
27316 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
27318 If you used procmail like in
27321 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
27322 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
27323 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
27324 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
27327 this now has changed to
27331 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
27335 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
27338 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
27339 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
27342 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
27343 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
27346 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
27347 called to position point.
27350 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
27351 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
27354 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
27355 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
27358 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
27359 subtly different manner.
27362 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
27363 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
27364 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
27367 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
27372 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
27375 New features in Gnus 5.10:
27379 @item Installation changes
27380 @c ***********************
27384 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
27386 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
27387 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
27388 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
27389 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
27390 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
27391 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
27392 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
27393 isn't save in general.
27396 Lisp files are now installed in @file{.../site-lisp/gnus/} by default.
27397 It defaulted to @file{.../site-lisp/} formerly. In addition to this,
27398 the new installer issues a warning if other Gnus installations which
27399 will shadow the latest one are detected. You can then remove those
27400 shadows manually or remove them using @code{make
27401 remove-installed-shadows}.
27404 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
27406 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
27407 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
27408 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, if you want
27409 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
27410 the second parameter.
27412 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
27413 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
27414 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
27415 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
27416 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
27417 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
27418 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
27419 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
27420 cycle used under Unix systems.
27422 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} and @file{xemacs.mak}
27423 superfluous, so they have been removed.
27426 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
27428 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
27429 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
27432 @c FIXME: `gnus-load' is mentioned in README, which is not included in
27433 @c CVS. We should find a better place for this item.
27435 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
27437 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
27438 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
27439 lisp directory into load-path.
27441 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
27442 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
27446 @item New packages and libraries within Gnus
27447 @c *****************************************
27452 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
27453 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
27456 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
27458 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
27459 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
27460 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
27461 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
27464 Improved anti-spam features.
27466 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
27467 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
27468 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
27469 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
27470 are also new. @ref{Thwarting Email Spam} and @ref{Spam Package}.
27471 @c FIXME: @xref{Spam Package}?. Should this be under Misc?
27474 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
27476 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
27477 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
27478 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
27479 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
27480 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
27484 @item Changes in group mode
27485 @c ************************
27490 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
27494 Retrieval of charters and control messages
27496 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
27497 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
27500 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
27502 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
27503 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
27504 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
27505 variable in @file{~/.gnus.el} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
27506 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
27509 (setq gnus-parameters
27511 (gnus-show-threads nil)
27512 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
27513 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
27514 (to-group . "\\1"))))
27518 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
27520 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
27521 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
27522 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
27523 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
27524 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
27525 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
27526 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
27527 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
27528 when getting new mail, remove the function.
27531 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
27533 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
27534 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
27535 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
27538 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
27539 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
27541 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
27542 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
27543 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
27545 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
27549 Old intermediate incoming mail files (@file{Incoming*}) are deleted
27550 after a couple of days, not immediately. @xref{Mail Source
27551 Customization}. (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / Emacs 22.2)
27555 @item Changes in summary and article mode
27556 @c **************************************
27561 @kbd{F} (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}) and @kbd{R}
27562 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}) only yank the text in the
27563 region if the region is active.
27566 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
27567 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
27572 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
27573 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
27574 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
27575 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
27578 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
27583 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
27584 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
27586 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
27587 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
27591 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
27592 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
27595 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
27598 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
27599 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
27602 Warn about email replies to news
27604 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
27605 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
27609 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
27610 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
27614 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
27615 opposed to old but unread messages).
27618 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
27619 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
27622 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
27623 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
27626 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
27627 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
27630 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
27632 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
27633 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
27634 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
27635 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
27638 The new command @kbd{W Y f}
27639 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}) allows deuglifying broken
27640 Outlook (Express) articles.
27643 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
27645 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
27646 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
27647 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
27648 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
27650 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
27651 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
27652 message cited below.
27655 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now displayed graphically in
27658 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.gnus.el} to
27662 Face headers handling. @xref{Face}.
27665 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
27666 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
27669 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
27672 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
27674 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
27675 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
27676 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
27677 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
27678 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
27682 Deleting of attachments.
27684 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
27685 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
27686 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
27687 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
27688 that support editing.
27691 @code{gnus-default-charset}
27693 The default value is determined from the
27694 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
27695 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
27696 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
27699 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
27701 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
27702 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
27703 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
27706 Extended format specs.
27708 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
27709 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
27710 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
27711 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
27712 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
27713 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
27716 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
27717 @c FIXME: Was this a user-visible change?
27719 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
27720 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
27721 out other articles.
27724 Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
27726 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
27727 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
27728 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
27729 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
27732 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
27736 @item Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features
27737 @c ****************************************************
27744 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
27745 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
27746 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
27749 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
27750 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
27753 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
27754 Gcc articles as read.
27757 Externalizing of attachments
27759 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
27760 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
27761 local files as external parts.
27764 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
27765 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
27768 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
27770 Earlier it was generated when the user configurable email address was
27771 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
27772 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
27773 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
27774 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
27775 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
27776 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
27777 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
27778 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
27781 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
27783 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
27784 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
27785 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
27786 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
27787 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
27788 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
27791 References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated when you
27792 start composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
27796 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers. @xref{X-Face}.
27799 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
27801 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
27802 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
27803 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
27804 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
27805 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
27806 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
27807 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
27808 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
27809 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
27810 was inserted directly.
27813 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
27815 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
27816 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
27817 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
27818 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
27821 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
27823 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
27825 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
27826 'bbdb-complete-name)
27830 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
27832 Add a new format of match like
27834 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
27835 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
27837 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
27839 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
27840 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
27844 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
27846 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
27847 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
27848 need add those two headers too.
27851 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
27852 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
27853 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
27857 The option @code{mm-fill-flowed} can be used to disable treatment of
27858 ``format=flowed'' messages. Also, flowed text is disabled when sending
27859 inline PGP signed messages. @xref{Flowed text, , Flowed text,
27860 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
27861 @c This entry is also present in the node "No Gnus".
27864 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
27866 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
27869 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
27871 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
27875 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
27877 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
27878 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
27879 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
27880 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
27881 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
27882 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
27883 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
27884 The behavior can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
27887 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
27888 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
27890 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
27891 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
27892 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
27893 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
27896 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
27899 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
27900 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
27903 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to the symbol
27906 The behavior for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
27907 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
27908 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
27909 invalidate the digital signature.
27912 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
27913 decompressed when activated.
27914 @c FIXME: Does this affect article or message mode?
27917 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
27919 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
27920 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
27921 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
27922 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
27923 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
27926 @item You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
27927 See @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} and @code{mml-dnd-attach-options}.
27928 @xref{MIME, ,MIME, message, Message Manual}.
27929 @c New in 5.10.9 / 5.11
27933 @item Changes in back ends
27934 @c ***********************
27938 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
27941 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
27944 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
27946 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
27949 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
27951 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
27952 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
27953 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
27954 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
27955 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
27956 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
27957 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
27958 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
27959 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
27960 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
27961 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
27971 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
27972 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
27975 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
27976 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
27977 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
27978 message, Message Manual}).
27981 The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group, Summary and
27982 Message mode. You can also customize the tool bars. This is a new
27983 feature in Gnus 5.10.9. (Only for Emacs, not in XEmacs.)
27985 @item The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly
27986 in the group buffer, see the variable @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}.
27987 Its default value depends on your Emacs version. This is a new feature
27992 @item Miscellaneous changes
27993 @c ************************
28000 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
28001 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
28002 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
28003 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
28004 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
28005 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
28006 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
28007 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
28008 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
28009 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
28010 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
28011 behavior of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
28012 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
28013 is not needed any more.
28016 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
28018 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
28019 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
28020 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
28025 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
28026 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
28027 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
28031 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
28034 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
28036 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
28043 @subsubsection No Gnus
28046 New features in No Gnus:
28047 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
28049 @include gnus-news.texi
28055 @section The Manual
28059 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
28060 either @code{texi2dvi}
28062 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
28063 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
28065 to get what you hold in your hands now.
28067 The following conventions have been used:
28072 This is a @samp{string}
28075 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
28078 This is a @file{file}
28081 This is a @code{symbol}
28085 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
28089 (setq flargnoze "yes")
28092 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
28095 (setq flumphel 'yes)
28098 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
28099 ever get them confused.
28103 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
28104 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
28105 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
28106 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
28107 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
28108 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
28109 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
28115 @node On Writing Manuals
28116 @section On Writing Manuals
28118 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
28119 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
28120 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
28121 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
28122 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
28123 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code go hand
28126 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
28127 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
28128 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
28131 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
28132 reference manual as source material. It would look quite different.
28137 @section Terminology
28139 @cindex terminology
28144 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
28145 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
28146 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
28147 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
28148 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
28152 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
28153 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
28154 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
28155 not posting, and replying is not following up.
28159 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
28163 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
28168 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
28169 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
28170 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
28171 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
28172 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
28173 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
28174 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
28175 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
28176 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
28179 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
28180 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
28181 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
28182 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
28183 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
28184 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
28186 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
28187 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
28188 access the articles.
28190 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
28191 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
28192 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
28197 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
28198 default, way of getting news.
28202 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
28203 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
28208 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
28209 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
28213 A message that has been posted as news.
28216 @cindex mail message
28217 A message that has been mailed.
28221 A mail message or news article
28225 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
28230 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
28235 A line from the head of an article.
28239 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
28240 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
28242 @item @acronym{NOV}
28243 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
28244 @acronym{NOV} stands for News OverView, which is a type of news server
28245 header which provide datas containing the condensed header information
28246 of articles. They are produced by the server itself; in the @code{nntp}
28247 back end Gnus uses the ones that the @acronym{NNTP} server makes, but
28248 Gnus makes them by itself for some backends (in particular, @code{nnml}).
28250 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
28251 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
28252 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
28253 normal @sc{head} format.
28255 The @acronym{NOV} data consist of one or more text lines (@pxref{Text
28256 Lines, ,Motion by Text Lines, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual})
28257 where each line has the header information of one article. The header
28258 information is a tab-separated series of the header's contents including
28259 an article number, a subject, an author, a date, a message-id,
28262 Those data enable Gnus to generate summary lines quickly. However, if
28263 the server does not support @acronym{NOV} or you disable it purposely or
28264 for some reason, Gnus will try to generate the header information by
28265 parsing each article's headers one by one. It will take time.
28266 Therefore, it is not usually a good idea to set nn*-nov-is-evil
28267 (@pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}) to a non-@code{nil} value unless you
28268 know that the server makes wrong @acronym{NOV} data.
28272 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
28273 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
28274 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
28275 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
28276 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
28277 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
28279 @item killed groups
28280 @cindex killed groups
28281 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
28282 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
28284 @item zombie groups
28285 @cindex zombie groups
28286 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
28289 @cindex active file
28290 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
28291 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
28292 is rather large, as you might surmise.
28295 @cindex bogus groups
28296 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
28297 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
28298 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
28301 @cindex activating groups
28302 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
28303 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
28304 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
28308 News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
28309 One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
28310 article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
28314 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
28316 @item select method
28317 @cindex select method
28318 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
28321 @item virtual server
28322 @cindex virtual server
28323 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
28324 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
28325 whole is a virtual server.
28329 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
28330 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
28333 @item ephemeral groups
28334 @cindex ephemeral groups
28335 @cindex temporary groups
28336 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
28337 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
28338 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
28341 @cindex solid groups
28342 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
28343 group buffer are solid groups.
28345 @item sparse articles
28346 @cindex sparse articles
28347 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
28348 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
28352 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
28353 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
28357 @cindex thread root
28358 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
28359 articles in the thread.
28363 An article that has responses.
28367 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
28371 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
28372 specified by RFC 1153.
28375 @cindex splitting, terminology
28376 @cindex mail sorting
28377 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
28378 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
28379 incorrectly called mail filtering.
28385 @node Customization
28386 @section Customization
28387 @cindex general customization
28389 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
28390 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
28391 for some quite common situations.
28394 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
28395 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
28396 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
28397 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
28401 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
28402 @subsection Slow/Expensive Connection
28404 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
28405 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
28406 Gnus has to get from the server.
28410 @item gnus-read-active-file
28411 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
28412 entire active file from the server. This file is often very large. You
28413 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28414 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
28415 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
28417 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
28418 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
28419 Usually this one must @emph{always} be @code{nil} (which is the
28420 default). If, for example, you wish to not use @acronym{NOV}
28421 (@pxref{Terminology}) with the @code{nntp} back end (@pxref{Crosspost
28422 Handling}), set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to a non-@code{nil} value
28423 instead of setting this. But you normally do not need to set
28424 @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} since Gnus by itself will detect whether the
28425 @acronym{NNTP} server supports @acronym{NOV}. Anyway, grabbing article
28426 headers from the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast if you tell
28427 Gnus not to use @acronym{NOV}.
28429 As the variables for the other back ends, there are
28430 @code{nndiary-nov-is-evil}, @code{nndir-nov-is-evil},
28431 @code{nnfolder-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnimap-nov-is-evil},
28432 @code{nnml-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnspool-nov-is-evil}, and
28433 @code{nnwarchive-nov-is-evil}. Note that a non-@code{nil} value for
28434 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} overrides all those variables.@footnote{Although
28435 the back ends @code{nnkiboze}, @code{nnslashdot}, @code{nnultimate}, and
28436 @code{nnwfm} don't have their own nn*-nov-is-evil.}
28440 @node Slow Terminal Connection
28441 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
28443 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
28444 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
28445 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
28449 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
28450 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
28451 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
28452 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
28453 horizontal and vertical recentering.
28455 @item gnus-visible-headers
28456 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
28457 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
28458 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
28459 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
28461 Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
28463 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
28464 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
28465 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
28468 @item gnus-use-full-window
28469 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
28470 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
28471 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
28472 want to read them anyway.
28474 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
28475 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
28479 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
28480 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
28481 lines, which might save some time.
28485 @node Little Disk Space
28486 @subsection Little Disk Space
28489 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
28490 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
28494 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
28495 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
28496 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28497 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28500 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
28501 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
28502 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28503 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28506 @item gnus-save-killed-list
28507 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
28508 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
28509 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
28510 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
28516 @subsection Slow Machine
28517 @cindex slow machine
28519 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
28520 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
28522 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28523 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
28525 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
28526 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
28527 summary buffer faster. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
28531 @node Troubleshooting
28532 @section Troubleshooting
28533 @cindex troubleshooting
28535 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
28543 Make sure your computer is switched on.
28546 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
28547 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
28551 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
28553 @samp{No Gnus v0.7} @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change this line!
28555 you have the right files loaded. Otherwise you have some old @file{.el}
28556 files lying around. Delete these.
28559 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
28560 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
28563 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
28564 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
28565 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
28566 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
28567 something like that.
28570 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
28573 @cindex reporting bugs
28575 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
28577 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
28578 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
28579 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
28580 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
28582 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
28583 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
28584 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
28585 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
28588 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
28589 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
28590 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
28591 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
28592 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
28593 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
28595 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
28596 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
28597 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
28601 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
28602 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
28605 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
28606 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
28607 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
28608 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
28609 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
28610 you discover some weird behavior when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
28611 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
28612 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
28613 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
28614 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
28615 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
28616 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
28617 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
28618 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
28623 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
28624 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
28625 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
28626 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
28627 helps isolating the real problem areas).
28629 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
28630 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
28631 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
28632 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
28633 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
28634 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
28635 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
28636 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
28637 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
28638 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
28639 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
28640 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
28641 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
28644 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
28645 @cindex ding mailing list
28646 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
28647 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
28648 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
28649 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
28653 @node Gnus Reference Guide
28654 @section Gnus Reference Guide
28656 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
28657 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
28658 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
28659 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
28662 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
28663 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
28664 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
28665 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
28666 and general methods of operation.
28669 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
28670 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
28671 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
28672 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
28673 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
28674 * Group Info:: The group info format.
28675 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
28676 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
28677 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
28681 @node Gnus Utility Functions
28682 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
28683 @cindex Gnus utility functions
28684 @cindex utility functions
28686 @cindex internal variables
28688 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
28689 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
28690 Below is a list of the most common ones.
28694 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
28695 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
28696 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
28698 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
28699 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
28700 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
28702 @item gnus-group-real-name
28703 @findex gnus-group-real-name
28704 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
28707 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
28708 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
28709 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
28710 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
28712 @item gnus-get-info
28713 @findex gnus-get-info
28714 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
28716 @item gnus-group-unread
28717 @findex gnus-group-unread
28718 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
28722 @findex gnus-active
28723 The active entry for @var{group}.
28725 @item gnus-set-active
28726 @findex gnus-set-active
28727 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
28729 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
28730 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
28731 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
28734 @item gnus-continuum-version
28735 @findex gnus-continuum-version
28736 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
28737 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
28740 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
28741 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
28742 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
28744 @item gnus-news-group-p
28745 @findex gnus-news-group-p
28746 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
28748 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
28749 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
28750 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
28752 @item gnus-server-to-method
28753 @findex gnus-server-to-method
28754 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
28756 @item gnus-server-equal
28757 @findex gnus-server-equal
28758 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
28760 @item gnus-group-native-p
28761 @findex gnus-group-native-p
28762 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
28764 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
28765 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
28766 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
28768 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
28769 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
28770 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
28772 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
28773 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
28774 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
28775 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
28777 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
28778 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
28779 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
28781 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
28782 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
28783 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
28785 @item gnus-check-backend-function
28786 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
28787 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
28788 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
28791 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
28795 @item gnus-read-method
28796 @findex gnus-read-method
28797 Prompts the user for a select method.
28802 @node Back End Interface
28803 @subsection Back End Interface
28805 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
28806 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
28807 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
28808 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
28809 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
28810 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
28812 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
28813 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
28814 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
28815 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
28816 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
28817 been opened, the function should fail.
28819 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
28820 name. Take this example:
28824 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
28825 (nntp-port-number 4324))
28828 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
28829 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
28831 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
28832 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
28833 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
28835 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
28836 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
28837 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
28839 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
28840 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
28841 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
28842 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
28843 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
28844 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
28847 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
28848 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
28849 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
28850 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
28853 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
28854 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
28855 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
28856 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
28857 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
28858 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
28859 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
28860 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
28861 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
28862 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
28864 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
28865 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
28866 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
28867 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
28868 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
28869 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
28870 of numbers as long as possible.
28872 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
28873 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
28874 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
28876 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
28879 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
28882 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
28883 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
28884 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
28885 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
28886 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
28887 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
28891 @node Required Back End Functions
28892 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
28896 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
28898 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
28899 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
28900 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
28901 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
28903 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
28904 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
28905 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
28906 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
28908 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
28909 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
28910 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
28911 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
28912 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
28913 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
28914 number, do maximum fetches.
28916 Here's an example HEAD:
28919 221 1056 Article retrieved.
28920 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
28921 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
28922 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
28923 Subject: Re: Something very droll
28924 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
28925 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
28927 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
28928 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
28929 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
28933 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
28934 these in the data buffer.
28936 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
28940 head = error / valid-head
28941 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
28942 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
28943 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
28944 header = <text> eol
28948 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
28950 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
28951 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
28955 nov-buffer = *nov-line
28956 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
28957 field = <text except TAB>
28960 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
28964 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
28966 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
28967 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
28969 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
28970 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
28971 server. In fact, it should do so.
28973 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
28974 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
28977 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
28979 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
28980 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
28983 There should be no data returned.
28986 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
28988 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
28989 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
28990 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
28991 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
28993 There should be no data returned.
28996 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
28998 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
28999 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
29000 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
29001 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
29003 There should be no data returned.
29006 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
29008 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
29010 There should be no data returned.
29013 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
29015 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
29016 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
29017 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
29018 it would be nice if that were possible.
29020 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
29021 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
29022 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
29023 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
29024 into its article buffer.
29026 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
29027 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
29028 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
29029 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
29030 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
29031 on successful article retrieval.
29034 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
29036 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
29037 making @var{group} the current group.
29039 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
29042 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
29045 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
29048 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
29049 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
29050 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
29051 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
29052 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
29053 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
29054 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
29055 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
29056 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
29060 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
29061 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
29062 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
29066 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29068 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
29069 a no-op on most back ends.
29071 There should be no data returned.
29074 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
29076 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
29079 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
29082 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
29083 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
29086 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
29087 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
29088 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
29089 and the highest as 0.
29092 active-file = *active-line
29093 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
29095 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
29098 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
29099 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
29100 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
29103 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
29105 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
29106 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
29107 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
29108 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
29109 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
29110 clear if the posting could not be completed.
29112 There should be no result data from this function.
29117 @node Optional Back End Functions
29118 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
29122 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
29124 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
29125 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
29126 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
29128 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
29129 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
29130 former is in the same format as the data from
29131 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
29132 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
29135 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
29139 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
29141 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
29142 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
29143 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
29144 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
29145 should return a non-@code{nil} value (exceptionally,
29146 @code{nntp-request-update-info} always returns @code{nil} not to waste
29147 the network resources).
29149 There should be no result data from this function.
29152 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
29154 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
29155 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
29156 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
29157 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
29158 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
29159 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
29160 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
29161 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
29163 There should be no result data from this function.
29166 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
29168 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
29169 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
29170 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
29171 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
29172 propagate the mark information to the server.
29174 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
29177 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
29180 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
29181 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
29182 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
29183 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
29184 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
29185 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
29186 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
29187 possible, not limit itself to these.
29189 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
29190 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
29191 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
29192 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
29194 An example action list:
29197 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
29198 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
29199 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
29202 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
29203 mark on (currently not used for anything).
29205 There should be no result data from this function.
29207 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
29209 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
29210 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
29211 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
29212 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
29213 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
29215 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
29216 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
29217 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
29220 There should be no result data from this function.
29223 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
29225 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
29226 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
29227 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
29228 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
29229 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
29230 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
29231 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
29232 local if that's practical.
29234 There should be no result data from this function.
29237 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
29239 The result data from this function should be a description of
29243 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
29245 description = <text>
29248 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
29250 The result data from this function should be the description of all
29251 groups available on the server.
29254 description-buffer = *description-line
29258 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
29260 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
29261 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
29262 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
29263 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
29264 in the active buffer format.
29266 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
29267 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
29268 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
29269 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
29270 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
29271 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
29272 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
29275 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29277 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
29279 There should be no return data.
29282 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
29284 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
29285 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
29286 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
29287 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
29288 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
29291 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
29294 There should be no result data returned.
29297 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
29299 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
29300 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
29302 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
29303 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
29304 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
29305 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
29306 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
29307 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
29309 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
29310 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
29313 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29314 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29316 There should be no data returned.
29319 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
29321 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
29322 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
29323 this function in short order.
29325 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29326 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29328 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
29329 article for that group.
29331 There should be no data returned.
29334 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
29336 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
29337 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
29339 There should be no data returned.
29342 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
29344 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
29345 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
29346 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
29348 There should be no data returned.
29351 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
29353 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
29354 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
29356 There should be no data returned.
29361 @node Error Messaging
29362 @subsubsection Error Messaging
29364 @findex nnheader-report
29365 @findex nnheader-get-report
29366 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
29367 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
29368 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
29369 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
29370 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
29371 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
29374 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
29376 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
29379 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
29380 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
29381 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
29382 takes one argument---the server symbol.
29384 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
29385 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
29386 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
29389 @node Writing New Back Ends
29390 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
29392 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
29393 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
29394 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
29395 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
29396 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
29399 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
29400 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
29401 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
29403 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
29404 package called @code{nnoo}.
29406 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
29407 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
29413 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
29414 parameters. For instance:
29417 (nnoo-declare nndir
29421 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
29422 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
29425 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
29426 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
29427 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
29429 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
29430 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
29431 a function in those back ends.
29434 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29435 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29436 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29439 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
29440 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
29441 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
29443 @item nnoo-define-basics
29444 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
29448 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29452 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
29453 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
29454 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
29456 @item nnoo-map-functions
29457 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
29458 functions from the parent back ends.
29461 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29462 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29463 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
29466 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
29467 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
29468 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
29469 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
29472 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
29473 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
29474 haven't already been defined.
29480 nnmh-request-newgroups)
29484 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
29485 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
29486 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
29491 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
29494 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
29495 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
29499 (require 'nnheader)
29503 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
29505 (nnoo-declare nndir
29508 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29509 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29510 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29512 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
29513 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
29516 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
29518 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
29519 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
29520 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
29522 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
29523 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
29525 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
29527 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29529 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
29530 (setq nndir-directory
29531 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
29533 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
29534 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
29535 (push `(nndir-current-group
29536 ,(file-name-nondirectory
29537 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29539 (push `(nndir-top-directory
29540 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29542 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
29544 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29545 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29546 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29547 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
29548 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
29552 nnmh-status-message
29554 nnmh-request-newgroups))
29560 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29561 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29563 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
29564 @findex gnus-declare-backend
29565 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
29566 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
29567 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
29569 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
29570 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
29575 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
29578 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
29580 The abilities can be:
29584 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
29586 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
29588 This back end supports both mail and news.
29590 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
29593 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
29594 articles and groups.
29596 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
29597 true for almost all back ends.
29598 @item prompt-address
29599 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
29600 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
29601 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
29605 @node Mail-like Back Ends
29606 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
29608 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
29609 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
29610 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
29611 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
29614 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
29615 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
29616 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
29619 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
29620 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
29623 This function takes four parameters.
29627 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
29630 @item exit-function
29631 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
29633 @item temp-directory
29634 Where the temporary files should be stored.
29637 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
29638 performed for one group only.
29641 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
29642 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
29643 find the article number assigned to this article.
29645 The function also uses the following variables:
29646 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
29647 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
29648 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
29649 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
29653 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
29654 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
29658 @node Score File Syntax
29659 @subsection Score File Syntax
29661 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
29662 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
29663 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
29665 Here's a typical score file:
29669 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
29676 BNF definition of a score file:
29679 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
29680 element = rule / atom
29681 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
29682 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
29683 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
29684 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
29686 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
29687 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
29688 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
29689 date-header = "date"
29690 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29691 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29692 score = "nil" / <integer>
29693 date = "nil" / <natural number>
29694 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
29695 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
29696 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
29697 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
29698 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29699 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29700 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
29701 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29702 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
29703 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
29704 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
29705 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
29706 exclude-files / read-only / touched
29707 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
29708 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
29709 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
29710 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
29711 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
29712 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
29713 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
29714 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
29715 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
29716 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
29717 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
29718 eval = "eval" space <form>
29719 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
29722 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
29725 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
29726 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
29727 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
29728 one looong line, then that's ok.
29730 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
29731 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
29735 @subsection Headers
29737 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
29738 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
29739 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
29740 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
29742 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
29743 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
29744 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
29745 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
29746 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
29747 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
29748 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
29750 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
29751 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
29752 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
29753 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
29754 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
29756 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
29757 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
29763 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
29764 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
29766 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
29767 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
29768 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
29769 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
29771 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
29775 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
29778 is transformed into
29781 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
29784 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
29785 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
29788 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
29791 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
29792 is slightly tricky:
29795 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
29801 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
29804 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
29810 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
29817 and is equal to the previous range.
29819 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
29820 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
29821 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
29825 range = simple-range / normal-range
29826 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
29827 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
29828 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
29829 number *[ " " contents ]
29832 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
29833 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
29834 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
29835 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
29836 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
29841 @subsection Group Info
29843 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
29844 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
29845 describes the group.
29847 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
29848 second is a more complex one:
29851 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
29853 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
29854 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
29856 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
29859 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
29860 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
29861 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
29862 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
29863 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
29864 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
29865 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
29866 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
29867 this section is about.
29869 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
29870 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
29871 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
29873 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
29876 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
29877 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
29878 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29879 group = quote <string> quote
29880 ralevel = rank / level
29881 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
29882 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
29883 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
29885 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
29886 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
29887 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
29888 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
29891 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
29892 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
29895 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
29896 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
29899 @item gnus-info-group
29900 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
29901 @findex gnus-info-group
29902 @findex gnus-info-set-group
29903 Get/set the group name.
29905 @item gnus-info-rank
29906 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
29907 @findex gnus-info-rank
29908 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
29909 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
29911 @item gnus-info-level
29912 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
29913 @findex gnus-info-level
29914 @findex gnus-info-set-level
29915 Get/set the group level.
29917 @item gnus-info-score
29918 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
29919 @findex gnus-info-score
29920 @findex gnus-info-set-score
29921 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
29923 @item gnus-info-read
29924 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
29925 @findex gnus-info-read
29926 @findex gnus-info-set-read
29927 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
29929 @item gnus-info-marks
29930 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
29931 @findex gnus-info-marks
29932 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
29933 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
29935 @item gnus-info-method
29936 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
29937 @findex gnus-info-method
29938 @findex gnus-info-set-method
29939 Get/set the group select method.
29941 @item gnus-info-params
29942 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
29943 @findex gnus-info-params
29944 @findex gnus-info-set-params
29945 Get/set the group parameters.
29948 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
29949 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
29951 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
29952 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
29953 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
29954 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
29957 @node Extended Interactive
29958 @subsection Extended Interactive
29959 @cindex interactive
29960 @findex gnus-interactive
29962 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
29963 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
29964 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
29967 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
29968 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
29973 The best thing to do would have been to implement
29974 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
29975 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
29976 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
29977 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
29978 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
29979 @code{interactive}.
29981 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
29986 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
29987 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
29991 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
29992 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
29993 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
29996 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
30000 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
30004 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
30010 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
30011 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
30015 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
30016 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
30017 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
30019 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
30020 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
30021 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
30022 Gnus, that's very useful.
30024 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
30025 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
30026 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
30027 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
30028 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
30029 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
30030 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
30031 following function:
30034 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
30038 (,function ,@@args))
30042 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
30043 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
30044 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
30047 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
30048 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
30049 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
30051 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
30052 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
30053 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
30056 @node Various File Formats
30057 @subsection Various File Formats
30060 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
30061 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
30065 @node Active File Format
30066 @subsubsection Active File Format
30068 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
30069 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
30072 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
30075 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
30076 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
30077 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
30078 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
30079 no.general 1000 900 y
30082 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
30085 active = *group-line
30086 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
30087 group = <non-white-space string>
30089 high-number = <non-negative integer>
30090 low-number = <positive integer>
30091 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
30094 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
30095 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
30098 @node Newsgroups File Format
30099 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
30101 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
30102 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
30103 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
30106 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
30107 Here's the definition:
30111 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
30112 group = <non-white-space string>
30114 description = <string>
30119 @node Emacs for Heathens
30120 @section Emacs for Heathens
30122 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
30123 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
30124 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
30125 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
30126 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
30127 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
30128 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
30132 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
30133 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
30138 @subsection Keystrokes
30142 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
30145 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
30148 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
30149 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
30150 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
30151 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
30152 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
30153 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
30155 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
30156 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
30157 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
30158 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
30159 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
30160 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
30161 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
30163 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
30164 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
30165 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
30166 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
30167 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
30168 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
30169 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
30171 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
30172 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
30173 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
30174 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
30175 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
30181 @subsection Emacs Lisp
30183 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
30184 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
30185 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
30186 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
30188 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
30189 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
30190 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
30191 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
30192 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
30193 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
30194 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
30195 file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
30196 in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
30197 @file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
30199 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
30200 write the following:
30203 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
30206 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
30207 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
30208 you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
30209 change how Gnus works.
30211 If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
30212 read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
30213 start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
30214 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
30215 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
30217 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
30218 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
30219 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
30223 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
30227 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
30230 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
30231 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
30234 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
30237 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
30238 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
30241 @include gnus-faq.texi
30243 @node GNU Free Documentation License
30244 @chapter GNU Free Documentation License
30245 @include doclicense.texi
30265 @c Local Variables:
30267 @c coding: iso-8859-1
30271 arch-tag: c9fa47e7-78ca-4681-bda9-9fef45d1c819