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10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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268 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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277 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
278 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
281 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
282 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
283 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
284 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
285 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
286 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
287 License'' in the Emacs manual.
289 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
290 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
291 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
293 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
294 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
295 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
296 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
304 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
306 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
308 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
309 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
310 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
311 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
312 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
313 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
314 License'' in the Emacs manual.
316 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
317 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
318 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
320 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
321 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
322 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
323 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
331 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
334 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
335 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
337 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
338 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
339 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
340 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
341 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
342 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
343 License'' in the Emacs manual.
345 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
346 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
347 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
349 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
350 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
351 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
352 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
361 @top The Gnus Newsreader
365 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
366 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
367 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
370 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v.
381 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
382 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
384 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
385 being accused of plagiarism:
387 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
388 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
389 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
390 can even read news with it!
392 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
393 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
394 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
395 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
396 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
402 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
403 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
404 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
405 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
406 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
407 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
408 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
409 * Various:: General purpose settings.
410 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
411 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
412 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
413 * Key Index:: Key Index.
416 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
420 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
421 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
422 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
423 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
424 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
425 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
426 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
427 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
428 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
429 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
430 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
434 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
435 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
436 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
440 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
441 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
442 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
443 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
444 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
445 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
446 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
447 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
448 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
449 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
450 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
451 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
452 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
453 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
454 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
455 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
456 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
460 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
461 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
462 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
466 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
467 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
468 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
469 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
470 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
474 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
475 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
476 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
477 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
481 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
482 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
483 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
484 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
485 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
486 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
487 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
488 * Threading:: How threads are made.
489 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
490 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
491 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
492 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
493 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
494 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
495 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
496 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
497 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
498 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
499 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
500 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
501 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
502 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
503 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
504 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
505 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
506 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
507 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
508 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
509 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
511 Summary Buffer Format
513 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
514 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
515 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
516 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
520 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
521 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
523 Reply, Followup and Post
525 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
526 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
527 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
528 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
532 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
533 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
534 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
535 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
536 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
537 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
541 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
542 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
544 Customizing Threading
546 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
547 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
548 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
549 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
553 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
554 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
555 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
556 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
557 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
558 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
562 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
563 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
564 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
568 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
569 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
570 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
571 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
572 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
573 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
574 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
575 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
577 Alternative Approaches
579 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
580 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
582 Various Summary Stuff
584 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
585 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
586 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
587 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
591 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
592 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
593 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
594 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
595 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
599 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
600 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
601 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
602 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
603 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
604 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
605 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
606 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
610 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
611 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
612 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
613 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
614 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
615 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
616 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
620 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
621 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
622 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
623 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
624 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
625 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
626 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
630 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
631 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
635 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
636 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
637 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
638 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
639 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
640 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
641 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
642 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
643 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
644 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
645 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
646 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
647 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
651 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
652 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
653 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
655 Choosing a Mail Backend
657 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
658 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
659 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
660 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
661 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
662 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
666 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
667 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
668 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
669 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
670 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
671 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
675 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
676 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
677 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
678 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
679 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
680 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
684 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
688 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
689 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
690 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
694 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
695 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
696 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
700 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
701 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
705 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
706 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
707 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
708 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
709 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
710 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
711 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
712 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
713 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
714 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
718 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
719 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
720 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
724 * Group Agent Commands::
725 * Summary Agent Commands::
726 * Server Agent Commands::
730 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
731 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
732 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
733 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
734 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
735 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
736 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
737 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
738 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
739 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
740 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
741 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
742 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
743 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
744 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
745 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
749 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
750 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
751 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
752 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
756 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
757 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
758 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
762 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
763 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
764 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
765 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
766 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
767 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
768 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
769 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
770 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
771 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
772 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
773 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
774 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
775 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
776 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
777 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
778 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
779 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
783 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
784 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
785 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
786 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
787 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
791 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
792 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
793 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
794 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
798 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
799 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
800 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
801 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
802 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
806 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
807 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
808 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
809 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
810 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
811 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
812 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
813 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
817 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
818 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
819 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
820 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
821 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
822 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
823 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
824 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
825 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
829 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
830 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
831 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
832 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
833 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
837 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
838 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
839 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
840 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
844 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
845 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
846 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
847 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
848 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
849 * Group Info:: The group info format.
850 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
851 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
852 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
856 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
857 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
858 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
859 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
860 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
861 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
865 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
866 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
870 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
871 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
877 @chapter Starting Gnus
882 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
883 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
886 @findex gnus-other-frame
887 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
888 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
889 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
891 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
892 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
893 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
895 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
896 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
899 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
900 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
901 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
902 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
903 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
904 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
905 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
906 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
907 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
908 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
909 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
913 @node Finding the News
914 @section Finding the News
917 @vindex gnus-select-method
919 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
920 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
921 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
922 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
925 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
926 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
929 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
932 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
935 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
938 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
939 certainly be much faster.
941 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
943 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
944 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
945 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
946 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
947 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
948 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
950 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
951 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
952 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
953 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
955 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
956 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
957 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
958 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
959 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
960 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
961 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
962 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
963 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
966 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
968 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
969 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
970 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
971 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
972 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
973 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
975 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
977 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
978 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
979 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
980 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
981 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
982 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
985 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
986 would typically set this variable to
989 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
994 @section The First Time
995 @cindex first time usage
997 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
998 be subscribed by default.
1000 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1001 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1002 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1003 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1006 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1007 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1008 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1010 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1011 help you with most common problems.
1013 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1014 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1018 @node The Server is Down
1019 @section The Server is Down
1020 @cindex server errors
1022 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1023 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1024 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1026 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1027 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1028 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1029 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1030 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1031 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1032 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1034 @findex gnus-no-server
1035 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1037 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1038 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1039 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1040 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1041 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1042 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1043 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1047 @section Slave Gnusae
1050 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1051 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1052 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1053 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1055 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1056 @code{.newsrc} file.
1058 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1059 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1060 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1061 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1062 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1063 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1064 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1066 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1067 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1068 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1069 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1070 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1071 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1072 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1073 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1075 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1076 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1079 @node Fetching a Group
1080 @section Fetching a Group
1081 @cindex fetching a group
1083 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1084 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1085 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1086 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1087 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1088 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1094 @cindex subscription
1096 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1097 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1098 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1099 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1100 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1101 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1102 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1103 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1104 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1107 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1108 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1109 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1113 @node Checking New Groups
1114 @subsection Checking New Groups
1116 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1117 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1118 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1119 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1120 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1121 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1122 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1123 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1124 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1125 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1127 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1128 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1129 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1130 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1131 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1132 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1133 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1134 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1135 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1136 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1137 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1139 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1140 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1141 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1142 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1143 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1144 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1147 @node Subscription Methods
1148 @subsection Subscription Methods
1150 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1151 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1152 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1154 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1155 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1157 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1161 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1162 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1163 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1164 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1165 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1167 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1168 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1169 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1170 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1172 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1173 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1174 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1176 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1177 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1178 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1179 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1180 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1181 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1182 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1183 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1184 up. Or something like that.
1186 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1187 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1188 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1189 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1190 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1192 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1193 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1194 Kill all new groups.
1196 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1197 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1198 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1199 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1200 topic parameter that looks like
1206 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1209 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1214 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1215 A closely related variable is
1216 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1217 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1218 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1219 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1222 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1223 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1224 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1225 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1228 @node Filtering New Groups
1229 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1231 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1232 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1233 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1236 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1239 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1240 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1241 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1242 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1243 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1244 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1245 subscribing these groups.
1246 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1247 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1249 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1250 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1251 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1252 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1253 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1254 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1255 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1256 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1258 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1259 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1260 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1261 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1262 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1263 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1264 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1265 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1266 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1267 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1269 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1270 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1273 @node Changing Servers
1274 @section Changing Servers
1275 @cindex changing servers
1277 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1278 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1279 very flaky and you want to use another.
1281 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1282 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1286 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1287 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1288 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1289 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1292 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1293 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1294 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1295 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1297 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1298 @findex gnus-change-server
1299 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1300 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1301 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1302 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1303 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1305 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1306 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1307 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1308 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1309 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1311 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1312 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1313 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1314 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1315 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1316 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1318 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1319 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1320 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1324 @section Startup Files
1325 @cindex startup files
1330 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1331 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1333 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1334 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1335 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1336 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1337 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1338 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1339 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1341 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1342 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1343 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1344 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1345 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1346 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1348 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1349 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1350 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1351 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1352 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1353 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1354 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1355 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1356 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1357 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1359 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1360 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1361 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1362 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1363 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1364 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1365 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1366 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1367 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1368 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1369 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1370 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1372 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1373 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1374 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1375 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1377 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1378 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1379 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1380 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1381 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1382 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1383 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1384 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1385 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1386 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1389 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1390 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1392 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1393 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1396 @vindex gnus-init-file
1397 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1398 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1399 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1400 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1401 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1402 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1403 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1404 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1405 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1411 @cindex dribble file
1414 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1415 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1416 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1417 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1418 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1421 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1422 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1425 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1426 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1427 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1429 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1430 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1431 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1432 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1433 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1434 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1436 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1437 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1438 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1441 @node The Active File
1442 @section The Active File
1444 @cindex ignored groups
1446 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1447 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1448 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1450 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1451 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1452 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1453 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1454 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1455 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1456 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1459 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1460 @c if you set it to anything else.
1462 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1464 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1465 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1466 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1468 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1469 you actually subscribe to.
1471 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1472 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1473 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1474 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1476 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1477 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1478 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1479 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1480 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1481 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1483 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1484 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1485 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1488 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1489 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1490 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1491 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1492 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1493 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1495 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1496 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1498 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1499 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1501 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1502 secondary select methods.
1505 @node Startup Variables
1506 @section Startup Variables
1510 @item gnus-load-hook
1511 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1512 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1513 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1514 times you start Gnus.
1516 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1517 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1518 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1520 @item gnus-startup-hook
1521 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1522 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1524 @item gnus-started-hook
1525 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1526 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1529 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1530 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1531 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1532 generating the group buffer.
1534 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1535 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1536 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1537 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1538 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1539 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1540 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1541 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1543 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1544 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1545 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1546 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1547 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1548 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1550 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1551 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1552 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1554 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1555 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1556 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1558 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1559 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1560 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1561 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1567 @chapter Group Buffer
1568 @cindex group buffer
1570 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1571 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1572 long as Gnus is active.
1576 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1577 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1578 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1579 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1580 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1581 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1582 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1583 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1589 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1590 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1591 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1592 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1593 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1594 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1595 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1596 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1597 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1598 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1599 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1600 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1601 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1602 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1603 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1604 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1605 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1609 @node Group Buffer Format
1610 @section Group Buffer Format
1613 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1614 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1615 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1619 @node Group Line Specification
1620 @subsection Group Line Specification
1621 @cindex group buffer format
1623 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1624 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1626 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1629 25: news.announce.newusers
1630 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1635 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1636 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1637 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1638 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1640 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1641 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1642 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1643 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1644 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1645 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1647 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1649 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1650 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1651 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1652 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1655 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1656 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1657 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1659 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1664 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1667 Whether the group is subscribed.
1670 Level of subscribedness.
1673 Number of unread articles.
1676 Number of dormant articles.
1679 Number of ticked articles.
1682 Number of read articles.
1685 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1686 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1688 Gnus uses this estimation because the NNTP protocol provides efficient
1689 access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting the true
1690 unread message count is not possible efficiently. For hysterical
1691 raisins, even the mail backends, where the true number of unread
1692 messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1693 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the
1694 backend interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1695 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1698 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1701 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1710 Newsgroup description.
1713 @samp{m} if moderated.
1716 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1725 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1729 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1732 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1733 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1734 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1735 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1736 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1739 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1741 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1745 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1748 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1752 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1753 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1754 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1755 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1756 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1757 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1762 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1763 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1764 group, or a bogus native group.
1767 @node Group Modeline Specification
1768 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1769 @cindex group modeline
1771 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1772 The mode line can be changed by setting
1773 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1774 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1778 The native news server.
1780 The native select method.
1784 @node Group Highlighting
1785 @subsection Group Highlighting
1786 @cindex highlighting
1787 @cindex group highlighting
1789 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1790 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1791 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1792 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1793 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1795 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1799 (cond (window-system
1800 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1801 (defface my-group-face-1
1802 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1803 (defface my-group-face-2
1804 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1805 (defface my-group-face-3
1806 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1807 (defface my-group-face-4
1808 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1809 (defface my-group-face-5
1810 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1812 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1813 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1814 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1815 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1816 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1817 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1820 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1822 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1829 The number of unread articles in the group.
1833 Whether the group is a mail group.
1835 The level of the group.
1837 The score of the group.
1839 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1841 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1842 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1844 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1845 topic being inserted.
1848 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1849 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1850 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1852 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1853 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1854 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1855 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1856 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1859 @node Group Maneuvering
1860 @section Group Maneuvering
1861 @cindex group movement
1863 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1864 expected, hopefully.
1870 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1871 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1872 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1878 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1879 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1880 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1884 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1885 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1889 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1890 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1894 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1895 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1896 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1900 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1901 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1902 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1905 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1911 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1912 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1913 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1918 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1919 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1920 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1924 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1925 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1926 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1929 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1930 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1931 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1932 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1936 @node Selecting a Group
1937 @section Selecting a Group
1938 @cindex group selection
1943 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1944 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1945 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1946 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1947 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1948 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1949 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1950 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1951 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1952 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1954 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
1955 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
1956 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
1958 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
1959 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
1964 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1965 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1966 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1967 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1968 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1972 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1973 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1974 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1975 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1976 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1977 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1978 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1979 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1980 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1981 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1984 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1985 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1986 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1987 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1988 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1991 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1992 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1993 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1994 doing any processing of its contents
1995 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1996 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1997 manner will have no permanent effects.
2001 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2002 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2003 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2004 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2005 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2006 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2007 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2008 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2011 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2012 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2013 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2014 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2019 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2020 full summary buffer.
2023 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2026 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2031 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2032 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2033 Useful functions include:
2036 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2037 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2038 don't select the article.
2040 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2041 Select the first unread article.
2043 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2044 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2048 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2049 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2050 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2054 @node Subscription Commands
2055 @section Subscription Commands
2056 @cindex subscription
2064 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2065 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2066 Toggle subscription to the current group
2067 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2073 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2074 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2075 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2076 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2082 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2083 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2084 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2090 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2091 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2094 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2095 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2096 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2097 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2098 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2104 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2105 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2109 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2110 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2113 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2114 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2115 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2116 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2117 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2118 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2119 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2120 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2121 @file{.newsrc} file.
2125 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2135 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2136 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2137 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2138 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2139 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2140 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2145 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2146 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2147 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2151 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2152 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2153 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2155 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2156 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2157 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2158 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2159 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2160 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2167 @section Group Levels
2171 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2172 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2173 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2174 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2175 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2177 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2183 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2184 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2185 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2186 prompted for a level.
2189 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2190 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2191 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2192 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2193 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2194 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2195 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2196 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2197 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2198 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2199 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2200 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2201 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2202 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2203 reasons of efficiency.
2205 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2206 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2208 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2209 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2210 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2211 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2212 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2213 groups are hidden, in a way.
2215 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2216 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2217 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2218 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2219 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2220 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2222 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2223 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2224 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2225 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2226 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2227 list of killed groups.)
2229 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2230 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2231 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2233 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2234 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2235 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2236 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2237 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2238 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2239 relevant valid ranges.
2241 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2242 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2243 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2244 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2245 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2246 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2249 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2250 one with the best level.
2252 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2253 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2254 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2257 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2258 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2259 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2260 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2263 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2264 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2265 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2266 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2268 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2269 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2270 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2271 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2272 to 5. The default is 6.
2276 @section Group Score
2281 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2282 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2283 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2286 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2287 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2288 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2289 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2290 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2291 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2292 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2293 least significant part.))
2295 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2296 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2297 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2298 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2299 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2300 action after each summary exit, you can add
2301 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2302 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2303 slow things down somewhat.
2306 @node Marking Groups
2307 @section Marking Groups
2308 @cindex marking groups
2310 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2311 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2312 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2313 bidding on those groups.
2315 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2316 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2317 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2325 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2326 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2332 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2333 Remove the mark from the current group
2334 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2338 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2339 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2343 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2344 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2348 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2349 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2353 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2354 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2355 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2358 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2360 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2361 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2362 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2363 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2364 the command to be executed.
2367 @node Foreign Groups
2368 @section Foreign Groups
2369 @cindex foreign groups
2371 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2372 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2373 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2374 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2381 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2382 @cindex making groups
2383 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2384 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2385 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2389 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2390 @cindex renaming groups
2391 Rename the current group to something else
2392 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2393 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2399 @findex gnus-group-customize
2400 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2404 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2405 @cindex renaming groups
2406 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2407 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2411 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2412 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2413 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2417 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2418 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2419 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2423 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2425 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2426 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2431 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2432 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2436 @cindex (ding) archive
2437 @cindex archive group
2438 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2439 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2440 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2441 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2442 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2443 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2444 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2448 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2450 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2451 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2452 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2453 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2457 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2459 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2460 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2461 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2465 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2466 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2468 Make a group based on some file or other
2469 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2470 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2471 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2472 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2473 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2474 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2475 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2479 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2480 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2481 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2482 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2486 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2491 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2492 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2493 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2494 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2495 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2496 @xref{Web Searches}.
2498 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2499 to a particular group by using a match string like
2500 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2503 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2504 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2505 This function will delete the current group
2506 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2507 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2508 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2509 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2510 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2514 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2515 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2516 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2520 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2521 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2522 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2525 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2528 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2529 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2530 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2531 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2532 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2533 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2537 @node Group Parameters
2538 @section Group Parameters
2539 @cindex group parameters
2541 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2542 Here's an example group parameter list:
2545 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2549 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2550 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2551 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2552 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2554 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2555 is an alist of regexps and values.
2557 The following group parameters can be used:
2562 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2565 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2568 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2569 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2570 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2571 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2572 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2574 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2575 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2576 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2577 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2578 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2579 list address instead.
2581 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2585 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2588 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2591 It is totally ignored
2592 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2593 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2595 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2596 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2597 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2598 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2599 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2601 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2602 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2603 sending the message.
2605 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2609 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2610 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2611 of whether it has any unread articles.
2613 @item broken-reply-to
2614 @cindex broken-reply-to
2615 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2616 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2617 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2618 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2619 broken behavior. So there!
2623 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2624 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2628 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2629 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2630 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2635 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2636 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2637 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2638 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2639 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2640 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2641 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2645 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2646 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2647 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2649 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2652 @cindex total-expire
2653 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2654 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2655 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2656 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2659 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2663 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2664 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2665 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2666 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2667 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2668 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2671 @cindex score file group parameter
2672 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2673 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2674 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2677 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2678 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2679 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2680 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2683 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2684 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2685 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2686 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2689 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2690 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2694 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2697 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2702 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2703 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2704 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2708 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2709 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2710 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2712 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2714 @item ignored-charsets
2715 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-known iso-8859-1)}
2716 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2717 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2719 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2722 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2723 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2724 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2725 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2726 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2728 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2729 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2730 like this in the group parameters:
2735 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2739 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2740 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2741 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2742 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2743 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2745 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2746 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2747 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2748 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2749 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2750 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2751 @code{eval}ed there.
2753 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2754 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2755 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2756 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2757 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2761 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2762 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2763 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2764 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2765 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2768 @node Listing Groups
2769 @section Listing Groups
2770 @cindex group listing
2772 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2780 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2781 List all groups that have unread articles
2782 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2783 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2784 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2785 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2792 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2793 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2794 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2795 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2796 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2797 unsubscribed groups).
2801 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2802 List all unread groups on a specific level
2803 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2804 with no unread articles.
2808 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2809 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2810 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2811 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2816 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2817 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2821 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2822 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2823 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2827 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2828 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2832 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2833 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2834 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2835 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2836 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2837 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2838 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2839 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2843 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2844 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2845 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2849 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2850 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2851 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2855 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2856 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2860 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2861 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2865 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
2866 List groups limited within the current selection
2867 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
2871 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
2872 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
2876 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
2877 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
2881 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2882 @cindex visible group parameter
2883 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2884 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2885 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2886 get the same effect.
2888 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2889 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2890 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2891 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2892 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2895 @node Sorting Groups
2896 @section Sorting Groups
2897 @cindex sorting groups
2899 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2900 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2901 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2902 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2903 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2904 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2909 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2910 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2911 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2913 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2914 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2915 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2917 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2918 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2919 Sort by group level.
2921 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2922 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2923 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2925 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2926 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2927 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2928 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2930 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2931 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2932 Sort by number of unread articles.
2934 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2935 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2936 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2938 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
2939 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
2940 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
2945 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2946 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2950 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2951 some sorting criteria:
2955 @kindex G S a (Group)
2956 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2957 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2958 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2961 @kindex G S u (Group)
2962 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2963 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2964 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2967 @kindex G S l (Group)
2968 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2969 Sort the group buffer by group level
2970 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2973 @kindex G S v (Group)
2974 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2975 Sort the group buffer by group score
2976 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2979 @kindex G S r (Group)
2980 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2981 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2982 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2985 @kindex G S m (Group)
2986 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2987 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2988 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2992 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2993 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2995 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2996 commands will sort in reverse order.
2998 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3002 @kindex G P a (Group)
3003 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3004 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3005 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3008 @kindex G P u (Group)
3009 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3010 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3011 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3014 @kindex G P l (Group)
3015 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3016 Sort the groups by group level
3017 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3020 @kindex G P v (Group)
3021 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3022 Sort the groups by group score
3023 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3026 @kindex G P r (Group)
3027 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3028 Sort the groups by group rank
3029 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3032 @kindex G P m (Group)
3033 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3034 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
3035 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3039 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3043 @node Group Maintenance
3044 @section Group Maintenance
3045 @cindex bogus groups
3050 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3051 Find bogus groups and delete them
3052 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3056 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3057 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3058 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3059 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3060 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3064 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3065 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3066 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3067 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3068 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3069 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3072 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
3073 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3074 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3075 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3080 @node Browse Foreign Server
3081 @section Browse Foreign Server
3082 @cindex foreign servers
3083 @cindex browsing servers
3088 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3089 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3090 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3091 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3094 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3095 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3096 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3097 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3099 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3104 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3105 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3109 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3110 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3113 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3114 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3115 Enter the current group and display the first article
3116 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3119 @kindex RET (Browse)
3120 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3121 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3125 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3126 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3127 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3133 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3134 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3138 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3139 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3140 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3145 @section Exiting Gnus
3146 @cindex exiting Gnus
3148 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3153 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3154 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3155 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3156 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3160 @findex gnus-group-exit
3161 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3162 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3166 @findex gnus-group-quit
3167 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3168 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3171 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3172 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3173 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3174 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3175 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3180 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3181 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3182 trying to customize meta-variables.
3187 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3188 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3189 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3195 @section Group Topics
3198 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3199 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3200 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3201 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3202 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3203 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3207 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3208 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3219 2: alt.religion.emacs
3222 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3224 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3225 13: comp.sources.unix
3228 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3230 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3231 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3232 is a toggling command.)
3234 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3235 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3236 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3237 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3240 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3241 the hook for the group mode:
3244 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3248 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3249 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3250 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3251 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3252 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3256 @node Topic Variables
3257 @subsection Topic Variables
3258 @cindex topic variables
3260 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3261 really neat, I think.
3263 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3264 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3265 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3278 Number of groups in the topic.
3280 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3282 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3285 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3286 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3287 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3290 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3291 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3293 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3294 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3295 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3298 @node Topic Commands
3299 @subsection Topic Commands
3300 @cindex topic commands
3302 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3303 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3304 definitions slightly.
3310 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3311 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3312 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3316 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3317 Move the current group to some other topic
3318 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3319 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3323 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3324 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3328 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3329 Copy the current group to some other topic
3330 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3331 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3335 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3336 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3337 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3341 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3342 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3343 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3347 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3348 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3349 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3350 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3351 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3352 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3353 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3356 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3357 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3361 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3362 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3363 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3367 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3368 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3369 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3373 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3374 Toggle hiding empty topics
3375 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3379 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3380 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3381 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3384 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3385 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3386 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3387 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3391 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3393 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3394 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3395 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3396 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3399 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3400 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3401 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3402 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3406 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3408 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3409 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3410 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3411 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3412 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3413 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3416 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3417 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3418 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3419 expiry process (if any)
3420 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3424 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3425 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3426 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3430 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3431 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3432 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3437 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3438 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3441 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3442 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3443 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3447 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3448 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3449 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3453 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3454 @cindex group parameters
3455 @cindex topic parameters
3457 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3458 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3464 @subsection Topic Sorting
3465 @cindex topic sorting
3467 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3473 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3474 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3475 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3476 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3479 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3480 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3481 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3482 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3485 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3486 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3487 Sort the current topic by group level
3488 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3491 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3492 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3493 Sort the current topic by group score
3494 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3497 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3498 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3499 Sort the current topic by group rank
3500 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3503 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3504 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3505 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3506 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3510 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3513 @node Topic Topology
3514 @subsection Topic Topology
3515 @cindex topic topology
3518 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3524 2: alt.religion.emacs
3527 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3529 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3530 13: comp.sources.unix
3533 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3534 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3535 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3540 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3541 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3545 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3546 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3547 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3548 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3549 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3550 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3552 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3553 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3554 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3557 @node Topic Parameters
3558 @subsection Topic Parameters
3559 @cindex topic parameters
3561 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3562 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3563 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3565 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3570 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3571 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3572 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3577 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3578 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3579 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3580 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3586 2: alt.religion.emacs
3590 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3592 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3593 13: comp.sources.unix
3597 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3598 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3599 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3600 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3601 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3602 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3604 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3605 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3606 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3607 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3608 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3610 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3611 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3612 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3613 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3614 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3615 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3616 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3617 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3620 @node Misc Group Stuff
3621 @section Misc Group Stuff
3624 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3625 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3626 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3627 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3634 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3635 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3636 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3640 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3641 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3642 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3646 @findex gnus-group-mail
3647 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3651 Variables for the group buffer:
3655 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3656 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3657 is called after the group buffer has been
3660 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3661 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3662 is called after the group buffer is
3663 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3666 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3667 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3668 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3669 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3671 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3672 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3673 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3674 whether they are empty or not.
3676 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3677 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3678 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3679 non-ASCII group names.
3683 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3684 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3687 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3688 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3689 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3690 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3694 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3695 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3700 @node Scanning New Messages
3701 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3702 @cindex new messages
3703 @cindex scanning new news
3709 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3710 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3711 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3712 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3713 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3714 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3719 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3720 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3721 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3722 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3723 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3724 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3725 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3727 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3728 @cindex activating groups
3730 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3731 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3736 @findex gnus-group-restart
3737 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3738 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3739 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3743 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3744 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3746 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3747 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3751 @node Group Information
3752 @subsection Group Information
3753 @cindex group information
3754 @cindex information on groups
3761 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3762 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3765 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3766 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3767 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3768 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3769 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3770 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3771 for fetching the file.
3773 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3774 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3778 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3780 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3781 @cindex describing groups
3782 @cindex group description
3783 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3784 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3785 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3789 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3790 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3791 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3798 @findex gnus-version
3799 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3803 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3804 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3807 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3810 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3811 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3815 @node Group Timestamp
3816 @subsection Group Timestamp
3818 @cindex group timestamps
3820 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3821 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3822 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3825 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3828 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3830 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3831 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3834 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3835 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3838 This will result in lines looking like:
3841 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3842 0: custom 19961002T012713
3845 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3846 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3850 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3851 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3856 @subsection File Commands
3857 @cindex file commands
3863 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3864 @vindex gnus-init-file
3865 @cindex reading init file
3866 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3867 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3871 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3872 @cindex saving .newsrc
3873 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3874 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3875 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3878 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3879 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3880 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3885 @node Summary Buffer
3886 @chapter Summary Buffer
3887 @cindex summary buffer
3889 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3890 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3892 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3893 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3895 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3898 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3899 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3900 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3901 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3902 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3903 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3904 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3905 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3906 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3907 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3908 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3909 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3910 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3911 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3912 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3913 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3914 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3915 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3916 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3917 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3918 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3919 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3920 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3921 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3922 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3923 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
3924 or reselecting the current group.
3925 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3926 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3927 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
3931 @node Summary Buffer Format
3932 @section Summary Buffer Format
3933 @cindex summary buffer format
3937 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3938 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3939 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3945 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3946 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3947 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3948 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3951 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3952 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3953 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3954 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3955 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3956 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3957 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3958 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3959 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3960 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3961 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3964 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3965 'mail-extract-address-components)
3968 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3969 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3970 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3971 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3974 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3975 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3977 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3978 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3979 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3980 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3981 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3983 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
3984 the colon after performing an operation.
3986 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3988 The following format specification characters are understood:
3994 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3995 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3997 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3998 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3999 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4001 Full @code{From} header.
4003 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4005 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
4006 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
4008 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4009 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4010 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4011 may be more thorough.
4013 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4016 Number of lines in the article.
4018 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
4019 methods (like nnfolder).
4021 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4023 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4024 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4026 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4027 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4029 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4030 for adopted articles.
4032 One space for each thread level.
4034 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4039 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4040 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4044 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4046 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4047 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4048 default level. If the difference between
4049 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4050 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4058 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4060 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4066 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4067 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4069 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4070 article has any children.
4076 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4077 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4078 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4079 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4080 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4081 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4084 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4085 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4086 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4087 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4088 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4089 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4091 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4092 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4094 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4097 @node To From Newsgroups
4098 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4102 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4103 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4104 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4105 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4106 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4110 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4111 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4112 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4116 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4117 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4120 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4121 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4124 @findex gnus-extra-header
4125 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4126 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4127 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4130 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4134 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4135 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4136 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4137 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4138 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4139 headers are used instead.
4143 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4144 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4145 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4146 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4149 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4150 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4151 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4152 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4154 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4158 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4160 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4161 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4162 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4163 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4167 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4168 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4175 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4176 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4179 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4180 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4182 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4183 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4184 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4185 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4187 Here are the elements you can play with:
4193 Unprefixed group name.
4195 Current article number.
4197 Current article score.
4201 Number of unread articles in this group.
4203 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4206 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4207 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4208 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4209 and no unselected ones.
4211 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4212 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4214 Subject of the current article.
4216 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4218 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4220 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4222 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4224 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4226 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4230 @node Summary Highlighting
4231 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4235 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4236 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4237 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4238 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4239 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4241 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4242 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4243 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4244 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4246 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4247 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4248 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4249 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4251 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4252 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4253 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4254 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4255 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4256 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4259 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4260 ((> score default) . bold))
4262 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4263 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4267 @node Summary Maneuvering
4268 @section Summary Maneuvering
4269 @cindex summary movement
4271 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4272 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4274 None of these commands select articles.
4279 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4280 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4281 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4282 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4283 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4287 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4288 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4289 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4290 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4291 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4294 @kindex G g (Summary)
4295 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4296 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4297 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4300 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4301 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4302 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4303 to the group buffer.
4305 Variables related to summary movement:
4309 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4310 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4311 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4312 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4313 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4314 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4315 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4316 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4317 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
4318 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4319 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4320 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4321 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4322 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4324 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4325 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4326 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4327 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4328 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4329 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4330 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4332 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4334 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4335 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4336 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4337 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4338 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4340 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4341 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4342 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4343 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4344 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4345 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4346 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4347 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4350 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4351 the given number of lines from the top.
4356 @node Choosing Articles
4357 @section Choosing Articles
4358 @cindex selecting articles
4361 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4362 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4366 @node Choosing Commands
4367 @subsection Choosing Commands
4369 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4370 and they all select and display an article.
4372 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4373 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4377 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4378 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4379 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4380 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4385 @kindex G n (Summary)
4386 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4387 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4388 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4393 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4394 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4395 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4400 @kindex G N (Summary)
4401 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4402 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4407 @kindex G P (Summary)
4408 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4409 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4412 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4413 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4414 Go to the next article with the same subject
4415 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4418 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4419 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4420 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4421 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4425 @kindex G f (Summary)
4427 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4428 Go to the first unread article
4429 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4433 @kindex G b (Summary)
4435 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4436 Go to the article with the highest score
4437 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4442 @kindex G l (Summary)
4443 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4444 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4447 @kindex G o (Summary)
4448 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4450 @cindex article history
4451 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4452 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4453 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4454 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4455 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4456 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4461 @kindex G j (Summary)
4462 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4463 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4464 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4469 @node Choosing Variables
4470 @subsection Choosing Variables
4472 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4475 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4476 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4477 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4478 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4479 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4480 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4482 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4483 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4484 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4485 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4487 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4488 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4489 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4490 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4491 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4492 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4493 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4494 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4495 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4496 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4497 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4498 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4499 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4500 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4505 @node Paging the Article
4506 @section Scrolling the Article
4507 @cindex article scrolling
4512 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4513 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4514 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4515 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4516 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4519 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4520 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4521 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4524 @kindex RET (Summary)
4525 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4526 Scroll the current article one line forward
4527 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4530 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4531 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4532 Scroll the current article one line backward
4533 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4537 @kindex A g (Summary)
4539 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4540 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4541 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4542 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4543 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4544 the way it came from the server.
4546 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4547 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4548 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4551 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4556 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4561 @kindex A < (Summary)
4562 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4563 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4564 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4569 @kindex A > (Summary)
4570 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4571 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4575 @kindex A s (Summary)
4577 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4578 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4579 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4583 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4584 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4589 @node Reply Followup and Post
4590 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4593 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4594 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4595 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4596 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4600 @node Summary Mail Commands
4601 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4603 @cindex composing mail
4605 Commands for composing a mail message:
4611 @kindex S r (Summary)
4613 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4614 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4615 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4616 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4617 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4622 @kindex S R (Summary)
4623 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4624 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4625 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4626 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4627 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4630 @kindex S w (Summary)
4631 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4632 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4633 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4634 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4635 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4638 @kindex S W (Summary)
4639 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4640 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4641 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4642 the process/prefix convention.
4645 @kindex S v (Summary)
4646 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
4647 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
4648 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
4649 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4650 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
4651 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
4654 @kindex S W (Summary)
4655 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4656 Mail a very wide reply to the current article and include the original
4657 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4658 the process/prefix convention.
4662 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4663 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4664 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4665 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4666 Forward the current article to some other person
4667 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
4668 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
4669 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4670 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4671 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4672 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4673 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4674 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4675 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4680 @kindex S m (Summary)
4681 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4682 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4683 Send a mail to some other person
4684 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4687 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4688 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4689 @cindex bouncing mail
4690 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4691 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4692 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4693 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4694 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4695 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
4696 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4697 very well fail, though.
4700 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4701 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4702 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4703 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4704 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4705 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4706 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4707 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4708 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4709 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4711 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4712 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4713 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4714 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4715 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4717 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4718 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4721 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4722 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4723 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4724 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4725 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4728 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4729 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4730 @cindex crossposting
4731 @cindex excessive crossposting
4732 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4733 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4735 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4736 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4737 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4738 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4739 command understands the process/prefix convention
4740 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4744 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4747 @node Summary Post Commands
4748 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4750 @cindex composing news
4752 Commands for posting a news article:
4758 @kindex S p (Summary)
4759 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4760 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4761 Post an article to the current group
4762 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4767 @kindex S f (Summary)
4768 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4769 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4770 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4774 @kindex S F (Summary)
4776 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4777 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4778 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4779 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4780 process/prefix convention.
4783 @kindex S n (Summary)
4784 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4785 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4786 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4789 @kindex S N (Summary)
4790 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4791 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4792 message through mail and include the original message
4793 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4794 the process/prefix convention.
4797 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4798 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4799 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4800 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
4801 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
4802 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
4803 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4804 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4805 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4806 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4807 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4808 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4809 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4812 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4813 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4815 @cindex making digests
4816 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4817 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4818 process/prefix convention.
4821 @kindex S u (Summary)
4822 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4823 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4824 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4825 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4828 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4831 @node Summary Message Commands
4832 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4836 @kindex S y (Summary)
4837 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4838 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4839 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4840 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4841 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4846 @node Canceling and Superseding
4847 @subsection Canceling Articles
4848 @cindex canceling articles
4849 @cindex superseding articles
4851 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4852 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4854 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4856 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4858 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4859 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4860 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4861 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4862 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4863 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4865 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4866 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4869 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4870 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4871 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4873 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4874 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4875 your original article.
4877 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4879 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4880 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4881 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4884 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4885 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4886 have posted almost the same article twice.
4888 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4889 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4890 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4891 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4892 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4893 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4894 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4895 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4896 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4897 canceled/superseded.
4899 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4902 @node Marking Articles
4903 @section Marking Articles
4904 @cindex article marking
4905 @cindex article ticking
4908 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4910 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4911 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4912 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4914 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4917 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4918 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4919 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4923 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4927 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4928 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4929 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4933 @node Unread Articles
4934 @subsection Unread Articles
4936 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4941 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4942 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4944 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4945 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4946 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4947 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
4948 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
4949 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
4950 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
4953 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4954 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4956 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4957 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4958 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4959 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
4963 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4964 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4966 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4971 @subsection Read Articles
4972 @cindex expirable mark
4974 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4979 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4980 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4981 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4984 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4985 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4988 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4989 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4990 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4993 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4994 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4997 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4998 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5001 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5002 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5005 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5006 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5009 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5010 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5013 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5014 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5017 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5018 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5022 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5023 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5024 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5028 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5029 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5031 One more special mark, though:
5035 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5036 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5038 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5039 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5040 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5041 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5047 @subsection Other Marks
5048 @cindex process mark
5051 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5057 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5058 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5059 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5060 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5061 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5064 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5065 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5066 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5067 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5069 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5070 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{O} in
5071 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5074 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5075 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5076 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5079 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5080 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5081 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5082 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5085 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5086 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5087 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5088 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5089 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5092 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5093 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5094 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5095 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5096 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5097 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5101 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5102 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5103 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5105 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5106 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5107 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5111 @subsection Setting Marks
5112 @cindex setting marks
5114 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5119 @kindex M c (Summary)
5120 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5121 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5122 @cindex mark as unread
5123 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5124 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5130 @kindex M t (Summary)
5131 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5132 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5133 @xref{Article Caching}.
5138 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5139 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5140 Mark the current article as dormant
5141 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5145 @kindex M d (Summary)
5147 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5148 Mark the current article as read
5149 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5153 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5154 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5155 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5160 @kindex M k (Summary)
5161 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5162 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5163 and then select the next unread article
5164 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5168 @kindex M K (Summary)
5169 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5170 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5171 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5172 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5175 @kindex M C (Summary)
5176 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5177 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5178 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5181 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5182 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5183 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5184 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5187 @kindex M H (Summary)
5188 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5189 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5190 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5193 @kindex M h (Summary)
5194 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5195 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5196 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5199 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5200 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5201 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5202 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5205 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5206 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5207 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5208 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5212 @kindex M e (Summary)
5214 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5215 Mark the current article as expirable
5216 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5219 @kindex M b (Summary)
5220 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5221 Set a bookmark in the current article
5222 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5225 @kindex M B (Summary)
5226 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5227 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5228 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5231 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5232 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5233 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5234 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5237 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5238 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5239 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5240 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5243 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5244 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5245 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5246 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5247 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5250 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5251 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5252 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5253 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5254 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5255 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5256 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5257 The default is @code{t}.
5260 @node Generic Marking Commands
5261 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5263 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5264 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5265 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5266 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5267 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5270 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5271 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5274 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5275 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5276 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5277 to list in this manual.
5279 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5280 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5281 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5282 article, you could say something like:
5285 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5286 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5287 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5293 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5294 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5298 @node Setting Process Marks
5299 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5300 @cindex setting process marks
5307 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5308 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5309 Mark the current article with the process mark
5310 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5311 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5315 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5316 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5317 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5318 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5321 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5322 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5323 Remove the process mark from all articles
5324 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5327 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5328 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5329 Invert the list of process marked articles
5330 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5333 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5334 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5335 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5336 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5339 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5341 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5342 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5345 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5346 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5347 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5350 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5351 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5352 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5353 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5356 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5357 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5358 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5359 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5362 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5363 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5364 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5365 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5368 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5369 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5370 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5373 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5374 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5375 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5376 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5379 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5380 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5381 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5384 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5385 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5386 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5387 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5390 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5391 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5392 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5393 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5396 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5397 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5398 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5399 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5402 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5403 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5404 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5405 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5409 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5410 set process marks based on article body contents.
5417 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5418 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5419 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5422 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5423 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5424 additional articles.
5430 @kindex / / (Summary)
5431 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5432 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5433 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5436 @kindex / a (Summary)
5437 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5438 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5439 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5442 @kindex / x (Summary)
5443 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5444 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5445 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5446 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5450 @kindex / u (Summary)
5452 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5453 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5454 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5455 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5456 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5459 @kindex / m (Summary)
5460 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5461 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5462 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5465 @kindex / t (Summary)
5466 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5467 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5468 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5469 articles younger than that number of days.
5472 @kindex / n (Summary)
5473 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5474 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5475 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5476 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5479 @kindex / w (Summary)
5480 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5481 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5482 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5486 @kindex / v (Summary)
5487 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5488 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5489 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5493 @kindex M S (Summary)
5494 @kindex / E (Summary)
5495 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5496 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5497 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5500 @kindex / D (Summary)
5501 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5502 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5503 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5506 @kindex / * (Summary)
5507 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5508 Include all cached articles in the limit
5509 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5512 @kindex / d (Summary)
5513 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5514 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5515 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5518 @kindex / M (Summary)
5519 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5520 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5523 @kindex / T (Summary)
5524 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5525 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5528 @kindex / c (Summary)
5529 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5530 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5531 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5534 @kindex / C (Summary)
5535 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5536 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5537 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5538 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5546 @cindex article threading
5548 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5549 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5550 hierarchical fashion.
5552 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5553 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5554 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5555 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
5556 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5557 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5558 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5560 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5564 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5567 A tree-like article structure.
5570 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5573 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5574 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5575 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5576 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5577 called loose threads.
5579 @item thread gathering
5580 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5582 @item sparse threads
5583 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5584 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5590 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5591 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5595 @node Customizing Threading
5596 @subsection Customizing Threading
5597 @cindex customizing threading
5600 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5601 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5602 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5603 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5608 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5611 @cindex loose threads
5614 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5615 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5616 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5617 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5618 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5619 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5621 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
5622 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
5623 There are four possible values:
5627 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5628 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5629 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5630 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5631 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5636 @cindex adopting articles
5641 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5642 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5643 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5644 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5647 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5648 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5649 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5650 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5651 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5652 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5653 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5656 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5657 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5658 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5662 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5663 display them after one another.
5666 Don't gather loose threads.
5669 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5670 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5671 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5672 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
5673 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5674 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5675 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5676 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5677 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5678 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
5679 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5681 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5682 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
5683 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5686 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5687 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5688 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5689 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5690 simplification is used.
5692 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5693 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5694 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5695 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5697 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5699 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5705 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5706 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5707 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5708 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5713 (mapconcat 'identity
5714 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5716 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5719 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5722 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5723 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5724 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5725 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5726 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5727 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5729 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5732 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5733 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5734 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5736 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5737 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5740 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5741 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5742 Remove excessive whitespace.
5745 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5748 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5749 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5750 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5751 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5752 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5753 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5754 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5755 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5757 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5758 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5759 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5760 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5761 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5762 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5763 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5764 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5765 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5769 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5770 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5771 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5772 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5774 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5775 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5776 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5779 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5783 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5784 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5790 @node Filling In Threads
5791 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5794 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5795 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5796 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5797 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5798 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5799 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5800 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5801 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5802 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5803 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5804 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5805 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
5807 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5808 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5809 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5811 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5812 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5813 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5814 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5815 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5816 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5817 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
5818 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5819 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
5820 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
5821 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5822 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
5823 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5824 @code{nil} by default.
5826 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
5827 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
5828 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
5829 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the backend has to fetch
5830 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
5831 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
5832 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
5834 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
5835 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
5836 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
5841 @node More Threading
5842 @subsubsection More Threading
5845 @item gnus-show-threads
5846 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5847 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5848 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5849 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5850 slower and more awkward.
5852 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5853 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5854 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5857 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5858 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5859 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5860 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5861 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5862 threads are expunged.
5864 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5865 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5866 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5869 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5870 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5871 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5872 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
5873 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
5874 result in a new thread.
5876 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5877 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5878 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5881 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5882 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5883 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5884 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5885 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5886 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5887 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5888 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5889 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5890 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5891 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5896 @node Low-Level Threading
5897 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5901 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5902 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5903 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5905 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5906 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5907 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5908 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5909 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5910 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5911 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5912 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5913 meaningful. Here's one example:
5916 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5918 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5919 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5921 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5923 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5930 @node Thread Commands
5931 @subsection Thread Commands
5932 @cindex thread commands
5938 @kindex T k (Summary)
5939 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5940 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5941 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5942 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5943 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5948 @kindex T l (Summary)
5949 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5950 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5951 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5952 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5955 @kindex T i (Summary)
5956 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5957 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5958 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5961 @kindex T # (Summary)
5962 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5963 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5964 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5967 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5968 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5969 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5970 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5973 @kindex T T (Summary)
5974 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5975 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5978 @kindex T s (Summary)
5979 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5980 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5981 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5984 @kindex T h (Summary)
5985 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5986 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5989 @kindex T S (Summary)
5990 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5991 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5994 @kindex T H (Summary)
5995 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5996 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5999 @kindex T t (Summary)
6000 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6001 Re-thread the current article's thread
6002 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6003 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6006 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6007 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6008 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6009 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6013 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6014 understand the numeric prefix.
6019 @kindex T n (Summary)
6021 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
6023 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6024 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6025 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6028 @kindex T p (Summary)
6030 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
6032 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6033 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6034 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6037 @kindex T d (Summary)
6038 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6039 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6042 @kindex T u (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6044 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6047 @kindex T o (Summary)
6048 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6049 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6052 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6053 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6054 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6055 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6056 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6057 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6058 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6059 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6060 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6061 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6062 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6063 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6067 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6068 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6070 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6071 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6072 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6073 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6074 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6075 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6076 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6077 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6078 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6079 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6080 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6082 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6083 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6084 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6085 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6086 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6088 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6089 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6090 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6092 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6093 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6094 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6095 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6096 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6097 ascending article order.
6099 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6100 by number, you could do something like:
6103 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6104 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6105 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6106 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6109 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6110 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6111 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6112 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6113 which the articles arrived.
6115 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6119 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6121 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6122 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6125 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6126 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6127 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6128 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6131 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6132 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6133 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6134 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6135 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6136 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6137 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6138 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6139 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6140 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6141 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6142 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6143 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6145 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6149 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6150 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6151 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6156 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6157 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6158 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6159 @cindex article pre-fetch
6162 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6163 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6164 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6165 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6166 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6168 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6169 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6171 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6172 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6173 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6174 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6175 connection is blocked.
6177 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6178 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6179 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6180 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6182 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6183 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6184 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6185 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6188 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6191 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6192 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6193 happen automatically.
6195 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6196 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6197 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6198 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6199 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6200 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6201 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6203 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6204 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6205 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6206 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6207 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6208 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6209 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6210 data structure as the only parameter.
6212 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6215 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6216 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6217 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6218 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6221 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6224 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6225 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6226 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6228 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6229 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6230 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6231 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6235 Remove articles when they are read.
6238 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6241 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6243 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6244 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6245 @c from the next group.
6248 @node Article Caching
6249 @section Article Caching
6250 @cindex article caching
6253 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6254 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6255 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6256 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6257 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6259 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6261 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6262 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6263 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6264 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6265 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6266 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6267 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6268 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6270 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6271 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6272 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6273 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6274 as dormant, and don't worry.
6276 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6278 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6279 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6280 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6281 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6282 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6283 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6284 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6285 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6286 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6287 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6289 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6290 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6291 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6292 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6293 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6294 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6295 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6296 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6297 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6298 not then be downloaded by this command.
6300 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6301 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6302 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6303 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6304 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6305 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6307 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6308 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6309 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6310 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6311 variables, the group is not cached.
6313 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6314 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6315 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6316 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6317 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6318 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
6319 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6320 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6321 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6325 @node Persistent Articles
6326 @section Persistent Articles
6327 @cindex persistent articles
6329 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6330 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6331 useful in my opinion.
6333 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6334 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6335 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6336 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6337 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6338 the expiry going on at the news server.
6340 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6341 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6342 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6348 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6349 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6352 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6353 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6354 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6355 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6359 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6361 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6362 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6363 interested in persistent articles:
6366 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6370 @node Article Backlog
6371 @section Article Backlog
6373 @cindex article backlog
6375 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6376 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6377 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
6378 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6379 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6380 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6381 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
6382 increase memory usage some.
6384 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6385 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
6386 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6387 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
6388 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6389 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6390 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6392 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6395 @node Saving Articles
6396 @section Saving Articles
6397 @cindex saving articles
6399 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6400 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6401 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6402 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6403 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6405 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6406 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
6407 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6409 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6410 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6411 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6412 deleted before saving.
6418 @kindex O o (Summary)
6420 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6421 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6422 Save the current article using the default article saver
6423 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6426 @kindex O m (Summary)
6427 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6428 Save the current article in mail format
6429 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6432 @kindex O r (Summary)
6433 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6434 Save the current article in rmail format
6435 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6438 @kindex O f (Summary)
6439 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6440 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6441 Save the current article in plain file format
6442 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6445 @kindex O F (Summary)
6446 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6447 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6448 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6451 @kindex O b (Summary)
6452 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6453 Save the current article body in plain file format
6454 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6457 @kindex O h (Summary)
6458 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6459 Save the current article in mh folder format
6460 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6463 @kindex O v (Summary)
6464 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6465 Save the current article in a VM folder
6466 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6469 @kindex O p (Summary)
6470 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6471 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6472 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6475 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6476 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6477 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6478 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6479 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6480 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6481 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6482 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6483 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6484 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6485 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6486 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6490 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6491 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6492 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6493 functions below, or you can create your own.
6497 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6498 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6499 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6500 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6501 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6502 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6503 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6505 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6506 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6507 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6508 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6509 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6510 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6512 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6513 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6514 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6515 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6516 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6517 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6518 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6520 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6521 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6522 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6523 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6524 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6526 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6527 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6528 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6529 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6530 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6533 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6534 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6535 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6536 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6537 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6539 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6540 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6541 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6542 reader to use this setting.
6545 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6546 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6547 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6548 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6551 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6552 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6553 available functions that generate names:
6557 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6558 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6559 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6561 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6562 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6563 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6565 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6566 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6567 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6569 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6570 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6571 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6573 @item gnus-sender-save-name
6574 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
6575 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
6578 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6579 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6580 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6581 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6582 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6586 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6587 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6588 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6589 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6592 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6593 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6594 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6595 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6596 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6597 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6598 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6599 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6600 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6602 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6603 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6604 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6605 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6607 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6608 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6609 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6612 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6613 lots of mail groups called things like
6614 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6615 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6616 following will do just that:
6619 (defun my-save-name (group)
6620 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6621 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6623 (setq gnus-split-methods
6624 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6629 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6630 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6631 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6632 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6633 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6634 all the files in the top level directory
6635 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6636 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6637 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6638 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6640 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6641 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6642 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6643 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6644 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6647 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6651 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6652 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
6653 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6656 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6657 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6658 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6659 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6662 @node Decoding Articles
6663 @section Decoding Articles
6664 @cindex decoding articles
6666 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6667 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6670 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6671 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6672 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6673 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6674 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6675 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6679 @cindex article series
6680 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6681 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6682 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6683 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6684 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6686 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6687 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6688 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6690 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
6691 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6692 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6694 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6695 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6696 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6699 @node Uuencoded Articles
6700 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6702 @cindex uuencoded articles
6707 @kindex X u (Summary)
6708 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6709 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6710 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6713 @kindex X U (Summary)
6714 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6715 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6716 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6719 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6720 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6721 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6724 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6725 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6726 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6727 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6731 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6732 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6733 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6734 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6735 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6737 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6738 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6739 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6740 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6743 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6744 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6745 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6746 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6747 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6748 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6752 @node Shell Archives
6753 @subsection Shell Archives
6755 @cindex shell archives
6756 @cindex shared articles
6758 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6759 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6760 some commands to deal with these:
6765 @kindex X s (Summary)
6766 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6767 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6770 @kindex X S (Summary)
6771 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6772 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6775 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6776 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6777 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6780 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6781 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6782 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6783 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6787 @node PostScript Files
6788 @subsection PostScript Files
6794 @kindex X p (Summary)
6795 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6796 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6799 @kindex X P (Summary)
6800 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6801 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6802 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6805 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6806 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6807 View the current PostScript series
6808 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6811 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6812 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6813 View and save the current PostScript series
6814 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6819 @subsection Other Files
6823 @kindex X o (Summary)
6824 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6825 Save the current series
6826 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6829 @kindex X b (Summary)
6830 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6831 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6832 doesn't really work yet.
6836 @node Decoding Variables
6837 @subsection Decoding Variables
6839 Adjective, not verb.
6842 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6843 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6844 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6848 @node Rule Variables
6849 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6850 @cindex rule variables
6852 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6853 variables are of the form
6856 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6863 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6864 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6866 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6867 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6870 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6871 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6874 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6875 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6876 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6877 user and default view rules.
6879 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6880 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6881 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6886 @node Other Decode Variables
6887 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6890 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6892 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6893 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6894 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6895 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6896 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6900 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6901 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6904 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6905 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6906 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6909 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6910 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6911 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6912 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6913 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6916 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6917 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6918 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6920 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6921 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6922 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6923 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6924 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6927 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6928 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6929 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6931 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6932 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6933 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6934 looking for files to display.
6936 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6937 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6938 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6941 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6942 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6943 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6946 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6947 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6948 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6951 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6952 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6953 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6956 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6957 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6958 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6959 decoded articles as unread.
6961 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6962 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6963 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6964 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6966 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6967 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6968 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6970 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6971 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6973 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6974 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6975 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6976 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6978 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6979 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6980 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6981 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6982 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6983 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6984 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6985 simply dropped them.
6990 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6991 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6995 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6996 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6997 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6998 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6999 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7000 for you when you post the article.
7002 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7003 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7004 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7005 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7007 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7008 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7009 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7010 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7011 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7012 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7013 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7015 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7016 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7017 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7018 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7019 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7020 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7021 Default is @code{t}.
7027 @subsection Viewing Files
7028 @cindex viewing files
7029 @cindex pseudo-articles
7031 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7032 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7033 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7034 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7035 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7036 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7037 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7039 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7040 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7041 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7042 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7044 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7045 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7046 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7048 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7049 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7050 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7051 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7052 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7054 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7055 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7056 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7057 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7058 a list of parameters to that command.
7060 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7061 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7062 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7064 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7065 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7066 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7069 @node Article Treatment
7070 @section Article Treatment
7072 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7073 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7074 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7075 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7076 these articles easier.
7079 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7080 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7081 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7082 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7083 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7084 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7085 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7086 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7090 @node Article Highlighting
7091 @subsection Article Highlighting
7092 @cindex highlighting
7094 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7095 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7100 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7101 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7102 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7103 Do much highlighting of the current article
7104 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7105 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7108 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7109 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7110 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7111 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7112 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7113 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7114 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7115 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7116 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7117 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7118 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7119 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7122 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7123 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7124 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7126 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7129 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7131 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7132 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7133 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7135 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7136 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7137 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7139 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7140 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7141 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7142 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7143 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7144 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7146 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7147 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7148 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7150 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7151 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7152 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7154 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7155 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7156 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7157 that it's a citation.
7159 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7160 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7161 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7163 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7164 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7165 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7167 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7168 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7169 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7170 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7176 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7177 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7178 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7179 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7180 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7181 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7182 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7183 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7188 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7191 @node Article Fontisizing
7192 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7194 @cindex article emphasis
7196 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7197 @kindex W e (Summary)
7198 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7199 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7200 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7201 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7203 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7204 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7205 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7206 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7207 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7208 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7209 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7210 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7214 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7215 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7216 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7225 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7226 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7227 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7228 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7229 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7230 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7231 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7232 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7233 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7234 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7235 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7236 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7237 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7239 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7240 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7241 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7245 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7248 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7250 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7251 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7252 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7253 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7255 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7258 @node Article Hiding
7259 @subsection Article Hiding
7260 @cindex article hiding
7262 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7263 too much cruft in most articles.
7268 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7269 @findex gnus-article-hide
7270 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7271 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7272 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7275 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7276 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7277 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7281 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7282 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7283 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7284 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7287 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7288 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7289 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7293 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7294 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7295 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7296 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7297 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7298 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7299 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7300 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7304 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7305 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7306 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7307 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7312 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7313 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7314 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7315 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7316 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7317 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7318 articles that have signatures in them do:
7320 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7322 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7324 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7325 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7327 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7330 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7335 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7336 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7337 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7338 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7341 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7342 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7345 @cindex stripping advertisements
7346 @cindex advertisements
7347 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7348 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7349 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7350 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7351 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7352 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7353 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7354 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7355 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7356 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7360 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7361 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7362 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7363 customizing the hiding:
7367 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7368 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7369 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7370 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7371 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7372 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7373 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7378 Starting point of the hidden text.
7380 Ending point of the hidden text.
7382 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7384 Number of lines of hidden text.
7387 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7388 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7389 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7390 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7391 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7396 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7397 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7399 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7400 following two variables:
7403 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7404 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7405 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7406 50), hide the cited text.
7408 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7409 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7410 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7415 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7416 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7417 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7418 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7419 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7420 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7424 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7425 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7426 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7428 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7429 citation customization.
7431 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7435 @node Article Washing
7436 @subsection Article Washing
7438 @cindex article washing
7440 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7441 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7443 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7444 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7447 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7448 articles by default.
7453 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7454 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7458 @kindex W l (Summary)
7459 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7460 Remove page breaks from the current article
7461 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7465 @kindex W r (Summary)
7466 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7467 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7468 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7469 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7470 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7471 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7473 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7474 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7475 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7476 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7480 @kindex W t (Summary)
7482 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
7483 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7484 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
7487 @kindex W v (Summary)
7488 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7489 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7490 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7493 @kindex W o (Summary)
7494 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7495 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7498 @kindex W d (Summary)
7499 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7500 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7502 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7504 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7505 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7506 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7507 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7510 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
7511 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
7512 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
7513 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
7516 @kindex W w (Summary)
7517 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7518 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7520 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7524 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7525 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7526 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7529 @kindex W C (Summary)
7530 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7531 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7532 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7535 @kindex W c (Summary)
7536 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7537 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7538 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7539 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7540 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7543 @kindex W q (Summary)
7544 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
7545 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
7546 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
7547 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
7548 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
7549 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
7550 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
7551 header that says that this encoding has been done.
7552 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
7555 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7556 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7557 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7558 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7559 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7560 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7561 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7563 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
7566 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7567 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7568 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7569 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7570 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7573 @kindex W h (Summary)
7574 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7575 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7576 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7577 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7579 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
7582 @kindex W f (Summary)
7584 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7585 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7586 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7587 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7594 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7595 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7596 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7597 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7598 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7599 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7600 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7601 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7602 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7603 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7604 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7605 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7606 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7607 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7608 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7609 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7610 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7611 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7612 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7613 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7617 @kindex W b (Summary)
7618 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7619 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7620 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7623 @kindex W B (Summary)
7624 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7625 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7626 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7629 @kindex W p (Summary)
7630 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
7631 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
7632 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
7633 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
7634 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
7635 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
7636 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
7639 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7640 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7641 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7642 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7645 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7646 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7647 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7648 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7651 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7652 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7653 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7654 lines with a single empty line.
7655 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7658 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7659 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7660 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7661 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7664 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7665 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7666 Do all the three commands above
7667 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7670 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7671 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7672 Remove all blank lines
7673 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7676 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7677 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7678 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7679 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7682 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7683 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7684 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7685 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7689 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7692 @node Article Buttons
7693 @subsection Article Buttons
7696 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7697 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7698 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7699 button on these references.
7701 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7702 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7703 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7708 @item gnus-button-alist
7709 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7710 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7713 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7719 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7720 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7721 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7724 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7725 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7726 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7729 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7730 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7731 avoid false matches.
7734 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7737 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7738 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7742 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7745 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7748 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7749 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7750 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7751 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7752 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7755 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7758 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7760 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7761 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7762 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7763 default values of the variables above.
7765 @item gnus-article-button-face
7766 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7767 Face used on buttons.
7769 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7770 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7771 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7775 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7779 @subsection Article Date
7781 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7782 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7783 when the article was sent.
7788 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7789 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7790 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7791 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7794 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7795 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7797 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7798 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7801 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7802 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7803 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7806 @kindex W T p (Summary)
7807 @findex gnus-article-date-english
7808 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
7809 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
7812 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7813 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7814 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7815 @findex format-time-string
7816 Display the date using a user-defined format
7817 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7818 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7819 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7820 for a list of possible format specs.
7823 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7824 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7825 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7826 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7827 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7828 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7831 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
7834 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7835 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7838 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7839 into wonderful absurdities.
7841 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7844 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7847 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7848 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7852 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7853 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7854 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7855 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7856 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7857 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7858 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7862 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7863 preferred format automatically.
7866 @node Article Signature
7867 @subsection Article Signature
7869 @cindex article signature
7871 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7872 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7873 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7874 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7875 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7876 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7877 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7878 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7879 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7882 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7883 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7884 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7885 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7886 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7887 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7888 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7889 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7892 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7895 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7896 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7897 signature when displaying articles.
7901 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7904 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7907 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7908 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7910 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7911 in question is not a signature.
7914 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7915 listed above. Here's an example:
7918 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7919 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7922 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7923 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7924 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7925 signature after all.
7928 @node Article Miscellania
7929 @subsection Article Miscellania
7933 @kindex A t (Summary)
7934 @findex gnus-article-babel
7935 Translate the article from one language to another
7936 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7942 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7943 @cindex MIME decoding
7945 @cindex viewing attachments
7947 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7948 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7954 @kindex K v (Summary)
7955 View the @sc{mime} part.
7958 @kindex K o (Summary)
7959 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7962 @kindex K c (Summary)
7963 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7966 @kindex K e (Summary)
7967 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7970 @kindex K i (Summary)
7971 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7974 @kindex K | (Summary)
7975 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7978 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7983 @kindex K b (Summary)
7984 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
7985 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7989 @kindex K m (Summary)
7990 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7991 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7992 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7993 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7994 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7997 @kindex X m (Summary)
7998 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7999 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8000 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8001 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8004 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8005 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
8006 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8007 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8010 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8011 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8012 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8015 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8016 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8017 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8019 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8020 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8021 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8022 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
8023 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
8024 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8027 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8028 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8029 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8036 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8037 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8038 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8039 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8042 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8045 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8049 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8050 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8051 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8052 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8053 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
8055 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8056 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8057 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8058 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8059 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8060 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8061 save all jpegs into some directory).
8063 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8066 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8067 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8069 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8070 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8071 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8072 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8073 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8076 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8077 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8078 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8087 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8088 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8089 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8090 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8091 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8092 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8093 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8095 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8096 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8097 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match full group names) and
8098 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8100 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8101 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
8102 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8103 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8104 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
8105 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8106 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
8107 something some agents insist on having in there.
8109 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8110 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8111 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8112 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8113 quoted-printable header encoding.
8115 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8116 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8117 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8121 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8124 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8125 means encode all charsets),
8127 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8128 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8129 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8136 @cindex coding system aliases
8137 @cindex preferred charset
8139 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8141 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8142 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8145 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8146 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8149 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8150 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8152 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8155 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8158 This will almost do the right thing.
8160 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8164 (codepage-setup 1251)
8165 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8169 @node Article Commands
8170 @section Article Commands
8177 @kindex A P (Summary)
8178 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8179 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8180 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8181 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
8182 run just before printing the buffer.
8187 @node Summary Sorting
8188 @section Summary Sorting
8189 @cindex summary sorting
8191 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8192 can't really see why you'd want that.
8197 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8198 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8199 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8202 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8203 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8204 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8207 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8208 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8209 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8212 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8213 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8214 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8217 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8218 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8219 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8222 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8223 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8224 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8227 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8228 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8229 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8232 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
8233 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
8234 Sort using the default sorting method
8235 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
8238 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8239 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8240 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8241 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8242 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8246 @node Finding the Parent
8247 @section Finding the Parent
8248 @cindex parent articles
8249 @cindex referring articles
8254 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8255 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8256 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8257 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8258 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8259 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8260 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8261 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8262 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8264 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8265 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8266 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
8267 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8268 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8272 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8273 @kindex A R (Summary)
8274 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8275 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8278 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8279 @kindex A T (Summary)
8280 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8281 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8282 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8283 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8284 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8285 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8286 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8288 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8289 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8290 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8291 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8292 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8293 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8296 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8297 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8299 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8300 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8301 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8302 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8303 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8304 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8305 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8308 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8309 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8310 by giving this command a prefix.
8312 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8313 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8314 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8315 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8316 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8317 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8320 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8321 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8322 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8325 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8326 then ask Deja if that fails:
8329 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8331 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8334 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8335 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8336 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8337 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8338 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8339 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8342 @node Alternative Approaches
8343 @section Alternative Approaches
8345 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8346 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8349 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8350 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8355 @subsection Pick and Read
8356 @cindex pick and read
8358 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8359 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8360 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8361 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8363 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8364 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8365 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8366 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8367 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8368 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8370 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8375 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8376 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8377 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8378 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8379 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8380 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8381 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8382 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8385 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8386 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8387 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8388 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8392 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8393 Unpick the thread or article
8394 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8395 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8396 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8397 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8398 the thread or article at that line.
8402 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8403 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8404 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8405 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8406 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8407 will still be visible when you are reading.
8411 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8412 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8413 which is mapped to the same function
8414 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8416 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8419 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8422 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8423 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8425 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8426 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8427 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8429 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8430 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8431 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8432 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8433 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8434 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8435 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8439 @subsection Binary Groups
8440 @cindex binary groups
8442 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8443 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8444 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8445 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8446 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8447 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8448 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8451 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8452 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8453 command, when you have turned on this mode
8454 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8456 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8457 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8461 @section Tree Display
8464 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8465 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
8466 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8467 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8470 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8473 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8474 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8475 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8477 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8478 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8479 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8480 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8481 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8483 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8484 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8485 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8486 default is @code{modeline}.
8488 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8489 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8490 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8491 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8492 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8493 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8494 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8500 The name of the poster.
8502 The @code{From} header.
8504 The number of the article.
8506 The opening bracket.
8508 The closing bracket.
8513 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8515 Variables related to the display are:
8518 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8519 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8520 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8521 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8522 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8523 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8525 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8526 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8527 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8528 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8532 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8533 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8534 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
8535 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
8536 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8537 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8538 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8539 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8540 other windows displayed next to it.
8542 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8543 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8544 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8545 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8546 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8547 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8548 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8552 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8555 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8565 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8569 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8570 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8572 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8574 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8579 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8580 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8581 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8584 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8585 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8586 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8587 (gnus-add-configuration
8591 (summary 0.75 point)
8596 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8599 @node Mail Group Commands
8600 @section Mail Group Commands
8601 @cindex mail group commands
8603 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8604 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8606 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8607 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8612 @kindex B e (Summary)
8613 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8614 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
8615 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
8616 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
8617 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
8620 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8621 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8622 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8623 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8624 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8625 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8628 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8629 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8630 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8631 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8632 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8633 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8636 @kindex B m (Summary)
8638 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8639 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8640 Move the article from one mail group to another
8641 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8642 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8645 @kindex B c (Summary)
8647 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8648 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8649 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8650 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8651 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8654 @kindex B B (Summary)
8655 @cindex crosspost mail
8656 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8657 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8658 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8659 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8660 be properly updated.
8663 @kindex B i (Summary)
8664 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8665 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8666 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8667 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8670 @kindex B r (Summary)
8671 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8672 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8673 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8674 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8675 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8676 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8677 (which is the default).
8681 @kindex B w (Summary)
8683 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8684 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8685 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8686 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8687 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8688 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8691 @kindex B q (Summary)
8692 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8693 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8694 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8695 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8698 @kindex B t (Summary)
8699 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8700 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8701 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8704 @kindex B p (Summary)
8705 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8706 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8707 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8708 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8709 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8710 article from your news server (or rather, from
8711 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8712 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8713 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8714 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8715 just not have arrived yet.
8719 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8720 @cindex moving articles
8721 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
8722 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8723 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8724 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8725 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
8726 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
8727 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
8730 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8731 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8732 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8733 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8737 @node Various Summary Stuff
8738 @section Various Summary Stuff
8741 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8742 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8743 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8744 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8748 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8749 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8750 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8752 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8753 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8754 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8755 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8756 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8757 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8760 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8761 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8762 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8763 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8764 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8766 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8767 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8768 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8771 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8772 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8773 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8774 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8775 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8776 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8777 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
8778 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8779 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8780 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8782 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8783 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8784 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8785 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8786 list of articles to be selected.
8788 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8789 the list in one particular group:
8792 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8793 (if (string= group "some.group")
8794 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8801 @node Summary Group Information
8802 @subsection Summary Group Information
8807 @kindex H f (Summary)
8808 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8809 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8810 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8811 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8812 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8813 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8814 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8815 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8816 be used for fetching the file.
8819 @kindex H d (Summary)
8820 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8821 Give a brief description of the current group
8822 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8823 rereading the description from the server.
8826 @kindex H h (Summary)
8827 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8828 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8829 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8832 @kindex H i (Summary)
8833 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8834 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8838 @node Searching for Articles
8839 @subsection Searching for Articles
8844 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8845 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8846 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8847 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8850 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8851 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8852 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8853 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8857 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8858 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8859 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8860 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8861 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8862 search backward instead.
8864 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8865 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8868 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8869 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8870 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8871 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8874 @node Summary Generation Commands
8875 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8880 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8881 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8882 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8885 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8886 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8887 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8888 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8893 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8894 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8900 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8901 @kindex A D (Summary)
8902 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8903 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8904 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8905 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8906 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8907 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8908 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8909 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8913 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8914 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8915 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8916 several documents into one biiig group
8917 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8918 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8919 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8920 command understands the process/prefix convention
8921 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8924 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8925 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8926 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8927 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8928 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8929 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8933 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8934 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8935 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8938 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8939 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8940 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8941 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8944 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8945 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8946 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8947 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8952 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8953 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8954 @cindex summary exit
8955 @cindex exiting groups
8957 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8958 group and return you to the group buffer.
8964 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8966 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8967 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8968 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8969 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8970 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8971 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8972 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8973 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8974 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8975 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8976 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8980 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8982 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8983 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8984 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8988 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8990 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8991 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8992 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8993 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8996 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8997 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8998 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8999 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
9002 @kindex Z n (Summary)
9003 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
9004 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
9005 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
9008 @kindex Z R (Summary)
9009 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
9010 Exit this group, and then enter it again
9011 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
9012 all articles, both read and unread.
9016 @kindex Z G (Summary)
9017 @kindex M-g (Summary)
9018 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
9019 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
9020 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
9021 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
9022 articles, both read and unread.
9025 @kindex Z N (Summary)
9026 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
9027 Exit the group and go to the next group
9028 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
9031 @kindex Z P (Summary)
9032 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
9033 Exit the group and go to the previous group
9034 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
9037 @kindex Z s (Summary)
9038 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9039 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9040 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9041 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9042 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9045 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9046 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9047 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9048 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9050 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9051 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9052 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
9053 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
9054 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
9055 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
9056 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
9057 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
9058 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
9059 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
9060 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
9061 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
9063 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9065 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9066 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9067 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9068 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9069 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9070 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9071 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9072 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9073 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9076 @node Crosspost Handling
9077 @section Crosspost Handling
9081 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
9082 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9083 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9084 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9085 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9086 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9089 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9090 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9091 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9092 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9093 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9095 @cindex cross-posting
9098 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9099 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9100 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9101 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9102 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9103 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9104 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9105 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9106 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9107 the cross reference mechanism.
9109 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9110 @cindex overview.fmt
9111 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9112 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9113 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9114 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9115 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9116 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9119 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9120 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9121 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9126 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9129 @node Duplicate Suppression
9130 @section Duplicate Suppression
9132 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9133 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9134 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9135 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9140 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9141 is evil and not very common.
9144 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9145 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9148 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9149 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9152 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9155 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9156 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9158 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9159 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9160 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9161 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9162 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9163 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9164 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9167 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9168 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9169 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9170 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9171 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9175 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9176 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9177 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9179 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9180 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9181 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9182 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9183 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
9184 session are suppressed.
9186 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9187 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9188 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9189 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9191 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9192 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9193 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9194 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9197 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
9198 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9199 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9200 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9201 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
9202 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9203 to you to figure out, I think.
9208 Gnus is able to verify PGP or S/MIME signed messages or decrypt PGP
9213 To verify or decrypt PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or
9219 @item mm-verify-option
9220 @vindex mm-verify-option
9221 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9222 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9223 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9225 @item mm-decrypt-option
9226 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9227 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9228 @code{always}, always decrypt @code{known}, only decrypt known
9229 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9233 @node Article Buffer
9234 @chapter Article Buffer
9235 @cindex article buffer
9237 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9238 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9239 tell Gnus otherwise.
9242 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9243 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9244 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9245 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9246 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9250 @node Hiding Headers
9251 @section Hiding Headers
9252 @cindex hiding headers
9253 @cindex deleting headers
9255 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9256 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9258 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9259 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9260 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9261 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9262 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9263 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9264 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9265 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9266 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9268 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9272 @item gnus-visible-headers
9273 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9274 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9275 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9276 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9278 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9279 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9282 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9285 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9288 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9289 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9290 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9291 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9292 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9293 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9295 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
9296 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
9299 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9302 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9305 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9306 variable will have no effect.
9310 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9311 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9312 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9313 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9314 the headers are to be displayed.
9316 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9317 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9320 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9323 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9324 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9326 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9327 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9328 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9329 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
9330 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9331 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9332 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9335 These conditions are:
9338 Remove all empty headers.
9340 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9341 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9343 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9346 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9349 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
9350 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
9352 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9355 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9357 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9360 To include these three elements, you could say something like;
9363 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9364 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9367 This is also the default value for this variable.
9371 @section Using @sc{mime}
9374 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9375 while people stand around yawning.
9377 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9378 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9380 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9381 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9382 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9384 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
9385 @findex gnus-display-mime
9386 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
9387 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
9388 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
9389 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
9391 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
9395 @findex gnus-article-press-button
9397 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
9398 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
9399 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
9401 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
9402 @item M-RET (Article)
9404 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
9405 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
9407 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
9409 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
9410 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
9412 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
9414 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
9415 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
9417 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
9419 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
9420 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
9422 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
9424 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
9425 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
9426 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
9427 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
9428 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
9429 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
9431 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
9433 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
9434 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
9436 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
9438 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
9439 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
9440 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
9441 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
9442 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
9445 @findex gnus-mime-internalize-part
9447 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
9448 viewer is available, use an external viewer
9449 (@code{gnus-mime-internalize-part}).
9451 @findex gnus-mime-externalize-part
9453 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
9454 (@code{gnus-mime-externalize-part}).
9456 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
9458 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
9460 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
9462 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
9463 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
9467 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
9468 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
9471 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
9472 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
9473 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
9474 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
9475 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
9476 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
9477 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
9478 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
9479 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
9481 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9483 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9486 @node Customizing Articles
9487 @section Customizing Articles
9488 @cindex article customization
9490 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9491 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9492 called automatically when you select the articles.
9494 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9495 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9496 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9497 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9499 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9500 for sensible values.
9504 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9507 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9510 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9513 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9516 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9520 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9521 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9522 regexps in the list.
9525 A list where the first element is not a string:
9527 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9528 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9529 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9533 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9538 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9539 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9540 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9541 considered to contain just a single part.
9543 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9544 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9545 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9546 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9547 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9548 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9549 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9551 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9552 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9553 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9554 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9557 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9558 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9559 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9560 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9561 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9562 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9563 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9564 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9565 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9566 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9567 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
9568 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9569 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
9570 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9571 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9572 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9573 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9574 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9575 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9576 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
9577 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9578 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9579 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
9580 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
9581 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9582 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9583 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9584 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9585 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9586 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9587 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9588 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9589 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9590 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9591 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9592 @item gnus-treat-translate
9595 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9596 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9597 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9598 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9599 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9603 @node Article Keymap
9604 @section Article Keymap
9606 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9607 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9608 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9609 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9612 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9617 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9618 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9619 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9622 @kindex DEL (Article)
9623 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9624 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9627 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9628 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9629 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9630 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9631 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9634 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9635 @findex gnus-article-mail
9636 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9637 given a prefix, include the mail.
9641 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9642 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9643 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9647 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9648 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9649 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9652 @kindex TAB (Article)
9653 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9654 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9655 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9658 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9659 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9660 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9666 @section Misc Article
9670 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9671 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9672 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9673 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9676 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9677 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9679 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9680 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9682 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9683 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9684 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9685 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9686 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9687 the contents of the article buffer.
9689 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9690 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9691 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9693 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9694 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9695 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9696 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9698 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9699 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9700 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9701 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9702 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9707 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9708 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9711 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9714 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9716 @item gnus-break-pages
9717 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9718 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9719 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9720 paging will not be done.
9722 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9723 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9724 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9729 @node Composing Messages
9730 @chapter Composing Messages
9731 @cindex composing messages
9734 @cindex sending mail
9740 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9741 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9742 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9743 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9744 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9745 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9748 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9749 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9750 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9751 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9752 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9753 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9754 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9755 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
9758 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9759 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9765 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9768 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9769 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9770 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9771 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9773 @item gnus-add-to-list
9774 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9775 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9776 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9781 @node Posting Server
9782 @section Posting Server
9784 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9785 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9787 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9789 @vindex gnus-post-method
9791 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will post using the same
9792 select method as you're reading from (which might be convenient if
9793 you're reading lots of groups from different private servers).
9794 However. If the server you're reading from doesn't allow posting,
9795 just reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9796 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9797 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9800 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9803 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9804 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9805 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9806 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
9808 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9809 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9811 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9812 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9815 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
9816 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
9820 @section Mail and Post
9822 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9826 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9827 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9828 @cindex mailing lists
9830 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9831 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9832 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9833 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9834 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9835 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9836 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9837 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9838 still a pain, though.
9842 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9843 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9844 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9847 @findex ispell-message
9849 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9852 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9853 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9856 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9860 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
9861 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9863 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9866 Modify to suit your needs.
9869 @node Archived Messages
9870 @section Archived Messages
9871 @cindex archived messages
9872 @cindex sent messages
9874 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9875 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9876 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9877 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9880 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9881 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
9882 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9886 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9887 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9888 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9889 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9892 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9893 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
9894 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9895 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9898 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9899 '(nnfolder "archive"
9900 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9901 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9902 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9905 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9907 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9908 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9909 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9911 This variable can be used to do the following:
9915 Messages will be saved in that group.
9917 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
9918 message will not be stored in the select method given by
9919 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
9920 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
9921 has the default value shown above. Then setting
9922 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
9923 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
9924 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
9926 @item a list of strings
9927 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9928 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9929 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9931 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9936 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9938 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9941 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9943 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9946 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9948 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9949 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9950 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9951 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9956 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9957 '((if (message-news-p)
9962 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9963 messages in one file per month:
9966 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9967 '((if (message-news-p)
9969 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9972 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9973 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9975 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9976 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9977 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9978 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9979 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9980 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9981 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9982 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9983 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9984 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9986 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9987 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9988 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9989 this will disable archiving.
9992 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9993 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9994 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9995 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9996 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9999 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
10000 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
10001 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
10004 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
10005 but the latter is the preferred method.
10007 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
10008 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
10009 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
10014 @node Posting Styles
10015 @section Posting Styles
10016 @cindex posting styles
10019 All them variables, they make my head swim.
10021 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
10022 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
10023 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
10026 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
10027 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
10028 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
10029 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
10030 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
10035 (signature "Peace and happiness")
10036 (organization "What me?"))
10038 (signature "Death to everybody"))
10039 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
10040 (organization "Emacs is it")))
10043 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
10044 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
10045 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
10046 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
10047 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
10048 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
10049 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
10050 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
10052 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
10053 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
10054 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header (the
10055 next element in the match) in the original article , and compare that to
10056 the last regexp in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function
10057 will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the
10058 variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be
10059 @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value,
10060 then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
10062 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
10063 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
10064 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
10065 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
10066 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
10067 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
10068 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
10069 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
10070 result is thrown away.
10072 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
10073 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
10074 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
10075 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
10076 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
10077 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
10079 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
10080 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
10081 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
10083 @findex message-mail-p
10084 @findex message-news-p
10086 So here's a new example:
10089 (setq gnus-posting-styles
10091 (signature-file "~/.signature")
10093 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
10094 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
10096 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
10097 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
10098 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
10100 (signature my-news-signature))
10101 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
10102 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
10103 ((posting-from-work-p)
10104 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
10105 (address "user@@bar.foo")
10106 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
10107 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
10109 (From (save-excursion
10110 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
10111 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
10113 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
10116 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
10117 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
10118 if you fill many roles.
10125 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
10126 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
10127 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
10128 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
10129 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
10131 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
10132 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
10133 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
10134 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
10135 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
10139 @vindex nndraft-directory
10140 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
10141 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
10142 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
10143 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
10144 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
10145 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
10147 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
10148 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10151 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10152 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10153 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10154 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10155 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10156 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10157 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10158 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10159 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10160 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10161 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10162 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10163 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10164 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10166 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10167 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10168 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10170 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10171 @kindex D e (Draft)
10172 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10173 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10174 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10176 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10179 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10180 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10181 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10182 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10183 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10184 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10185 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10188 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10189 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10190 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10193 @node Rejected Articles
10194 @section Rejected Articles
10195 @cindex rejected articles
10197 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10198 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10199 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10200 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10202 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
10203 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10204 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10205 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
10206 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10208 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10209 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10210 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10216 Gnus has an ALPHA support to GPG that's provided by @file{gpg.el}. See
10217 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} to enable Gnus to
10218 verify or decrypt messages accordingly.
10220 To use this correctly with GPG, you'll need the following lisp code in your
10221 @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10225 (setq mml2015-use 'gpg)
10226 (setq gpg-temp-directory (expand-file-name "~/.gnupg/tmp"))
10229 The @code{gpg-temp-directory} need to point to a directory with permissions set
10230 to 700, for your own safety.
10232 If you want to benefit of PGP2.6 compatibility, you might create a script named
10233 @file{gpg-2comp} with these instructions:
10237 exec gpg --rfc1991 "$@@"
10240 If you don't want to use such compatibility, you can add the following line to
10241 your @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10244 (setq gpg-command-default-alist (quote ((gpg . "gpg") (gpg-2comp . "gpg"))))
10247 To sign or encrypt your message you may choose to use the MML Security
10248 menu or @kbd{C-c C-m s p} to sign your message using PGP/MIME, @kbd{C-c
10249 C-m s s} to sign your message using S/MIME. There's also @kbd{C-c C-m c
10250 p} to encrypt your message with PGP/MIME and @kbd{C-c C-m c s} to
10251 encrypt using S/MIME.
10253 Gnus will ask for your passphrase and then it will send your message, if
10254 you've typed it correctly.
10256 @node Select Methods
10257 @chapter Select Methods
10258 @cindex foreign groups
10259 @cindex select methods
10261 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
10262 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
10263 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
10264 personal mail group.
10266 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
10267 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
10268 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
10269 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
10270 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
10271 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
10273 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
10274 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
10276 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
10279 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
10280 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
10281 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
10282 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
10283 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
10285 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
10288 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
10289 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
10290 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
10291 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
10292 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
10293 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
10294 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
10298 @node Server Buffer
10299 @section Server Buffer
10301 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
10302 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
10303 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
10304 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
10305 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
10306 backend represents a virtual server.
10308 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
10309 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
10310 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
10311 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
10313 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
10314 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
10315 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
10316 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
10317 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
10318 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
10319 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
10321 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
10322 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
10325 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
10326 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
10327 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
10328 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
10329 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
10330 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
10331 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
10334 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10335 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10338 @node Server Buffer Format
10339 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10340 @cindex server buffer format
10342 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10343 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10344 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10345 variable, with some simple extensions:
10350 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10353 The name of this server.
10356 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10359 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10362 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10363 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10364 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10365 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10375 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10378 @node Server Commands
10379 @subsection Server Commands
10380 @cindex server commands
10386 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10387 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10391 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10392 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10395 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10396 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10397 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10401 @findex gnus-server-exit
10402 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10406 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10407 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10411 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10412 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10416 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10417 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10421 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10422 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10426 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10427 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10428 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10433 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10434 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10435 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10436 a mail backend that has gotten out of sync.
10441 @node Example Methods
10442 @subsection Example Methods
10444 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10447 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10450 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10456 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10457 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10460 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10461 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10463 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10464 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10468 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10471 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10472 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10474 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10475 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10476 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10480 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10483 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10486 Here's the method for a public spool:
10490 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10491 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10497 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10498 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10499 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10500 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10501 should probably look something like this:
10505 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10506 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10507 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10508 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10509 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10512 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10513 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10514 server that would look something like this:
10518 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10519 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10520 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10521 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10522 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10523 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10526 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10527 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10528 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10529 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10532 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10533 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10535 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10536 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10538 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10539 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10540 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10542 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10544 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10545 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10546 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10547 will contain the following:
10557 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10558 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10559 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10562 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10563 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10564 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10567 @node Server Variables
10568 @subsection Server Variables
10570 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10571 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10572 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10573 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10574 won't change the "derived" variables.
10576 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10577 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10578 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10579 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10580 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10581 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10582 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10583 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10584 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10588 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10589 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10590 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10594 @node Servers and Methods
10595 @subsection Servers and Methods
10597 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10598 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10599 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10600 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10604 @node Unavailable Servers
10605 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10607 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10608 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10609 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10610 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10611 actually the case or not.
10613 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10614 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10615 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10616 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10617 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10618 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10619 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10620 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10622 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10623 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10625 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
10626 with the following commands:
10632 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10633 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10634 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10638 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10639 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10640 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10644 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10645 Mark the current server as unreachable
10646 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10649 @kindex M-o (Server)
10650 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10651 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10652 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10655 @kindex M-c (Server)
10656 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10657 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10658 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10662 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10663 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10664 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10670 @section Getting News
10671 @cindex reading news
10672 @cindex news backends
10674 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10675 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10676 or it can read from a local spool.
10679 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10680 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10685 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10688 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10689 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10690 server as the, uhm, address.
10692 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10693 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10694 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10695 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10697 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10698 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10699 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10701 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10706 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10707 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10708 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10710 @cindex authentification
10711 @cindex nntp authentification
10712 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10713 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10714 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10715 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10716 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10717 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10718 present in this hook.
10720 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10721 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10722 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10723 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10724 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10725 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10726 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10727 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10728 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10729 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10730 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10731 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10735 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10738 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
10740 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10741 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
10742 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
10743 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
10744 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
10745 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
10746 @samp{force} is explained below.
10750 Here's an example file:
10753 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10754 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10757 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10758 have to be first, for instance.
10760 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10761 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10762 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10763 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10764 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10765 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10766 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10768 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10769 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10775 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10776 previously mentioned.
10778 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10780 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10781 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10782 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10783 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10784 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10787 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10788 '(("innd" (ding))))
10791 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10793 The default value is
10796 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10797 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
10798 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10801 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10802 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10804 @item nntp-maximum-request
10805 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10806 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10807 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10808 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10809 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10810 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10811 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10813 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10814 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10815 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10816 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10817 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10818 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10819 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10820 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10821 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10822 no timeouts are done.
10824 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10825 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10826 @c @cindex PPP connections
10827 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10828 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10829 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10830 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10831 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10832 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10833 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10834 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10835 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10836 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10838 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10839 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10840 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10841 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10842 @c described above.
10844 @item nntp-server-hook
10845 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10846 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10849 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10850 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10851 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10852 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10853 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10854 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10855 functions are supplied:
10858 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10859 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10862 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10863 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10864 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10867 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10871 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10872 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10873 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10874 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10876 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10877 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10878 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10880 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10881 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10882 User name on the remote system.
10886 @item nntp-open-telnet
10887 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10888 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10890 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10893 @item nntp-telnet-command
10894 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10895 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10897 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10898 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10899 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10901 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10902 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10903 User name for log in on the remote system.
10905 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10906 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10907 Password to use when logging in.
10909 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10910 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10911 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10914 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10915 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10916 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10917 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10919 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10920 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10921 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10922 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10923 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10927 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10928 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10929 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10930 you must have SSLay installed
10931 (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10932 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
10933 define a server as follows:
10936 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10938 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined
10939 ;; in our /etc/services
10941 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10942 (nntp-open-connection-function
10943 nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10944 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10945 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10950 @item nntp-end-of-line
10951 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10952 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10953 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10954 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10956 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10957 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10958 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10962 @vindex nntp-address
10963 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10965 @item nntp-port-number
10966 @vindex nntp-port-number
10967 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10970 @item nntp-buggy-select
10971 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10972 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10974 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10975 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10976 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10977 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10980 @item nntp-xover-commands
10981 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10984 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10985 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10989 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10990 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10991 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10992 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10993 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10994 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10995 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10996 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10997 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10998 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10999 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
11001 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
11002 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
11003 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
11005 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11006 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11007 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
11008 server closes connection.
11010 @item nntp-record-commands
11011 @vindex nntp-record-commands
11012 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
11013 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
11014 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
11015 that doesn't seem to work.
11021 @subsection News Spool
11025 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
11026 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
11027 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
11030 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
11031 anything else) as the address.
11033 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
11034 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
11035 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
11036 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
11040 @item nnspool-inews-program
11041 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
11042 Program used to post an article.
11044 @item nnspool-inews-switches
11045 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
11046 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
11048 @item nnspool-spool-directory
11049 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
11050 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
11051 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
11053 @item nnspool-nov-directory
11054 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
11055 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
11056 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
11058 @item nnspool-lib-dir
11059 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
11060 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
11062 @item nnspool-active-file
11063 @vindex nnspool-active-file
11064 The path to the active file.
11066 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
11067 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
11068 The path to the group descriptions file.
11070 @item nnspool-history-file
11071 @vindex nnspool-history-file
11072 The path to the news history file.
11074 @item nnspool-active-times-file
11075 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
11076 The path to the active date file.
11078 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
11079 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
11080 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
11083 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11084 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11086 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
11087 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
11088 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
11094 @section Getting Mail
11095 @cindex reading mail
11098 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
11102 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
11103 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
11104 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
11105 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
11106 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
11107 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
11108 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
11109 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
11110 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
11111 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
11112 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11113 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
11114 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
11118 @node Mail in a Newsreader
11119 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
11121 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
11122 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
11123 of a culture shock.
11125 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
11126 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
11128 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
11129 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
11130 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
11131 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
11133 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
11135 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
11136 deleted? How awful!
11138 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
11139 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
11140 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
11141 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
11144 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
11145 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
11146 they want to treat a message.
11148 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
11149 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
11150 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
11151 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
11152 archived somewhere else.
11154 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
11155 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
11156 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
11157 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
11158 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
11160 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
11161 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
11162 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
11164 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
11165 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
11168 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
11169 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
11170 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
11171 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
11172 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
11174 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
11175 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
11176 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
11177 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
11178 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
11179 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
11183 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
11184 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
11186 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
11187 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
11188 and things will happen automatically.
11190 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
11191 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
11194 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
11195 '((nnml "private")))
11198 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
11199 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
11200 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
11201 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
11202 like any other group.
11204 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
11207 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11208 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11209 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11213 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
11214 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
11215 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
11218 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
11219 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
11220 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
11223 @node Splitting Mail
11224 @subsection Splitting Mail
11225 @cindex splitting mail
11226 @cindex mail splitting
11228 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
11229 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
11230 to be split into groups.
11233 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11234 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11235 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11236 ("mail.other" "")))
11239 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
11240 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
11241 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
11242 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
11243 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
11244 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
11245 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
11248 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
11251 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
11252 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
11253 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
11254 mail belongs in that group.
11256 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
11257 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
11258 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
11259 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
11260 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
11261 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
11263 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
11264 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
11265 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
11266 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
11267 thinks should carry this mail message.
11269 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
11270 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
11271 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
11272 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
11274 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
11275 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
11276 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
11277 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
11278 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
11280 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
11283 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
11284 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
11285 links. If that's the case for you, set
11286 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
11287 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
11289 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
11290 @kindex nnmail-split-history
11291 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
11292 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
11293 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
11294 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
11297 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11298 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11299 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11300 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11301 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11302 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11303 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11304 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11305 month's rent money.
11309 @subsection Mail Sources
11311 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11312 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11316 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11317 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11318 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11322 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11323 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11325 @cindex mail server
11328 @cindex mail source
11330 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11331 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11336 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11339 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11340 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11341 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11344 The following mail source types are available:
11348 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11354 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11355 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11358 An example file mail source:
11361 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11364 Or using the default path:
11370 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11371 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11372 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11375 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11379 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11382 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11386 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11389 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11391 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11394 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11398 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11399 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11400 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
11401 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
11402 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
11408 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11412 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11416 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11417 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11418 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11419 predicate are considered.
11423 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11427 An example directory mail source:
11430 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11435 Get mail from a POP server.
11441 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11442 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11445 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11446 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11447 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11448 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
11449 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
11452 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11456 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11460 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
11461 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11464 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11467 The valid format specifier characters are:
11471 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11472 included in this string.
11475 The name of the server.
11478 The port number of the server.
11481 The user name to use.
11484 The password to use.
11487 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11488 corresponding keywords.
11491 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11492 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11495 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11496 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11499 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11500 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11503 @item :authentication
11504 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11505 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11510 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11511 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11513 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11514 default user name, and default fetcher:
11520 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11523 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11524 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11527 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11530 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11534 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11535 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11536 contains exactly one mail.
11542 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11543 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11546 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11547 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11549 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11550 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11551 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11554 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11555 from locking problems).
11559 Two example maildir mail sources:
11562 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
11563 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11567 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
11572 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
11573 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
11574 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
11575 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
11582 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11583 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11586 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11587 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11590 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11594 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11598 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11599 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11600 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11602 @item :authentication
11603 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11604 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11605 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11609 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
11610 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
11611 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
11617 The valid format specifier characters are:
11621 The name of the server.
11624 User name from `imap-default-user'.
11627 The port number of the server.
11630 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11631 corresponding keywords.
11634 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11635 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11638 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11639 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11640 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11641 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11642 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11643 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11646 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11647 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11648 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11649 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11652 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11653 after finishing the fetch.
11657 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11660 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
11662 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11666 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11667 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11669 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11672 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11673 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11675 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11681 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11682 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11685 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11689 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11693 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11694 folder after finishing the fetch.
11698 An example webmail source:
11701 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
11703 :password "secret")
11708 @item Common Keywords
11709 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11715 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11716 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11720 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11725 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11726 useful when you use local mail and news.
11731 @subsubsection Function Interface
11733 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11734 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11735 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11736 consider the following mail-source setting:
11739 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11740 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11743 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11744 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11745 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11746 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11747 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11749 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11752 @node Mail Source Customization
11753 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11755 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11756 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11760 @item mail-source-crash-box
11761 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11762 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11763 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11765 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11766 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11767 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11769 @item mail-source-directory
11770 @vindex mail-source-directory
11771 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11772 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11773 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11776 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11777 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11778 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
11779 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
11780 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
11781 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
11783 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11784 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11785 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11790 @node Fetching Mail
11791 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11793 @vindex mail-sources
11794 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11795 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11796 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11797 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11799 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11800 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11803 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11804 mail server, you'd say something like:
11809 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11810 :password "secret")))
11813 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11817 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11818 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11821 :password "secret")))
11825 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11826 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11827 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11828 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11829 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11830 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11834 @node Mail Backend Variables
11835 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11837 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11841 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11842 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11843 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11844 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11846 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11847 @item nnmail-split-hook
11848 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11849 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11850 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11851 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11852 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11853 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11854 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11855 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11856 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11859 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11860 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11861 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11862 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11863 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11864 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11865 starting to handle the new mail) and
11866 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11867 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11868 default file modes the new mail files get:
11871 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11872 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11874 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11875 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11878 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11879 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11880 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11881 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11882 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11883 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11884 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11886 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11887 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11888 @findex delete-file
11889 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11891 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11892 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11893 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11894 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11895 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11900 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11901 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11902 @cindex mail splitting
11903 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11905 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11906 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11907 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11908 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11909 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11910 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11912 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11915 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11916 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11917 ;; from real errors.
11918 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11920 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11921 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11922 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11923 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11924 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11925 ;; Other mailing lists...
11926 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11927 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11928 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11929 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11930 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11931 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11932 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11933 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11935 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11936 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11940 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11941 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11942 the five possible split syntaxes:
11947 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11948 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11952 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11953 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11954 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11955 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11956 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11957 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11958 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11959 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11962 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11963 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11964 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11965 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11968 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11969 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11972 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11973 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11976 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11977 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11978 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11979 function should return a @var{split}.
11982 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
11983 body of the messages:
11986 (defun split-on-body ()
11988 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
11989 (goto-char (point-min))
11990 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
11994 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
11995 when the @code{:} function is run.
11998 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11999 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
12000 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
12004 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
12008 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
12009 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
12010 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
12011 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
12012 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
12014 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
12015 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
12016 are expanded as specified by the variable
12017 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
12018 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
12021 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
12022 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
12023 when all this splitting is performed.
12025 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
12026 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
12027 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
12030 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
12033 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
12034 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
12036 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
12037 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
12038 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
12039 groupings 1 through 9.
12041 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
12042 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
12043 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
12044 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
12045 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
12046 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
12047 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
12048 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
12049 it once per thread.
12051 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to a
12052 non-nil value. And then you can include
12053 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon feature, like so:
12055 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12056 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
12057 ;; other splits go here
12061 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
12062 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
12063 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
12064 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
12065 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
12066 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
12067 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
12068 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
12069 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name. It
12070 is recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
12071 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
12072 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300
12074 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12075 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
12076 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
12077 messages goes into the new group.
12080 @node Group Mail Splitting
12081 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
12082 @cindex mail splitting
12083 @cindex group mail splitting
12085 @findex gnus-group-split
12086 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
12087 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
12088 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
12089 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
12090 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
12091 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
12092 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
12093 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
12095 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
12096 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
12097 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
12098 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
12100 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
12101 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
12102 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
12103 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
12104 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
12105 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
12106 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
12108 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
12109 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
12110 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
12111 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
12112 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
12113 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
12114 @code{gnus-group-split}.
12116 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
12117 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
12118 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
12119 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
12120 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
12121 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
12122 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
12123 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
12124 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
12125 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
12126 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
12127 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
12128 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
12130 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
12135 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
12136 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
12138 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
12139 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
12140 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
12141 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
12143 ((split-spec . catch-all))
12146 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
12147 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
12148 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
12151 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
12152 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
12153 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
12157 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
12158 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
12159 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
12163 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
12166 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
12167 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
12168 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
12169 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
12170 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
12171 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
12172 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
12173 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
12174 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
12176 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
12177 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
12178 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
12179 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
12180 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
12181 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
12182 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
12183 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
12184 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
12186 @findex gnus-group-split-update
12187 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
12188 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
12189 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
12190 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
12191 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
12194 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
12197 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
12198 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
12199 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
12200 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
12201 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
12204 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
12205 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
12206 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
12207 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
12209 @node Incorporating Old Mail
12210 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
12212 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
12213 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
12214 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
12217 Doing so can be quite easy.
12219 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
12220 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
12221 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
12222 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
12223 your @code{nnml} groups.
12229 Go to the group buffer.
12232 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
12233 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12236 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
12239 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
12240 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12243 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
12244 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12247 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
12248 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
12249 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
12250 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
12251 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
12253 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
12254 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
12255 using the new mail backend.
12258 @node Expiring Mail
12259 @subsection Expiring Mail
12260 @cindex article expiry
12262 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
12263 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
12264 different approach to mail reading.
12266 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
12267 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
12268 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
12269 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
12270 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
12271 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
12274 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
12275 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
12276 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
12277 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
12278 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
12279 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
12280 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
12281 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
12283 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12284 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
12285 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
12286 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
12287 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
12288 column in the summary buffer.
12290 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
12291 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
12292 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
12293 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
12296 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
12298 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
12299 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
12300 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
12303 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
12304 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
12305 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
12306 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
12307 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
12309 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
12310 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
12313 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12314 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
12317 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
12318 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
12320 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
12321 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
12322 don't really mix very well.
12324 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
12325 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
12326 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
12327 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
12330 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
12331 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
12332 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
12333 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
12336 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12338 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12340 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
12342 ((string= group "mail.junk")
12344 ((string= group "important")
12350 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
12351 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
12353 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
12354 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
12355 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
12358 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
12359 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
12361 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
12362 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
12363 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
12364 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
12365 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
12366 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
12367 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
12368 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
12369 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
12370 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
12371 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
12372 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
12375 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
12377 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12381 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12382 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12383 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12384 easier for procmail users.
12386 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12387 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12388 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12389 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12390 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12391 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12392 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12393 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12394 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12395 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12396 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12397 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12398 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12401 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12403 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12404 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12405 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12406 auto-expire turned on.
12410 @subsection Washing Mail
12411 @cindex mail washing
12412 @cindex list server brain damage
12413 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12415 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12416 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12417 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12418 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12419 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12420 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12422 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12423 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12424 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12427 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12428 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12429 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12430 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12433 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12434 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12435 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12436 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12437 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12440 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12441 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12442 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12443 Emacs running on MS machines.
12447 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12448 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12449 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12450 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12453 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12454 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12455 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12456 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12458 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12459 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12460 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12461 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12462 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12463 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12464 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12467 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12468 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12471 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12472 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12475 This can also be done non-destructively with
12476 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12478 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12479 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12480 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12482 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12483 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12485 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12486 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12487 @code{References} headers.
12491 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12492 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12493 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12497 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12498 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12499 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12506 @subsection Duplicates
12508 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12509 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12510 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12511 @cindex duplicate mails
12512 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12513 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12514 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12515 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12516 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12517 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12518 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12519 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12520 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12521 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12522 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12523 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12524 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12526 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12527 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12528 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12529 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12531 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12534 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12535 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12539 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12540 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12541 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
12542 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12543 (any mail "mail.misc")
12550 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12551 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
12556 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12557 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12558 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12559 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12560 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12563 @node Not Reading Mail
12564 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12566 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12567 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12568 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12570 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12571 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12572 mail, which should help.
12574 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12575 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12576 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12577 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12578 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12579 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12580 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12581 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12582 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12583 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12584 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12586 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12587 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12591 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12592 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12594 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12595 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12596 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12598 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12599 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12600 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12601 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12604 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12605 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12606 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12607 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12608 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12609 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12613 @node Unix Mail Box
12614 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12616 @cindex unix mail box
12618 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12619 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12620 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12621 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12622 which group it belongs in.
12624 Virtual server settings:
12627 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12628 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12629 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
12632 @item nnmbox-active-file
12633 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12634 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
12635 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
12637 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12638 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12639 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12640 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
12645 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12649 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12650 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12651 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12652 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12653 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12655 Virtual server settings:
12658 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12659 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12660 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
12662 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12663 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12664 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
12665 @file{~/.rmail-active}
12667 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12668 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12669 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
12675 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12677 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12679 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12680 format. It should be used with some caution.
12682 @vindex nnml-directory
12683 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12684 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12685 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12686 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12688 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12691 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12692 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12693 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12694 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12695 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12696 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12697 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12698 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12700 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12701 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12702 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12703 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12705 Virtual server settings:
12708 @item nnml-directory
12709 @vindex nnml-directory
12710 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12711 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
12714 @item nnml-active-file
12715 @vindex nnml-active-file
12716 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
12717 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
12719 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12720 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12721 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12722 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
12724 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12725 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12726 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
12729 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12730 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12731 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
12732 default is @code{nil}
12734 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12735 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12736 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12738 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12739 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12740 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12744 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12745 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12746 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12747 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12748 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12749 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12750 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12755 @subsubsection MH Spool
12757 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12759 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12760 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12761 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12762 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12764 Virtual server settings:
12767 @item nnmh-directory
12768 @vindex nnmh-directory
12769 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
12770 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
12773 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12774 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12775 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
12779 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12780 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12781 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12782 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12783 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12784 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12785 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
12790 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12792 @cindex mbox folders
12793 @cindex mail folders
12795 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12796 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12797 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12800 Virtual server settings:
12803 @item nnfolder-directory
12804 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12805 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12806 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
12809 @item nnfolder-active-file
12810 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12811 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
12813 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12814 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12815 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12816 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
12818 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12819 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12820 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
12823 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12824 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12825 @cindex backup files
12826 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12827 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12828 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12829 your @file{.emacs} file:
12832 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12833 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12835 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12838 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12839 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12840 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12841 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12842 extract some information from it before removing it.
12844 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12845 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12846 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
12847 default is @code{nil}.
12852 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12853 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12854 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12855 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12856 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12857 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12860 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12861 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12863 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12864 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12865 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12866 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12867 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12869 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12870 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12871 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12872 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12873 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12874 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12875 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12876 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12879 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12880 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12881 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12882 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12887 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12888 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12889 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12890 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12891 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12892 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12893 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12894 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12895 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12896 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12897 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12898 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12899 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12904 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12905 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12906 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12907 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12908 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12909 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12910 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12911 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12912 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12913 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12914 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12915 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12916 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12917 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12919 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12920 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12925 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12926 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12927 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12928 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12929 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12930 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12931 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12932 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12933 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12934 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12935 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12936 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12937 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12938 provided by the active file and overviews.
12940 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12941 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12942 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12943 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12944 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12947 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12948 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12953 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12954 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12955 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12956 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12957 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12958 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12959 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12963 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12964 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12965 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12966 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12967 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12968 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12969 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12970 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12971 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12973 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12974 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12975 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12976 friendly mail backend all over.
12981 @node Browsing the Web
12982 @section Browsing the Web
12984 @cindex browsing the web
12988 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12989 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12990 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12991 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12992 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12993 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12994 even know what a news group is.
12996 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12997 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12998 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12999 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
13000 you mad in the end.
13002 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
13005 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
13006 interfaces to these sources.
13009 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
13010 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
13011 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
13012 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
13013 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
13014 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
13017 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
13019 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
13020 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
13021 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
13022 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
13023 though, you should be ok.
13025 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
13026 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
13027 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
13028 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
13029 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
13033 @subsection Web Searches
13037 @cindex InReference
13038 @cindex Usenet searches
13039 @cindex searching the Usenet
13041 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
13042 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
13043 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
13044 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
13045 searches without having to use a browser.
13047 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
13048 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
13049 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
13050 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
13051 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
13053 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
13054 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
13055 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
13056 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
13057 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
13058 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
13059 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
13060 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
13061 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
13062 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
13065 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
13066 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
13067 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
13068 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
13069 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
13070 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
13072 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
13073 to use @code{nnweb}.
13075 Virtual server variables:
13080 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
13081 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
13085 @vindex nnweb-search
13086 The search string to feed to the search engine.
13088 @item nnweb-max-hits
13089 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
13090 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
13093 @item nnweb-type-definition
13094 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
13095 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
13096 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
13101 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
13105 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
13108 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
13111 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
13115 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
13122 @subsection Slashdot
13126 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
13127 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
13128 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
13130 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
13131 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
13134 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13135 '((nnslashdot "")))
13138 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
13139 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
13140 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
13141 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
13142 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
13145 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
13146 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13148 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
13149 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
13150 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
13151 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
13152 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
13153 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
13156 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
13159 @item nnslashdot-threaded
13160 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
13161 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
13162 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
13163 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
13164 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
13165 but much, much slower than untreaded.
13167 @item nnslashdot-login-name
13168 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
13169 The login name to use when posting.
13171 @item nnslashdot-password
13172 @vindex nnslashdot-password
13173 The password to use when posting.
13175 @item nnslashdot-directory
13176 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
13177 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
13178 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
13180 @item nnslashdot-active-url
13181 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
13182 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
13183 news articles and comments. Default:
13184 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
13186 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
13187 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
13188 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
13190 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
13192 @item nnslashdot-article-url
13193 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
13194 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
13196 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
13198 @item nnslashdot-threshold
13199 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
13200 The score threshold. The default is -1.
13202 @item nnslashdot-group-number
13203 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
13204 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
13205 updated. The default is 0.
13212 @subsection Ultimate
13214 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
13216 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
13217 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
13218 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
13219 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
13221 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
13222 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
13223 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
13224 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
13225 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
13226 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
13227 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
13229 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
13232 @item nnultimate-directory
13233 @vindex nnultimate-directory
13234 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
13235 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
13240 @subsection Web Archive
13242 @cindex Web Archive
13244 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
13245 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
13246 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
13247 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13250 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
13251 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
13252 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
13253 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
13254 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
13255 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
13256 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
13258 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
13261 @item nnwarchive-directory
13262 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
13263 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
13264 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
13266 @item nnwarchive-login
13267 @vindex nnwarchive-login
13268 The account name on the web server.
13270 @item nnwarchive-passwd
13271 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
13272 The password for your account on the web server.
13280 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
13281 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
13282 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13285 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
13286 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
13289 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
13292 @item nnrss-directory
13293 @vindex nnrss-directory
13294 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
13295 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
13299 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
13300 the summary buffer.
13303 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
13304 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
13306 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
13308 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
13309 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
13312 @node Customizing w3
13313 @subsection Customizing w3
13319 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
13320 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
13321 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
13323 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
13324 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
13325 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
13328 (eval-after-load "w3"
13330 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
13331 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
13332 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
13333 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
13335 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
13338 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
13339 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
13343 @node Other Sources
13344 @section Other Sources
13346 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
13347 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
13351 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
13352 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
13353 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
13354 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
13355 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
13356 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
13360 @node Directory Groups
13361 @subsection Directory Groups
13363 @cindex directory groups
13365 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
13366 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
13369 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
13370 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
13371 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
13372 backend to read directories. Big deal.
13374 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
13375 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
13376 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
13377 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
13378 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
13380 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
13382 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
13383 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
13384 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
13385 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
13388 @node Anything Groups
13389 @subsection Anything Groups
13392 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
13393 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
13394 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
13397 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
13398 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
13399 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
13400 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
13401 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
13402 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
13403 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
13404 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
13405 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
13406 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
13409 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
13410 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
13411 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
13412 in the article buffer, just as usual.
13414 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
13415 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
13416 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
13417 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
13419 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
13420 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
13421 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
13422 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
13423 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
13424 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
13425 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
13426 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
13431 @item nneething-map-file-directory
13432 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
13433 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
13434 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13436 @item nneething-exclude-files
13437 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13438 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13439 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13441 @item nneething-include-files
13442 @vindex nneething-include-files
13443 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13444 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13446 @item nneething-map-file
13447 @vindex nneething-map-file
13448 Name of the map files.
13452 @node Document Groups
13453 @subsection Document Groups
13455 @cindex documentation group
13458 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13459 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13466 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13471 The standard Unix mbox file.
13473 @cindex MMDF mail box
13475 The MMDF mail box format.
13478 Several news articles appended into a file.
13481 @cindex rnews batch files
13482 The rnews batch transport format.
13483 @cindex forwarded messages
13486 Forwarded articles.
13489 Netscape mail boxes.
13492 MIME multipart messages.
13494 @item standard-digest
13495 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13498 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13501 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13502 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13503 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13506 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13507 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13508 group. And that's it.
13510 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13511 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13512 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13513 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13514 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13515 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13516 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13517 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13518 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13519 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13521 Virtual server variables:
13524 @item nndoc-article-type
13525 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13526 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13527 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13528 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13529 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13531 @item nndoc-post-type
13532 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13533 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13534 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13539 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13543 @node Document Server Internals
13544 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13546 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13547 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13548 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13549 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13551 First, here's an example document type definition:
13555 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13556 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13559 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13560 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13561 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13562 types can be defined with very few settings:
13565 @item first-article
13566 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13567 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13570 @item article-begin
13571 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13572 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13574 @item head-begin-function
13575 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13578 @item nndoc-head-begin
13579 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13582 @item nndoc-head-end
13583 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13584 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13586 @item body-begin-function
13587 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13591 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13594 @item body-end-function
13595 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13599 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13602 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13603 regexp will be totally ignored.
13607 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13608 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13609 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13610 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13611 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13614 @item prepare-body-function
13615 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13616 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13617 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13619 @item article-transform-function
13620 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13621 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13622 body of the article.
13624 @item generate-head-function
13625 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13626 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13627 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13628 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13632 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13637 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13638 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13639 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13640 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13641 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13642 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13643 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13644 (subtype digest guess))
13647 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13648 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13649 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13650 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13651 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13653 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13654 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13655 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13656 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13657 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
13658 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13659 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13660 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13661 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13662 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13670 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13671 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13672 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13674 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13675 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13676 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13679 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13680 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13681 that interested in doing things properly.
13683 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13684 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13687 First some terminology:
13692 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13693 get news and/or mail from.
13696 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13697 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13700 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13704 @item message packets
13705 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13706 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13707 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13709 @item response packets
13710 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13711 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13712 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13722 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13723 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13724 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13725 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13728 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13731 You put the packet in your home directory.
13734 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13735 the native or secondary server.
13738 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13739 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13742 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13746 You transfer this packet to the server.
13749 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13752 You then repeat until you die.
13756 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13757 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13760 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13761 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13762 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13766 @node SOUP Commands
13767 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13769 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13773 @kindex G s b (Group)
13774 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13775 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13776 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13777 process/prefix convention.
13780 @kindex G s w (Group)
13781 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13782 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13785 @kindex G s s (Group)
13786 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13787 Send all replies from the replies packet
13788 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13791 @kindex G s p (Group)
13792 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13793 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13796 @kindex G s r (Group)
13797 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13798 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13801 @kindex O s (Summary)
13802 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13803 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13804 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13805 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13810 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13815 @item gnus-soup-directory
13816 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13817 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13818 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13820 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13821 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13822 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13823 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13825 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13826 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13827 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13828 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13830 @item gnus-soup-packer
13831 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13832 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13833 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13835 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13836 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13837 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13838 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13840 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13841 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13842 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13844 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13845 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13846 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13847 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13853 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13856 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13857 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13858 you can read them at leisure.
13860 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13864 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13865 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13866 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13867 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13869 @item nnsoup-directory
13870 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13871 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13872 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13874 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13875 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13876 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13877 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13879 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13880 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13881 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13882 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13883 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13885 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13886 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13887 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13888 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13890 @item nnsoup-active-file
13891 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13892 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13893 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13894 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13895 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13897 @item nnsoup-packer
13898 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13899 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13900 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13902 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13903 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13904 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13905 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13907 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13908 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13909 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13912 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13913 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13914 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13917 @item nnsoup-always-save
13918 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13919 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13925 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13927 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13928 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13929 more for that to happen.
13931 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13932 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13933 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13936 In specific, this is what it does:
13939 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13940 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13943 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13944 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13945 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13948 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13949 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13950 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13953 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13954 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13955 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13957 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13963 @item nngateway-address
13964 @vindex nngateway-address
13965 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13967 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13968 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13969 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13970 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13971 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13972 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13973 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13976 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13977 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13978 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13981 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13984 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13987 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13990 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13992 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13995 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13996 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13997 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13999 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
14001 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
14002 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
14003 @code{nngateway-address}.
14008 (setq gnus-post-method
14010 "mail2news@@replay.com"
14011 (nngateway-header-transformation
14012 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
14020 So, to use this, simply say something like:
14023 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
14029 @subsection @sc{imap}
14033 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
14034 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
14035 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
14036 specify the network address of the server.
14038 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
14039 POP can, it can hence be viewed as POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
14040 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
14041 protocol. (@sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp} because news
14042 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.)
14044 If you want to use @sc{imap} as POP++, use an imap entry in
14045 mail-sources. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the @sc{imap}
14046 server and store them on the local disk. This is not the usage
14047 described in this section. @xref{Mail Sources}.
14049 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
14050 entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods. With this, Gnus will
14051 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
14052 usage explained in this section.
14054 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
14055 might look something like this:
14058 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14059 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
14060 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
14062 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14063 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
14064 ; a UW server running on localhost
14066 (nnimap-server-port 143)
14067 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14068 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
14069 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
14070 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
14071 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
14072 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
14073 (nnimap-stream network))
14074 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
14076 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
14077 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
14078 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
14081 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
14086 @item nnimap-address
14087 @vindex nnimap-address
14089 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
14090 server name if not specified.
14092 @item nnimap-server-port
14093 @vindex nnimap-server-port
14094 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
14096 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
14099 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14100 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
14103 @item nnimap-list-pattern
14104 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
14105 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
14106 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
14107 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
14108 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
14109 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
14111 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
14112 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
14113 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
14116 Example server specification:
14119 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14120 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
14121 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
14124 @item nnimap-stream
14125 @vindex nnimap-stream
14126 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
14127 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
14128 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
14129 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
14131 Example server specification:
14134 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14135 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14138 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
14142 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Requires the
14143 @samp{imtest} program.
14145 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
14147 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
14148 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
14151 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the
14152 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
14154 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
14156 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
14159 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
14160 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
14161 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
14162 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
14163 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
14164 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
14165 restrictions on IMAP commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
14166 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
14167 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
14170 @vindex imap-ssl-program
14171 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
14172 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
14173 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
14174 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
14175 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
14176 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
14179 @vindex imap-shell-program
14180 @vindex imap-shell-host
14181 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14182 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14184 @item nnimap-authenticator
14185 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14187 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14188 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14190 Example server specification:
14193 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14194 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14197 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14201 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
14202 external program @code{imtest}.
14204 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
14207 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
14208 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14210 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14212 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14214 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14217 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14219 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14220 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14221 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14222 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14223 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14224 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14227 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14228 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14229 running in circles yet?
14231 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14232 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14235 The possible options are:
14240 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14243 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14244 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14245 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14246 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14248 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14253 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
14255 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
14257 This variable contain the IMAP search command sent to server when
14258 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
14259 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
14260 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
14262 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
14263 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
14264 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
14265 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
14267 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14268 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14270 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14271 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14272 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14278 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14279 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14280 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14285 @node Splitting in IMAP
14286 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14287 @cindex splitting imap mail
14289 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14290 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14291 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14292 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14293 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14297 Here are the variables of interest:
14301 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14302 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14304 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14306 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14307 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14309 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14311 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14312 @cindex splitting, inbox
14314 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14316 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14317 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14321 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14322 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14325 No nnmail equivalent.
14327 @item nnimap-split-rule
14328 @cindex Splitting, rules
14329 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14331 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14334 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14335 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14336 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14337 Neither did I, we need examples.
14340 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14342 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14343 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14344 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14347 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14348 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14349 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
14351 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14352 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14356 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14359 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14360 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14361 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14362 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14364 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14365 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14366 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14367 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
14368 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14369 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14371 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14372 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14373 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14375 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14376 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14377 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14379 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
14381 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14382 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14383 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14386 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14387 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14388 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14389 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14390 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14391 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14394 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14395 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14396 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14397 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14398 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14399 group/function elements.
14401 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14403 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14405 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14407 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14408 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14410 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14411 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14412 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14415 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14416 @cindex splitting, fancy
14417 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14418 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14420 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14421 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14422 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14424 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14425 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14426 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14427 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14432 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14433 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14436 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14440 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14441 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14442 @cindex editing imap acls
14443 @cindex Access Control Lists
14444 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14446 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14448 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14449 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14450 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14453 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14454 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14455 editing window with detailed instructions.
14457 Some possible uses:
14461 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14462 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14463 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14465 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14466 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14467 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14471 @node Expunging mailboxes
14472 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
14476 @cindex Manual expunging
14478 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14480 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
14481 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14482 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14484 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14489 @node Combined Groups
14490 @section Combined Groups
14492 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14496 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14497 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14501 @node Virtual Groups
14502 @subsection Virtual Groups
14504 @cindex virtual groups
14505 @cindex merging groups
14507 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14510 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14511 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14512 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14514 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14515 regexp to match component groups.
14517 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14518 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14519 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14520 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14521 the virtual group.)
14523 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14524 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14527 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14530 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14531 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14533 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14534 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14535 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14536 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14539 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14542 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14543 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14544 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14546 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14547 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14548 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14549 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14550 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14552 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14553 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14554 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14556 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14557 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14558 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14559 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14560 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14561 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14562 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14563 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14564 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14565 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14566 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14568 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14569 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14570 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14571 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14572 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14573 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14574 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14576 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14577 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14581 @node Kibozed Groups
14582 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14586 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14587 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14588 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14589 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14591 @kindex G k (Group)
14592 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14595 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14596 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14597 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14598 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14600 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14601 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14602 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14604 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14605 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14606 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14607 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14608 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14609 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14610 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14611 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14613 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14614 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14615 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14616 Stranger things have happened.
14618 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14619 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14621 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14622 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14623 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14624 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14625 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14626 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14628 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14629 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14632 @node Gnus Unplugged
14633 @section Gnus Unplugged
14638 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14640 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14641 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14642 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14643 read news. Believe it or not.
14645 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14646 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14647 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14648 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14649 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14651 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14652 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14653 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14654 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14655 reading news on a machine.
14657 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14661 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14662 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14666 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14667 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14674 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14676 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14679 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14680 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14681 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14682 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14683 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14684 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14685 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14686 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14687 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14688 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14693 @subsection Agent Basics
14695 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14697 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14698 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14699 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14700 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14702 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14703 connected to the net continuously.
14705 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14706 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14708 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14713 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14714 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14715 already fetched while in this mode.
14718 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14719 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14720 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14721 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14722 Source Specifiers}).
14725 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
14726 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
14727 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
14728 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
14729 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
14732 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
14733 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
14734 then you read the news offline.
14737 And then you go to step 2.
14740 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
14746 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
14747 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
14748 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
14749 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
14750 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
14751 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
14754 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
14761 @node Agent Categories
14762 @subsection Agent Categories
14764 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
14765 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14766 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14767 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14768 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14769 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14770 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14772 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14773 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14774 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14775 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14776 managing categories.
14779 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14780 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14781 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14785 @node Category Syntax
14786 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14788 A category consists of two things.
14792 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14793 are eligible for downloading; and
14796 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14797 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14798 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14801 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14802 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14803 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14804 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14806 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14807 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14808 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
14810 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14811 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14812 operators sprinkled in between.
14814 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14816 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14817 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14823 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14824 short (for some value of ``short'').
14826 Here's a more complex predicate:
14835 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14836 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14839 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14840 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14841 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14843 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14844 you want to do, you can write your own.
14848 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14849 lines; default 100.
14852 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14853 lines; default 200.
14856 True iff the article has a download score less than
14857 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14860 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14861 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14864 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14865 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14866 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14875 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14876 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14877 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14880 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14881 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14882 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14883 something along the lines of the following:
14886 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14887 "Say whether an article is old."
14888 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14889 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14892 with the predicate then defined as:
14895 (not my-article-old-p)
14898 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14899 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14900 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14901 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14904 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
14905 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14906 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14909 and simply specify your predicate as:
14915 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14916 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14917 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14918 just don't give a damn.
14920 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14921 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14922 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14923 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14924 parameters like so:
14927 (agent-predicate . short)
14930 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14931 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14932 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14934 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14937 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14940 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14941 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14942 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14945 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14946 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14947 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14948 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14949 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14950 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14952 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14953 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14954 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14955 if it's to be specific to that group.
14957 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14964 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14965 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14971 Category specification
14975 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14981 Group Parameter specification
14984 (agent-score ("from"
14985 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14990 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14996 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
15003 Category specification
15006 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
15012 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
15016 Group Parameter specification
15019 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
15022 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
15027 Use @code{normal} score files
15029 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
15030 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
15031 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
15032 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
15034 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
15035 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
15036 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
15037 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
15041 Category Specification
15048 Group Parameter specification
15051 (agent-score . file)
15056 @node Category Buffer
15057 @subsubsection Category Buffer
15059 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
15060 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
15061 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
15063 The following commands are available in this buffer:
15067 @kindex q (Category)
15068 @findex gnus-category-exit
15069 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
15072 @kindex k (Category)
15073 @findex gnus-category-kill
15074 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
15077 @kindex c (Category)
15078 @findex gnus-category-copy
15079 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
15082 @kindex a (Category)
15083 @findex gnus-category-add
15084 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
15087 @kindex p (Category)
15088 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
15089 Edit the predicate of the current category
15090 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
15093 @kindex g (Category)
15094 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
15095 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
15096 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
15099 @kindex s (Category)
15100 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
15101 Edit the download score rule of the current category
15102 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
15105 @kindex l (Category)
15106 @findex gnus-category-list
15107 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
15111 @node Category Variables
15112 @subsubsection Category Variables
15115 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
15116 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
15117 Hook run in category buffers.
15119 @item gnus-category-line-format
15120 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
15121 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
15122 Variables}). Valid elements are:
15126 The name of the category.
15129 The number of groups in the category.
15132 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
15133 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
15134 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
15136 @item gnus-agent-short-article
15137 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
15138 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
15140 @item gnus-agent-long-article
15141 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
15142 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
15144 @item gnus-agent-low-score
15145 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
15146 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
15149 @item gnus-agent-high-score
15150 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
15151 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
15157 @node Agent Commands
15158 @subsection Agent Commands
15160 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
15161 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
15162 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
15166 * Group Agent Commands::
15167 * Summary Agent Commands::
15168 * Server Agent Commands::
15171 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
15172 following incantation:
15174 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15176 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15181 @node Group Agent Commands
15182 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
15186 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
15187 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
15188 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
15189 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
15192 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
15193 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
15194 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
15197 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
15198 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
15199 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
15200 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
15203 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
15204 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
15205 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
15206 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
15209 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
15210 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
15211 Add the current group to an Agent category
15212 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
15213 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15216 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
15217 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
15218 Remove the current group from its category, if any
15219 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
15220 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15223 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
15224 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15225 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
15231 @node Summary Agent Commands
15232 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
15236 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
15237 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
15238 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
15241 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
15242 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
15243 Remove the downloading mark from the article
15244 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
15247 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
15248 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
15249 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
15252 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
15253 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
15254 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
15259 @node Server Agent Commands
15260 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
15264 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
15265 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
15266 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
15267 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
15270 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
15271 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
15272 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
15273 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
15279 @subsection Agent Expiry
15281 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
15282 @findex gnus-agent-expire
15283 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
15284 @cindex Agent expiry
15285 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
15288 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
15289 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
15290 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
15291 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
15292 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
15293 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
15295 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
15296 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
15297 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
15298 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
15299 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
15302 @node Agent and IMAP
15303 @subsection Agent and IMAP
15305 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However,
15306 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
15307 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
15308 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
15310 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
15311 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
15312 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
15313 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
15315 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
15316 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
15317 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
15318 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
15319 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
15321 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15322 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
15323 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
15324 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
15325 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
15326 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
15328 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
15329 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
15330 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
15331 in the group buffer by default.
15333 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
15334 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
15339 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
15342 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
15346 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
15347 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
15348 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
15349 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
15350 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
15351 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
15352 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
15353 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
15356 @node Outgoing Messages
15357 @subsection Outgoing Messages
15359 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
15360 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
15361 after posting, and edit them at will.
15363 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
15364 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
15365 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
15366 messages in the draft group.
15370 @node Agent Variables
15371 @subsection Agent Variables
15374 @item gnus-agent-directory
15375 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
15376 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
15377 @file{~/News/agent/}.
15379 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
15380 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
15381 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
15382 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
15383 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
15386 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15387 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15388 Hook run when connecting to the network.
15390 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15391 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15392 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
15397 @node Example Setup
15398 @subsection Example Setup
15400 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
15401 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
15402 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
15405 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
15406 ;;; from your ISP's server.
15407 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
15409 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
15410 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
15411 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
15413 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
15414 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
15416 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
15420 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
15421 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
15424 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
15425 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
15426 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
15427 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
15428 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
15431 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
15432 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
15433 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
15434 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
15435 back all the killed groups.)
15437 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
15438 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
15439 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
15442 @node Batching Agents
15443 @subsection Batching Agents
15445 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
15446 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
15447 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
15451 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
15455 @node Agent Caveats
15456 @subsection Agent Caveats
15458 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
15459 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
15463 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
15468 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
15469 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
15475 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
15476 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
15483 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
15484 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
15485 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
15488 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
15489 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
15490 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
15491 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
15492 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
15494 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
15495 before generating the summary buffer.
15497 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15498 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15499 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15501 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15502 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15503 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15504 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15507 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15508 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15509 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15510 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15511 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15512 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15513 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15514 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15515 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15516 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15517 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15518 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15519 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15520 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15521 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15522 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15526 @node Summary Score Commands
15527 @section Summary Score Commands
15528 @cindex score commands
15530 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15531 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15532 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15533 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15534 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15536 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15537 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15538 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15539 score file the current one.
15541 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15546 @kindex V s (Summary)
15547 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15548 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15551 @kindex V S (Summary)
15552 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15553 Display the score of the current article
15554 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15557 @kindex V t (Summary)
15558 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15559 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15560 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15563 @kindex V R (Summary)
15564 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15565 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15566 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15567 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15568 effect you're having.
15571 @kindex V c (Summary)
15572 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15573 Make a different score file the current
15574 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15577 @kindex V e (Summary)
15578 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15579 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15580 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15584 @kindex V f (Summary)
15585 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15586 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15587 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15590 @kindex V F (Summary)
15591 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15592 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15593 after editing score files.
15596 @kindex V C (Summary)
15597 @findex gnus-score-customize
15598 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15599 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15603 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15608 @kindex V m (Summary)
15609 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15610 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15611 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15614 @kindex V x (Summary)
15615 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15616 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15617 expunge all articles below this score
15618 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15621 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15622 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15625 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15626 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15630 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15631 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15633 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15634 keys are available:
15638 Score on the author name.
15641 Score on the subject line.
15644 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15647 Score on the @code{References} line.
15653 Score on the number of lines.
15656 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15659 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15660 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
15661 @file{ADAPT} files.)
15670 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
15676 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15677 what headers you are scoring on.
15689 Substring matching.
15692 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
15721 Greater than number.
15726 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
15727 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
15728 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
15732 Temporary score entry.
15735 Permanent score entry.
15738 Immediately scoring.
15743 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
15744 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
15745 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
15746 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
15748 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
15749 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
15750 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
15751 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
15752 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
15754 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
15755 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
15756 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
15757 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
15758 current score file.
15760 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
15761 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
15762 pretend they are keymaps or not.
15765 @node Group Score Commands
15766 @section Group Score Commands
15767 @cindex group score commands
15769 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
15774 @kindex W f (Group)
15775 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15776 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
15777 all the time. This command will flush the cache
15778 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
15782 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
15784 @findex gnus-batch-score
15785 @cindex batch scoring
15787 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
15791 @node Score Variables
15792 @section Score Variables
15793 @cindex score variables
15797 @item gnus-use-scoring
15798 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
15799 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
15800 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
15802 @item gnus-kill-killed
15803 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
15804 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
15805 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
15806 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
15807 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
15808 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
15809 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
15811 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
15812 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
15813 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
15814 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
15815 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
15817 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
15818 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
15819 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
15820 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
15822 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15823 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15824 @cindex score cache
15825 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
15826 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
15827 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
15828 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15829 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15830 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15833 @item gnus-save-score
15834 @vindex gnus-save-score
15835 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15836 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15837 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15839 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15840 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15841 across group visits.
15843 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15844 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15845 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15846 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15847 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15848 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15849 manually entered data.
15851 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15852 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15853 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15855 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15856 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15857 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15858 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15859 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15860 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15862 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15863 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15864 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15865 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15867 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15868 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15869 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15870 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15872 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15873 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15874 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15875 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15877 Predefined functions available are:
15880 @item gnus-score-find-single
15881 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15882 Only apply the group's own score file.
15884 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15885 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15886 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15887 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15888 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15889 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15890 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15891 then a regexp match is done.
15893 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15894 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15896 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15897 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15898 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15899 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15901 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15902 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15903 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15904 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15905 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
15909 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15910 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
15911 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
15912 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
15913 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
15914 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
15915 returned is the local score file. Phu.
15917 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
15918 overall score file, you could use the value
15920 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
15921 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
15924 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15925 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15926 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15927 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15928 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15930 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15931 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15932 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15933 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15934 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15935 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15936 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15939 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15940 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15941 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15943 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15944 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15945 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15946 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15947 threading---according to the current value of
15948 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15949 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15950 simplified in this manner.
15955 @node Score File Format
15956 @section Score File Format
15957 @cindex score file format
15959 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15960 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15961 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15963 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15967 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15969 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15971 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15973 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15978 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15982 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15983 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15984 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15985 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15989 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15990 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15992 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15993 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15994 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15996 Six keys are supported by this alist:
16001 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
16002 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
16003 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
16004 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
16005 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
16006 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
16007 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
16008 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
16009 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
16010 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
16011 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
16012 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
16013 to articles that matches these score entries.
16015 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
16016 score entry has one to four elements.
16020 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
16021 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
16025 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
16026 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
16027 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
16028 is successful. If this element is not present, the
16029 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
16030 instead. This is 1000 by default.
16033 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
16034 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
16035 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
16036 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
16037 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
16040 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
16041 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
16042 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
16043 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
16046 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
16047 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
16048 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
16049 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
16050 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
16051 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
16052 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
16053 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
16054 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
16055 instead, if you feel like.
16058 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
16059 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
16061 These predicates are true if
16064 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
16067 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
16068 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
16075 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
16076 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
16077 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
16078 it's not. I think.)
16080 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
16081 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
16082 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
16083 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
16086 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
16087 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
16088 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
16089 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
16090 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
16091 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
16092 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
16096 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
16097 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
16098 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
16099 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
16100 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
16101 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
16102 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
16103 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
16106 @item Head, Body, All
16107 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
16111 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
16112 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
16113 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
16114 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
16115 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
16116 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
16117 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
16121 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
16122 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
16123 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
16124 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
16125 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
16126 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
16127 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
16128 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
16129 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
16130 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
16131 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
16135 @cindex Score File Atoms
16137 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16138 lower than this number will be marked as read.
16141 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16142 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
16144 @item mark-and-expunge
16145 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16146 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
16149 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
16150 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
16151 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
16152 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
16153 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
16156 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
16157 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
16160 @item exclude-files
16161 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
16162 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
16166 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
16167 ignored when handling global score files.
16170 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
16171 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
16172 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
16173 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
16176 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
16177 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
16178 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
16179 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
16181 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
16185 (mark-and-expunge -100)
16188 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
16189 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
16190 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
16191 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
16192 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
16194 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
16195 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
16196 scoring rules exist.
16199 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
16200 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
16201 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
16202 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
16203 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
16204 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
16205 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16206 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
16207 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
16208 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
16209 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
16213 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
16214 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
16215 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
16216 file for a number of groups.
16219 @cindex local variables
16220 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
16221 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
16222 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
16223 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
16224 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
16228 @node Score File Editing
16229 @section Score File Editing
16231 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
16232 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
16233 with a mode for that.
16235 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
16236 additional commands:
16241 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
16242 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
16243 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
16244 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
16247 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
16248 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
16249 Insert the current date in numerical format
16250 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
16251 you were wondering.
16254 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
16255 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
16256 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
16257 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
16258 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
16263 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
16265 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
16266 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
16268 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
16269 e} to begin editing score files.
16272 @node Adaptive Scoring
16273 @section Adaptive Scoring
16274 @cindex adaptive scoring
16276 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
16277 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
16278 stupidity, to be precise.
16280 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
16281 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
16282 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
16283 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
16284 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16285 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
16286 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
16287 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
16288 variable to @code{(word line)}.
16290 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16291 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
16292 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
16293 might look something like this:
16296 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16297 '((gnus-unread-mark)
16298 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
16299 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
16300 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
16301 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
16302 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
16303 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
16304 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
16305 (gnus-ancient-mark)
16306 (gnus-low-score-mark)
16307 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
16310 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
16311 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
16312 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
16313 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
16314 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
16315 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
16318 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
16319 will be applied to each article.
16321 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
16322 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
16323 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
16324 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
16326 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
16327 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
16328 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
16329 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
16331 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
16332 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
16333 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
16334 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
16336 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
16337 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
16338 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
16339 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
16340 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
16341 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
16343 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
16344 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
16345 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
16346 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
16347 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
16348 aspirins afterwards.)
16350 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
16351 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
16352 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
16354 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
16355 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
16356 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
16358 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
16359 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
16360 let you use different rules in different groups.
16362 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
16363 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
16364 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
16367 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
16368 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
16369 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
16370 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
16371 the length of the match is less than
16372 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
16373 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
16376 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16377 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
16378 headers. If you adapt on words, the
16379 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
16380 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
16383 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16384 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
16385 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
16386 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
16387 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
16390 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
16391 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
16392 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
16393 score with 30 points.
16395 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
16396 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
16397 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
16398 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
16399 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
16401 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
16402 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
16403 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
16404 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
16405 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
16407 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
16408 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
16409 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
16410 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
16412 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
16413 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
16414 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
16415 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
16417 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
16418 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
16419 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
16420 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
16421 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
16423 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
16424 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
16425 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
16427 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
16428 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
16429 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
16430 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
16433 @node Home Score File
16434 @section Home Score File
16436 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
16437 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
16438 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
16439 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
16441 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
16442 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
16443 could perhaps use the same home score file.
16445 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
16446 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
16451 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
16455 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
16456 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
16460 A list. The elements in this list can be:
16464 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
16465 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
16468 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
16469 the home score file.
16472 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
16475 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
16480 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
16483 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16484 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
16487 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
16488 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
16490 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
16492 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16493 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
16496 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
16497 Other functions include
16500 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
16501 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
16502 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
16503 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16507 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16508 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16509 their own home score files:
16512 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16513 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16514 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16515 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16516 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16519 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16520 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16521 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16522 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16523 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16525 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16526 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16527 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16528 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16529 precedence over this variable.
16532 @node Followups To Yourself
16533 @section Followups To Yourself
16535 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16536 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16537 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16538 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16539 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16540 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16544 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16545 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16546 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16549 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16550 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16551 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16555 @vindex message-sent-hook
16556 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16557 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
16559 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
16563 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16564 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16568 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16569 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16572 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16573 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16578 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
16582 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16583 is system-dependent.
16587 @section Scoring Tips
16588 @cindex scoring tips
16594 @cindex scoring crossposts
16595 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16596 the @code{Xref} header.
16598 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16601 @item Multiple crossposts
16602 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16603 more than, say, 3 groups:
16606 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
16610 @item Matching on the body
16611 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16612 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16613 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16614 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16615 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16616 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16617 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16620 @item Marking as read
16621 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16622 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16623 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16627 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16629 @item Negated character classes
16630 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16631 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16632 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16636 @node Reverse Scoring
16637 @section Reverse Scoring
16638 @cindex reverse scoring
16640 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16641 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16642 like this in your score file:
16646 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16651 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16652 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16655 @node Global Score Files
16656 @section Global Score Files
16657 @cindex global score files
16659 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16660 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16661 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16663 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16664 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16665 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16667 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16668 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16669 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16670 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16671 files are applicable to which group.
16673 To use the score file
16674 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16675 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
16679 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16680 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16681 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
16684 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
16686 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
16687 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
16688 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
16689 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
16691 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
16692 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
16694 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
16695 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
16696 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
16697 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
16698 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
16699 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
16701 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
16707 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
16709 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
16711 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
16713 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
16714 lowered out of existence.
16716 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
16717 articles completely.
16720 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
16721 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
16722 old articles for a long time.
16725 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
16726 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
16727 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
16728 holding our breath yet?
16732 @section Kill Files
16735 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
16736 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
16737 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
16739 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
16740 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
16741 files into score files.
16743 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
16744 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
16745 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
16746 that isn't a very good idea.
16748 Normal kill files look like this:
16751 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16752 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
16756 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
16757 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
16759 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
16760 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
16763 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
16768 @kindex M-k (Summary)
16769 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
16770 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
16773 @kindex M-K (Summary)
16774 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
16775 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
16778 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
16783 @kindex M-k (Group)
16784 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
16785 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
16788 @kindex M-K (Group)
16789 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
16790 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
16793 Kill file variables:
16796 @item gnus-kill-file-name
16797 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
16798 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
16799 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
16800 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
16801 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
16802 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
16804 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16805 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16806 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
16807 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
16810 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
16811 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
16812 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
16813 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
16814 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
16815 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
16816 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
16817 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
16818 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
16820 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16821 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16822 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
16827 @node Converting Kill Files
16828 @section Converting Kill Files
16830 @cindex converting kill files
16832 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
16833 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
16834 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
16837 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
16838 You can fetch it from
16839 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
16841 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
16842 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
16843 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16851 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16852 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16853 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16855 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16856 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16857 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16858 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16859 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16860 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16861 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16862 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16866 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16867 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16868 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16869 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16873 @node Using GroupLens
16874 @subsection Using GroupLens
16876 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16878 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16879 better bit in town at the moment.
16881 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16885 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16886 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16887 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16888 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16890 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16891 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16892 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16893 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16895 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16896 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16897 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16901 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16902 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16903 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16904 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16905 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16906 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16909 @node Rating Articles
16910 @subsection Rating Articles
16912 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16913 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16914 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16915 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16918 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16923 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16924 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16925 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16928 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16929 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16930 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16931 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16932 threads in rec.humor.
16936 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16937 the score of the article you're reading.
16942 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16943 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16944 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16947 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16948 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16949 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16953 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16954 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16957 @node Displaying Predictions
16958 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16960 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16961 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16962 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16963 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16964 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16966 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16967 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16968 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16969 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16970 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16971 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16972 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16973 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16974 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16975 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16976 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16977 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16978 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16980 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16981 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16982 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16983 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16985 The following are valid values for that variable.
16988 @item prediction-spot
16989 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16992 @item confidence-interval
16993 A numeric confidence interval.
16995 @item prediction-bar
16996 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16998 @item confidence-bar
16999 Numerical confidence.
17001 @item confidence-spot
17002 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
17004 @item prediction-num
17005 Plain-old numeric value.
17007 @item confidence-plus-minus
17008 Prediction +/- confidence.
17013 @node GroupLens Variables
17014 @subsection GroupLens Variables
17018 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
17019 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
17020 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
17021 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
17024 @item grouplens-bbb-host
17025 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
17028 @item grouplens-bbb-port
17029 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
17031 @item grouplens-score-offset
17032 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
17033 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
17036 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
17037 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
17038 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
17043 @node Advanced Scoring
17044 @section Advanced Scoring
17046 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
17047 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
17048 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
17049 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
17050 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
17052 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
17056 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
17057 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
17058 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
17062 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
17063 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
17065 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
17066 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
17067 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
17068 non-@code{nil} value.
17070 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
17071 operator, and various match operators.
17078 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
17079 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
17080 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
17085 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
17086 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
17087 then this operator will return @code{false}.
17092 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
17093 logical negation of the value of its argument.
17097 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
17098 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
17099 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
17100 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
17101 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
17102 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
17103 the ancestry you want to go.
17105 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
17106 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
17107 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
17108 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
17109 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
17112 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
17113 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
17115 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
17116 when he's talking about Gnus:
17120 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17121 ("subject" "Gnus"))
17127 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
17131 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17138 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
17139 really don't want to read what he's written:
17143 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17144 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
17148 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
17149 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
17150 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
17157 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
17158 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
17159 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
17160 ("body" "white.*socks"))
17164 The possibilities are endless.
17167 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
17168 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
17170 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
17171 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
17172 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
17173 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
17174 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
17175 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
17176 @samp{subject}) first.
17178 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
17179 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
17190 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
17191 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
17197 ("subject" "Gnus")))
17204 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
17205 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
17210 @section Score Decays
17211 @cindex score decays
17214 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
17215 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
17216 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
17217 use them in any sensible way.
17219 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
17220 @findex gnus-decay-score
17221 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
17222 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
17223 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
17224 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
17225 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
17226 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
17227 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
17228 definition of that function:
17231 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
17233 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
17234 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
17237 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
17239 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
17241 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
17244 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
17245 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
17246 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
17247 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
17251 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
17254 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
17257 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
17261 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
17262 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
17263 the new score, which should be an integer.
17265 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
17266 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
17273 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
17274 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
17275 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
17276 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
17277 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
17278 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
17279 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
17280 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
17281 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
17282 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
17283 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
17284 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
17285 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
17286 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
17287 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
17288 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
17289 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
17290 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
17294 @node Process/Prefix
17295 @section Process/Prefix
17296 @cindex process/prefix convention
17298 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
17299 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
17301 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
17302 command to be performed on.
17306 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
17307 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
17308 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
17309 with the current one.
17311 @vindex transient-mark-mode
17312 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
17313 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
17315 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
17316 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
17319 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
17320 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
17322 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
17325 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
17326 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
17327 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
17328 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17330 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
17331 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
17332 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
17333 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
17334 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
17335 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
17336 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
17337 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
17339 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
17340 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
17341 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
17342 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
17343 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
17347 @section Interactive
17348 @cindex interaction
17352 @item gnus-novice-user
17353 @vindex gnus-novice-user
17354 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
17355 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
17356 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
17357 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
17360 @item gnus-expert-user
17361 @vindex gnus-expert-user
17362 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
17363 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
17364 matter how strange.
17366 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
17367 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
17368 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
17369 is @code{t} by default.
17371 @item gnus-interactive-exit
17372 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
17373 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
17378 @node Symbolic Prefixes
17379 @section Symbolic Prefixes
17380 @cindex symbolic prefixes
17382 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
17383 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
17384 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
17385 rule of 900 to the current article.
17387 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
17388 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
17389 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
17390 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
17391 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
17392 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
17393 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
17395 @kindex M-i (Summary)
17396 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
17397 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
17398 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
17399 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
17400 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
17401 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
17402 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
17403 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
17405 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
17406 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
17407 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
17409 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
17413 @node Formatting Variables
17414 @section Formatting Variables
17415 @cindex formatting variables
17417 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
17418 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
17419 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
17420 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
17421 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
17424 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
17425 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
17426 lots of percentages everywhere.
17429 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
17430 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
17431 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
17432 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
17433 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
17436 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
17437 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
17438 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
17439 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
17440 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
17441 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
17442 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
17443 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
17445 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
17446 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
17448 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
17449 @findex gnus-update-format
17450 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
17451 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
17452 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
17453 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
17457 @node Formatting Basics
17458 @subsection Formatting Basics
17460 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
17461 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
17462 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
17464 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
17465 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
17466 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
17467 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
17468 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
17471 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
17472 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
17473 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
17474 less than 4 characters wide.
17477 @node Mode Line Formatting
17478 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
17480 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
17481 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
17482 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
17483 with the following two differences:
17488 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
17491 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
17492 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
17493 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
17494 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
17495 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
17496 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
17497 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
17502 @node Advanced Formatting
17503 @subsection Advanced Formatting
17505 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
17506 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
17507 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
17508 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
17510 These are the valid modifiers:
17515 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17519 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17524 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17527 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17532 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17535 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17538 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17541 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17545 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17546 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17547 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17548 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17549 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17550 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17551 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17553 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17554 last operation, padding.
17556 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
17557 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
17558 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
17559 @xref{Compilation}.
17562 @node User-Defined Specs
17563 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17565 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17566 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17567 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17568 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17569 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17570 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17571 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17572 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17573 should protect against that.
17575 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17576 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17577 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17578 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17582 @node Formatting Fonts
17583 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17585 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17586 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17587 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17588 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17591 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17592 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17593 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17594 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17595 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17596 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17598 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17599 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17600 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17601 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17602 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17603 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17604 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17605 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17607 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17610 ;; Create three face types.
17611 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17612 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17614 ;; We want the article count to be in
17615 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17616 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17617 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17619 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17620 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17622 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17623 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17624 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17627 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17628 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17630 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17631 mode-line variables.
17634 @node Windows Configuration
17635 @section Windows Configuration
17636 @cindex windows configuration
17638 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17640 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17641 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17642 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17643 @code{t} by default.
17645 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
17646 glitches. Use at your own peril.
17648 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
17649 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
17650 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
17653 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
17654 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
17655 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17659 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
17660 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
17661 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
17662 possible names is listed below.
17664 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
17665 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
17668 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17672 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
17673 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
17674 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
17675 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
17676 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
17677 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
17678 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
17679 size spec per split.
17681 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
17682 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
17683 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
17684 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
17685 present) gets focus.
17687 Here's a more complicated example:
17690 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
17691 (summary 0.25 point)
17692 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
17696 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
17697 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
17698 occupy, not a percentage.
17700 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
17701 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
17702 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
17703 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
17704 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
17707 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
17710 (article (horizontal 1.0
17715 (summary 0.25 point)
17720 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
17721 @code{horizontal} thingie?
17723 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
17724 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
17725 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
17726 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
17727 the screen is to be given to this strip.
17729 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
17730 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
17731 lines from the splits.
17733 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
17737 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
17738 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
17739 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
17740 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
17741 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
17742 size = number | frame-params
17743 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
17746 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
17747 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
17748 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
17749 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
17751 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
17752 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
17753 @cindex window height
17754 @cindex window width
17755 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
17756 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
17757 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
17758 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
17759 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
17760 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
17762 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
17763 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
17764 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
17765 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
17767 @findex gnus-configure-frame
17768 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
17769 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
17770 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
17771 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
17772 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
17773 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
17774 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
17775 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
17776 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
17777 configuration list.
17780 (gnus-configure-frame
17784 (article 0.3 point))
17792 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
17793 @code{frame} split:
17796 (gnus-configure-frame
17799 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
17801 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
17802 (user-position . t)
17803 (left . -1) (top . 1))
17808 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
17809 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
17810 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
17811 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
17812 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
17813 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
17814 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
17815 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
17817 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
17818 be found in its default value.
17820 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
17821 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
17822 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
17826 (message (horizontal 1.0
17827 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
17829 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
17834 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
17835 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
17836 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
17841 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
17842 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
17843 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
17844 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
17845 (name . "Message"))
17846 (message 1.0 point))))
17849 @findex gnus-add-configuration
17850 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17851 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17852 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17853 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17856 (gnus-add-configuration
17857 '(article (vertical 1.0
17859 (summary .25 point)
17863 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17864 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17865 Gnus has been loaded.
17867 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17868 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17869 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17870 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17871 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17873 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17874 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17875 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17878 @subsection Example Window Configurations
17882 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
17883 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
17898 (gnus-add-configuration
17901 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17903 (summary 0.16 point)
17906 (gnus-add-configuration
17909 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17910 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
17916 @node Faces and Fonts
17917 @section Faces and Fonts
17922 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17923 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17924 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17929 @section Compilation
17930 @cindex compilation
17931 @cindex byte-compilation
17933 @findex gnus-compile
17935 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17936 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17937 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
17938 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17939 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17940 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17943 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17944 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17945 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17946 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
17947 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
17948 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
17949 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
17953 @section Mode Lines
17956 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17957 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17958 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17959 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17960 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17961 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17962 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17965 @cindex display-time
17967 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17968 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17969 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17970 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17971 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17972 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17973 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17974 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17977 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17979 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17980 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17982 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17983 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17984 (length display-time-string)))))
17987 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17988 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17989 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17990 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17991 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17994 @node Highlighting and Menus
17995 @section Highlighting and Menus
17997 @cindex highlighting
18000 @vindex gnus-visual
18001 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
18002 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
18003 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
18006 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
18007 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
18010 @item group-highlight
18011 Do highlights in the group buffer.
18012 @item summary-highlight
18013 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
18014 @item article-highlight
18015 Do highlights in the article buffer.
18017 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
18019 Create menus in the group buffer.
18021 Create menus in the summary buffers.
18023 Create menus in the article buffer.
18025 Create menus in the browse buffer.
18027 Create menus in the server buffer.
18029 Create menus in the score buffers.
18031 Create menus in all buffers.
18034 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
18035 buffers, you could say something like:
18038 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
18041 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
18044 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
18047 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
18048 in all Gnus buffers.
18050 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
18053 @item gnus-mouse-face
18054 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
18055 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
18056 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
18060 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
18064 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
18065 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
18066 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
18068 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
18069 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
18070 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
18072 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
18073 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
18074 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
18076 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
18077 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
18078 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
18080 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
18081 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
18082 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
18084 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
18085 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
18086 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
18097 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
18098 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
18099 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
18100 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
18101 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
18105 @vindex gnus-carpal
18106 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
18107 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
18108 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
18113 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
18114 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
18115 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
18117 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
18118 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
18119 Face used on buttons.
18121 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
18122 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
18123 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
18125 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
18126 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
18127 Buttons in the group buffer.
18129 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
18130 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
18131 Buttons in the summary buffer.
18133 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
18134 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
18135 Buttons in the server buffer.
18137 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
18138 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
18139 Buttons in the browse buffer.
18142 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
18143 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
18144 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
18152 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
18153 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
18154 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
18155 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
18156 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
18158 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
18159 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
18160 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
18162 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
18163 been idle for thirty minutes:
18166 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
18169 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
18173 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
18176 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
18177 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
18178 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18180 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
18181 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
18182 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
18183 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18185 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
18186 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
18187 @var{idle} minutes.
18189 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
18190 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
18193 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
18194 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
18195 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
18197 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
18198 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
18199 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
18200 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
18202 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
18203 your @file{.gnus} file:
18205 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
18207 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
18210 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
18211 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
18212 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
18213 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
18214 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
18215 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
18216 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
18217 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
18218 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
18219 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
18220 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
18222 @findex gnus-demon-init
18223 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
18224 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
18225 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
18226 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
18227 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
18229 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
18230 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
18231 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
18240 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
18241 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
18243 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
18244 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
18245 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
18246 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
18249 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
18250 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
18251 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
18252 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
18254 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
18255 this will make spam disappear.
18257 There are some variables to customize, of course:
18260 @item gnus-use-nocem
18261 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
18262 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
18265 @item gnus-nocem-groups
18266 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
18267 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
18268 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
18269 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
18271 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
18272 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
18273 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
18274 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
18275 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
18276 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
18278 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
18279 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
18281 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
18282 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
18283 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
18284 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
18285 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
18286 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
18287 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
18288 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
18289 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
18290 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
18292 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
18293 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
18296 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
18299 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
18300 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
18303 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
18306 The specs are applied left-to-right.
18309 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
18310 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
18312 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
18313 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
18314 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
18315 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
18317 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
18318 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
18321 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
18323 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
18331 This might be dangerous, though.
18333 @item gnus-nocem-directory
18334 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
18335 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
18336 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
18338 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18339 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18340 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
18341 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
18342 might then see old spam.
18344 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
18345 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
18346 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
18347 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
18348 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
18351 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18352 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18353 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
18354 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
18358 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
18359 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
18360 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
18361 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
18368 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
18369 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
18370 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
18372 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
18373 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
18374 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
18375 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
18376 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
18377 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
18378 @code{undo} function.
18380 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
18381 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
18382 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
18383 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
18384 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
18385 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
18386 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
18387 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
18388 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
18389 never be totally undoable.
18391 @findex gnus-undo-mode
18392 @vindex gnus-use-undo
18394 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
18395 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
18396 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
18397 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
18402 @section Moderation
18405 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
18406 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
18407 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
18410 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
18414 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
18417 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18419 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
18424 You split your incoming mail by matching on
18425 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
18426 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
18429 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
18430 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
18433 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
18434 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
18438 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
18441 (setq gnus-moderated-list
18442 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
18446 @node XEmacs Enhancements
18447 @section XEmacs Enhancements
18450 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
18454 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
18455 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
18456 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
18457 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
18470 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
18471 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
18472 over your shoulder as you read news.
18475 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
18476 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
18477 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
18478 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
18479 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
18484 @subsubsection Picon Basics
18486 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18495 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18496 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18497 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18498 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18499 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18500 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18501 @code{GIF} formats.
18504 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18505 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18506 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18507 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18508 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18510 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18511 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18512 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18513 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18514 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18515 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18518 @node Picon Requirements
18519 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18521 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18522 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18525 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18526 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18527 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18529 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18530 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18531 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18532 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18533 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18537 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18539 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18540 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18543 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18544 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18547 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18548 containing the Picons databases.
18550 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18553 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18554 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18559 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18567 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18568 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18569 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18570 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18571 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18576 @item gnus-picons-database
18577 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18578 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18579 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18580 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18581 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18582 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18584 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18585 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18586 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18587 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18588 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18589 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18590 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18592 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18593 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18594 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18595 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18596 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18597 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18598 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18599 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
18601 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18602 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18603 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18608 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18609 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18611 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18612 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18615 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18617 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18618 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18619 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18620 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18622 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18623 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18624 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18630 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18631 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18639 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18640 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18641 don't need to worry about.
18645 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
18646 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
18647 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18648 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
18650 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
18651 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
18652 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
18653 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
18655 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
18656 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
18657 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18658 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
18659 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
18661 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18662 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18663 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
18664 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
18665 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
18666 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
18667 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
18669 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18670 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18671 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
18672 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
18674 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18675 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18676 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
18677 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
18678 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
18679 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
18680 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
18682 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18683 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18684 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
18685 Defaults to @code{nil}.
18687 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
18688 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
18689 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
18690 Defaults to @code{t}.
18692 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18693 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18694 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
18695 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
18697 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
18698 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
18699 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
18701 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18702 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18703 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
18704 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
18706 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
18707 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
18709 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18710 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18711 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
18712 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
18713 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
18714 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
18715 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
18716 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
18727 @subsection Smileys
18732 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
18737 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
18738 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
18740 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
18741 @file{.gnus.el} file:
18744 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
18747 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
18748 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
18749 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
18750 text and maps that to file names.
18752 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
18753 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
18754 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
18755 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
18756 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
18757 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
18759 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
18760 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
18762 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
18763 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
18764 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
18766 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
18767 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
18771 @item smiley-data-directory
18772 @vindex smiley-data-directory
18773 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
18775 @item smiley-flesh-color
18776 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
18777 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
18779 @item smiley-features-color
18780 @vindex smiley-features-color
18781 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18783 @item smiley-tongue-color
18784 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
18785 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
18787 @item smiley-circle-color
18788 @vindex smiley-circle-color
18789 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18791 @item smiley-mouse-face
18792 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
18793 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
18799 @subsection Toolbar
18809 @item gnus-use-toolbar
18810 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
18811 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
18812 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
18813 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
18815 @item gnus-group-toolbar
18816 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
18817 The toolbar in the group buffer.
18819 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
18820 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
18821 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
18823 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18824 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18825 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
18831 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
18834 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18835 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18836 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
18837 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
18838 unusual directory structure.
18840 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18841 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18842 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
18843 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
18845 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18846 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18847 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
18848 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
18849 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
18850 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
18852 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18853 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18854 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
18868 @node Fuzzy Matching
18869 @section Fuzzy Matching
18870 @cindex fuzzy matching
18872 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
18873 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
18875 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
18876 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
18877 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18879 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18880 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18881 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18882 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18883 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18886 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18887 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18891 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18893 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18894 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18895 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18896 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18897 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18898 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18899 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18900 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18903 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18904 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18905 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18906 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18907 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18908 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18912 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18913 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18915 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18916 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18917 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18918 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18919 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18920 part of the mail address.)
18923 (setq message-default-news-headers
18924 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18927 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18928 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18933 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18934 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18935 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18941 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18942 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18943 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18944 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18946 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18947 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18948 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18949 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18950 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18951 your fancy split rule in this way:
18956 (to "larsi" "misc")
18960 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18961 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18962 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18963 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18964 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18966 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18967 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18968 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
18969 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18970 cosmic balance somewhat.
18972 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18973 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18974 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18975 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18978 @node Various Various
18979 @section Various Various
18985 @item gnus-home-directory
18986 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18987 defaults to @file{~/}.
18989 @item gnus-directory
18990 @vindex gnus-directory
18991 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18992 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18993 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18995 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18996 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18997 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18998 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
19000 @item gnus-default-directory
19001 @vindex gnus-default-directory
19002 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
19003 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
19004 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
19005 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
19006 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
19007 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
19010 @vindex gnus-verbose
19011 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
19012 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
19013 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
19014 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
19015 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
19017 @item gnus-verbose-backends
19018 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
19019 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
19020 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
19022 @item nnheader-max-head-length
19023 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
19024 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
19025 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
19026 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
19027 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
19028 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
19029 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
19030 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
19031 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
19033 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
19034 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
19035 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
19036 read when doing the operation described above.
19038 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
19039 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
19041 @cindex invalid characters in file names
19042 @cindex characters in file names
19043 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
19044 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
19045 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
19048 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
19052 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
19053 Windows (phooey) systems.
19055 @item gnus-hidden-properties
19056 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
19057 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
19058 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
19059 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
19061 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
19062 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
19063 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
19064 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
19065 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
19067 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
19068 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
19069 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
19071 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
19072 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
19074 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
19075 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
19076 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
19077 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
19080 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
19089 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
19090 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
19092 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
19094 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
19100 Not because of victories @*
19103 but for the common sunshine,@*
19105 the largess of the spring.
19109 but for the day's work done@*
19110 as well as I was able;@*
19111 not for a seat upon the dais@*
19112 but at the common table.@*
19117 @chapter Appendices
19120 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
19121 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
19122 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
19123 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
19124 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
19125 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
19126 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
19127 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
19135 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
19136 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
19138 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
19139 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
19140 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
19141 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
19142 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
19144 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
19145 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
19146 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
19147 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
19148 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
19149 appropriate name, don't you think?)
19151 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
19152 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
19153 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
19154 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
19157 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
19158 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
19159 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
19160 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
19161 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
19162 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
19163 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
19164 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
19165 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
19169 @node Gnus Versions
19170 @subsection Gnus Versions
19171 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
19173 @cindex September Gnus
19174 @cindex Quassia Gnus
19176 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
19177 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
19178 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
19180 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
19181 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
19183 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
19184 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
19186 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
19187 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
19189 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
19190 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
19193 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
19195 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
19196 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
19197 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
19198 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
19199 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
19200 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
19203 @node Other Gnus Versions
19204 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
19207 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
19208 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
19209 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
19210 @sc{mime} capabilities.
19212 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
19213 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
19214 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
19215 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
19222 What's the point of Gnus?
19224 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
19225 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
19226 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
19227 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
19228 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
19229 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
19230 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
19231 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
19232 keep track of millions of people who post?
19234 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
19235 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
19236 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
19237 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
19238 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
19239 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
19240 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
19241 every one of you to explore and invent.
19243 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
19244 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
19247 @node Compatibility
19248 @subsection Compatibility
19250 @cindex compatibility
19251 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
19252 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
19253 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
19258 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
19262 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
19265 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
19268 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
19269 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
19270 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
19271 important variables have their values copied into their global
19272 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
19273 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
19275 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
19276 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
19277 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
19278 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
19279 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
19283 @cindex highlighting
19284 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
19285 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
19286 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
19287 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
19288 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
19289 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
19292 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
19293 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
19294 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
19295 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
19297 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
19298 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
19299 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
19300 to stop doing it the old way.
19302 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
19304 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19306 @cindex reporting bugs
19308 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
19309 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
19310 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
19312 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
19313 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
19314 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
19315 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
19320 @subsection Conformity
19322 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
19323 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
19330 There are no known breaches of this standard.
19334 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
19336 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
19337 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
19338 We do have some breaches to this one.
19344 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
19345 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
19346 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
19347 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
19348 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
19353 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
19354 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
19355 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
19356 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
19360 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
19361 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
19366 @subsection Emacsen
19372 Gnus should work on :
19380 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
19384 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
19385 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
19388 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
19389 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
19390 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
19394 @node Gnus Development
19395 @subsection Gnus Development
19397 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
19398 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
19399 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
19400 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
19401 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
19402 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
19403 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
19404 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
19406 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
19407 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
19408 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
19409 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
19410 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
19413 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
19414 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
19415 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
19416 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
19417 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
19419 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
19420 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
19421 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
19422 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
19423 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
19424 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
19425 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
19426 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
19427 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
19428 can't be assumed to do so.
19433 @subsection Contributors
19434 @cindex contributors
19436 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
19437 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
19438 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
19439 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
19440 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
19441 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
19442 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
19443 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
19444 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
19445 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
19447 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
19453 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
19456 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
19457 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
19458 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
19459 functionality and stuff.
19462 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
19463 well as numerous other things).
19466 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
19469 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
19472 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
19475 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
19476 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
19479 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
19482 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
19483 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19486 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
19489 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
19492 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19495 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19498 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19499 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19502 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19505 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19508 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19511 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19515 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19518 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19521 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19524 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19525 well as autoconf support.
19529 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19530 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19532 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19541 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19545 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19555 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19570 Massimo Campostrini,
19575 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19576 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19580 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19583 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19589 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19594 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19598 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19606 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19608 Michelangelo Grigni,
19612 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19614 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19616 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19623 François Felix Ingrand,
19624 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19625 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19627 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19638 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19639 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19641 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19642 Thor Kristoffersen,
19645 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
19663 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
19664 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
19671 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
19676 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
19680 John McClary Prevost,
19686 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
19691 Christian von Roques,
19694 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
19701 Philippe Schnoebelen,
19703 Randal L. Schwartz,
19717 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
19722 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
19738 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
19743 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
19744 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
19745 (550kB and counting).
19747 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
19750 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
19751 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
19755 @subsection New Features
19756 @cindex new features
19759 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
19760 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
19761 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
19762 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
19763 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
19766 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
19767 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
19768 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
19771 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
19773 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
19778 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
19779 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
19782 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
19783 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
19786 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
19789 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
19790 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
19791 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
19794 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
19795 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
19796 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
19797 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19800 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
19801 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19804 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
19805 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
19806 (@pxref{The Active File}).
19809 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
19810 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
19813 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
19814 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
19815 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19818 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
19819 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
19820 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
19823 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
19824 the @file{.emacs} file.
19827 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
19828 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19831 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
19832 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
19835 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
19836 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19839 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
19840 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
19843 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
19844 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19847 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
19850 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
19851 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
19854 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
19855 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
19858 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
19859 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
19862 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
19865 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
19866 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19869 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
19873 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
19877 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
19878 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
19881 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
19887 @node September Gnus
19888 @subsubsection September Gnus
19892 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19896 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19901 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19902 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19906 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19907 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19911 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19915 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19916 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19919 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19923 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19926 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19929 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19932 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19936 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19937 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19940 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19944 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19948 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19952 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19956 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19959 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19960 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19963 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19967 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19968 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19971 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19974 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19975 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19976 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19979 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19983 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19986 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19990 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19991 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19994 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19995 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19998 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19999 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20002 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
20003 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
20004 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
20007 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
20008 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
20011 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
20014 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
20017 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
20020 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
20023 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
20024 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
20027 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
20031 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
20034 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
20039 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
20042 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
20046 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
20049 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
20053 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
20056 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
20059 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
20060 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
20063 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
20064 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
20068 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
20069 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
20072 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
20076 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
20077 buffer to allow easier treatment.
20080 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
20083 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
20087 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
20091 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
20092 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
20095 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
20099 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
20100 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
20103 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
20104 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
20107 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
20111 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
20114 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
20117 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
20123 @subsubsection Red Gnus
20125 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
20129 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
20136 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
20139 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
20140 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
20143 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
20144 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
20148 Article washing status can be displayed in the
20149 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
20152 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
20155 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
20156 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
20159 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
20163 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
20164 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
20168 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
20169 Server Internals}).
20172 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
20176 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
20179 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
20180 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
20183 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
20184 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
20185 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
20188 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
20189 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20192 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
20193 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
20196 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
20200 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
20201 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20204 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
20205 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
20208 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
20212 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
20215 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
20219 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
20220 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20223 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
20224 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20227 A new command for reading collections of documents
20228 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
20229 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
20232 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
20236 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
20237 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
20240 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
20241 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
20242 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
20245 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
20246 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
20250 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
20254 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
20258 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
20263 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
20267 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
20271 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
20272 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
20275 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
20281 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
20283 New features in Gnus 5.6:
20288 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
20289 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
20290 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
20293 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
20294 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
20295 group, which is created automatically.
20298 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
20302 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
20305 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
20306 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
20309 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
20313 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
20316 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
20317 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
20320 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
20323 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
20324 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
20327 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
20328 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
20331 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
20332 control over simplification.
20335 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
20338 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
20342 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
20345 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
20348 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
20349 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
20350 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
20353 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
20354 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
20357 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
20361 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
20362 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
20365 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
20366 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
20369 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
20373 A history of where mails have been split is available.
20376 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
20379 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
20380 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
20383 A new function for citing in Message has been
20384 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
20387 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
20390 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
20394 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
20395 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
20398 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
20399 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
20402 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
20405 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
20409 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
20410 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
20412 New features in Gnus 5.8:
20416 @item The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
20417 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
20419 If you used procmail like in
20422 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
20423 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
20424 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
20425 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
20428 this now has changed to
20432 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
20436 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
20437 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
20439 @item Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
20440 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
20442 @item Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
20443 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
20445 @item @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
20446 called to position point.
20448 @item The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
20449 summary buffers and NOV files.
20451 @item @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
20452 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
20454 @item The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
20455 subtly different manner.
20457 @item New web-based backends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
20458 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
20459 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
20461 @item Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
20469 @section The Manual
20473 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20474 either @code{texi2dvi}
20476 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20477 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20479 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20481 The following conventions have been used:
20486 This is a @samp{string}
20489 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20492 This is a @file{file}
20495 This is a @code{symbol}
20499 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20503 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20506 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20509 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20512 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20513 ever get them confused.
20517 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20518 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20519 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20520 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20521 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20522 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20523 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20529 @node On Writing Manuals
20530 @section On Writing Manuals
20532 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20533 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20534 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20535 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20536 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20537 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20540 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20541 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20542 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20545 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20546 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20551 @section Terminology
20553 @cindex terminology
20558 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20559 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20560 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20561 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20562 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20566 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20567 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20568 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20569 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20573 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20577 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20582 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20583 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20584 is all done by the backends.
20588 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20589 default, way of getting news.
20593 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20594 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20599 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20600 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20604 A message that has been posted as news.
20607 @cindex mail message
20608 A message that has been mailed.
20612 A mail message or news article
20616 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20621 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20626 A line from the head of an article.
20630 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20631 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20635 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20636 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20637 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20638 normal @sc{head} format.
20642 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20643 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20644 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
20645 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
20646 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
20647 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
20649 @item killed groups
20650 @cindex killed groups
20651 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
20652 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
20654 @item zombie groups
20655 @cindex zombie groups
20656 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
20659 @cindex active file
20660 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
20661 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
20662 is rather large, as you might surmise.
20665 @cindex bogus groups
20666 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
20667 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
20668 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
20671 @cindex activating groups
20672 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
20673 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
20674 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
20678 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
20680 @item select method
20681 @cindex select method
20682 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
20685 @item virtual server
20686 @cindex virtual server
20687 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
20688 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
20689 whole is a virtual server.
20693 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
20694 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
20697 @item ephemeral groups
20698 @cindex ephemeral groups
20699 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
20700 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
20701 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
20704 @cindex solid groups
20705 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
20706 group buffer are solid groups.
20708 @item sparse articles
20709 @cindex sparse articles
20710 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
20711 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
20715 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
20716 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
20720 @cindex thread root
20721 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
20722 articles in the thread.
20726 An article that has responses.
20730 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
20734 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
20735 specified by RFC 1153.
20741 @node Customization
20742 @section Customization
20743 @cindex general customization
20745 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
20746 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
20747 for some quite common situations.
20750 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
20751 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
20752 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
20753 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
20757 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
20758 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
20760 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
20761 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
20762 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
20766 @item gnus-read-active-file
20767 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
20768 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
20769 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20770 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
20771 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
20773 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
20774 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
20775 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
20776 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
20780 @node Slow Terminal Connection
20781 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
20783 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
20784 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
20785 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
20789 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
20790 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
20791 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
20792 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
20793 horizontal and vertical recentering.
20795 @item gnus-visible-headers
20796 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
20797 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
20798 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
20799 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
20801 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
20803 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
20804 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
20805 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
20808 @item gnus-use-full-window
20809 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
20810 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
20811 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
20812 want to read them anyway.
20814 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
20815 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
20818 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
20819 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
20820 lines, which might save some time.
20824 @node Little Disk Space
20825 @subsection Little Disk Space
20828 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
20829 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
20833 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
20834 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
20835 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20836 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20839 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
20840 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
20841 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20842 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20845 @item gnus-save-killed-list
20846 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
20847 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
20848 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
20849 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
20855 @subsection Slow Machine
20856 @cindex slow machine
20858 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
20859 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
20861 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20862 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
20864 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
20865 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
20866 summary buffer faster.
20870 @node Troubleshooting
20871 @section Troubleshooting
20872 @cindex troubleshooting
20874 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
20882 Make sure your computer is switched on.
20885 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
20886 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
20890 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
20891 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
20892 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
20893 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
20896 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
20900 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
20901 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
20902 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
20903 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
20904 something like that.
20907 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
20910 @cindex reporting bugs
20912 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
20914 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
20915 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
20916 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
20917 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
20919 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
20920 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
20921 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
20922 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
20925 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
20926 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
20927 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
20928 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
20929 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
20930 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
20932 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
20933 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
20934 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
20937 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
20938 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
20940 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
20941 @cindex ding mailing list
20942 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
20943 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
20947 @node Gnus Reference Guide
20948 @section Gnus Reference Guide
20950 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
20951 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
20952 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
20953 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
20956 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
20957 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
20958 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
20959 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
20960 and general methods of operation.
20963 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
20964 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
20965 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
20966 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
20967 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
20968 * Group Info:: The group info format.
20969 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
20970 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
20971 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
20975 @node Gnus Utility Functions
20976 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
20977 @cindex Gnus utility functions
20978 @cindex utility functions
20980 @cindex internal variables
20982 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
20983 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
20984 Below is a list of the most common ones.
20988 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
20989 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
20990 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
20992 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
20993 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
20994 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
20996 @item gnus-group-real-name
20997 @findex gnus-group-real-name
20998 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
21001 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
21002 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
21003 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
21004 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
21006 @item gnus-get-info
21007 @findex gnus-get-info
21008 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
21010 @item gnus-group-unread
21011 @findex gnus-group-unread
21012 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
21016 @findex gnus-active
21017 The active entry for @var{group}.
21019 @item gnus-set-active
21020 @findex gnus-set-active
21021 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
21023 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21024 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21025 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
21028 @item gnus-continuum-version
21029 @findex gnus-continuum-version
21030 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
21031 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
21034 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
21035 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
21036 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
21038 @item gnus-news-group-p
21039 @findex gnus-news-group-p
21040 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
21042 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21043 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21044 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
21046 @item gnus-server-to-method
21047 @findex gnus-server-to-method
21048 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
21050 @item gnus-server-equal
21051 @findex gnus-server-equal
21052 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
21054 @item gnus-group-native-p
21055 @findex gnus-group-native-p
21056 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
21058 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
21059 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
21060 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
21062 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
21063 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
21064 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
21066 @item group-group-find-parameter
21067 @findex group-group-find-parameter
21068 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
21069 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
21071 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
21072 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
21073 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
21075 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
21076 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
21077 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
21079 @item gnus-check-backend-function
21080 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
21081 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
21082 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
21085 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
21089 @item gnus-read-method
21090 @findex gnus-read-method
21091 Prompts the user for a select method.
21096 @node Backend Interface
21097 @subsection Backend Interface
21099 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
21100 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
21101 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
21102 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
21103 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
21104 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
21106 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
21107 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
21108 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
21109 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
21110 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
21111 been opened, the function should fail.
21113 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
21114 name. Take this example:
21118 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
21119 (nntp-port-number 4324))
21122 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
21123 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
21125 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
21126 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
21127 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
21129 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
21130 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
21131 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
21133 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
21134 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
21135 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
21136 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
21137 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
21138 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
21141 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
21142 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
21143 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
21144 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
21147 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
21150 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
21153 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
21154 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
21155 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
21156 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
21157 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
21158 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
21162 @node Required Backend Functions
21163 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
21167 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
21169 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
21170 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
21171 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
21172 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
21174 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
21175 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
21176 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
21177 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
21179 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
21180 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
21181 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
21182 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
21183 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
21184 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
21185 number, do maximum fetches.
21187 Here's an example HEAD:
21190 221 1056 Article retrieved.
21191 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
21192 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21193 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21194 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21195 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21196 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21198 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21199 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21200 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21204 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21205 these in the data buffer.
21207 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21211 head = error / valid-head
21212 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21213 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21214 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21215 header = <text> eol
21218 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21219 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21223 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21224 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21225 field = <text except TAB>
21228 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21232 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21234 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21235 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21237 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21238 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21239 server. In fact, it should do so.
21241 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21242 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21245 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21247 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21248 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21251 There should be no data returned.
21254 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21256 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21257 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21258 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21259 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21261 There should be no data returned.
21264 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21266 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21267 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21268 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21269 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21271 There should be no data returned.
21274 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21276 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21278 There should be no data returned.
21281 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21283 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21284 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21285 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21286 it would be nice if that were possible.
21288 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21289 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21290 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21291 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21292 into its article buffer.
21294 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21295 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21296 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21297 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21298 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21299 on successful article retrieval.
21302 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21304 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21305 making @var{group} the current group.
21307 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21310 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21313 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21316 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21317 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21318 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21319 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21320 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21321 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21322 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21323 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21326 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21327 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21328 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21332 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21334 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21335 a no-op on most backends.
21337 There should be no data returned.
21340 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21342 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21345 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21348 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21349 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21352 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21353 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21356 active-file = *active-line
21357 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21359 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21362 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21363 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21364 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21367 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21369 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21370 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21371 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21372 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21373 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21374 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21376 There should be no result data from this function.
21381 @node Optional Backend Functions
21382 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21386 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21388 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21389 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21390 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21392 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21393 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21394 former is in the same format as the data from
21395 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21396 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21399 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21403 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21405 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21406 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21407 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21408 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21409 should return the (altered) group info.
21411 There should be no result data from this function.
21414 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21416 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21417 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21418 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21419 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21420 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21421 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21422 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21423 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21425 There should be no result data from this function.
21428 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21430 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21431 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21432 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21433 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21434 propagate the mark information to the server.
21436 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21439 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21442 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
21443 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
21444 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
21445 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
21446 mentioned) marks. MARK is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
21447 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
21448 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
21449 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
21450 not limit itself to these.
21452 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21453 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21454 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21455 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21457 An example action list:
21460 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21461 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21462 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21465 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21466 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21468 There should be no result data from this function.
21470 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21472 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21473 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21474 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21475 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21476 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21478 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21479 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21480 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21483 There should be no result data from this function.
21486 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21488 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21489 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21490 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21491 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21492 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21493 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21494 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21496 There should be no result data from this function.
21499 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21501 The result data from this function should be a description of
21505 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21507 description = <text>
21510 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21512 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21513 groups available on the server.
21516 description-buffer = *description-line
21520 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21522 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21523 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21524 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21527 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21529 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21531 There should be no return data.
21534 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21536 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21537 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21538 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21539 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21540 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21543 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21546 There should be no result data returned.
21549 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21552 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21553 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21555 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21556 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21557 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21558 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21559 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21560 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21562 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21563 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21566 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21567 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21569 There should be no data returned.
21572 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21574 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21575 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21576 this function in short order.
21578 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21579 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21581 There should be no data returned.
21584 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21586 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21587 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21589 There should be no data returned.
21592 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21594 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21595 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21596 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21598 There should be no data returned.
21601 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21603 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21604 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21606 There should be no data returned.
21611 @node Error Messaging
21612 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21614 @findex nnheader-report
21615 @findex nnheader-get-report
21616 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21617 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21618 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21619 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21620 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21621 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
21624 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
21626 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
21629 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
21630 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
21631 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
21632 takes one argument---the server symbol.
21634 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
21635 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
21636 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
21639 @node Writing New Backends
21640 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
21642 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
21643 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
21644 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
21645 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
21646 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
21649 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
21650 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
21651 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
21653 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
21654 package called @code{nnoo}.
21656 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
21657 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
21663 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
21664 parameters. For instance:
21667 (nnoo-declare nndir
21671 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
21672 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
21675 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
21676 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
21677 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
21679 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
21680 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
21681 a function in those backends.
21684 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21685 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21686 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21689 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
21690 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
21691 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
21693 @item nnoo-define-basics
21694 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
21698 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21702 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
21703 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
21704 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
21706 @item nnoo-map-functions
21707 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
21708 functions from the parent backends.
21711 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21712 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21713 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
21716 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
21717 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
21718 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
21719 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
21722 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
21723 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
21724 haven't already been defined.
21730 nnmh-request-newgroups)
21734 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
21735 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
21736 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
21741 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
21744 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
21745 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21749 (require 'nnheader)
21753 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
21755 (nnoo-declare nndir
21758 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21759 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21760 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21762 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
21763 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
21766 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
21768 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
21769 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
21770 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
21772 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
21773 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
21775 ;;; Interface functions.
21777 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21779 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
21780 (setq nndir-directory
21781 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
21783 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
21784 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
21785 (push `(nndir-current-group
21786 ,(file-name-nondirectory
21787 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21789 (push `(nndir-top-directory
21790 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21792 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
21794 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21795 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21796 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21797 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
21798 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
21802 nnmh-status-message
21804 nnmh-request-newgroups))
21810 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21811 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21813 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
21814 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
21815 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
21816 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
21818 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
21819 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
21824 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
21827 The abilities can be:
21831 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
21833 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
21835 This backend supports both mail and news.
21837 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
21840 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
21841 articles and groups.
21843 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
21844 true for almost all backends.
21845 @item prompt-address
21846 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
21847 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
21848 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
21852 @node Mail-like Backends
21853 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
21855 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
21856 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
21857 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
21858 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
21861 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
21862 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
21863 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
21866 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
21867 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
21870 This function takes four parameters.
21874 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
21877 @item exit-function
21878 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
21880 @item temp-directory
21881 Where the temporary files should be stored.
21884 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
21885 performed for one group only.
21888 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
21889 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
21890 find the article number assigned to this article.
21892 The function also uses the following variables:
21893 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
21894 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
21895 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
21896 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
21900 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
21901 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
21905 @node Score File Syntax
21906 @subsection Score File Syntax
21908 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
21909 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
21910 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
21912 Here's a typical score file:
21916 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
21923 BNF definition of a score file:
21926 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
21927 element = rule / atom
21928 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
21929 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
21930 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
21931 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
21933 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
21934 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
21935 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
21936 date-header = "date"
21937 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21938 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21939 score = "nil" / <integer>
21940 date = "nil" / <natural number>
21941 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
21942 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
21943 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
21944 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
21945 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21946 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21947 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
21948 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21949 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
21950 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
21951 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
21952 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
21953 exclude-files / read-only / touched
21954 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
21955 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
21956 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
21957 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
21958 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
21959 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
21960 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
21961 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
21962 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
21963 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
21964 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
21965 eval = "eval" space <form>
21966 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
21969 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
21972 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
21973 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
21974 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
21975 one looong line, then that's ok.
21977 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
21978 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21982 @subsection Headers
21984 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
21985 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
21986 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
21987 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
21989 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
21990 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
21991 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
21992 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
21993 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
21994 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
21995 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
21997 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
21998 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
21999 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
22000 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
22001 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
22003 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
22004 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
22010 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
22011 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
22013 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
22014 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
22015 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
22016 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
22018 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
22022 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
22025 is transformed into
22028 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
22031 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
22032 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
22035 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
22038 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
22039 is slightly tricky:
22042 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
22048 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
22051 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
22057 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
22064 and is equal to the previous range.
22066 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
22067 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
22068 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
22072 range = simple-range / normal-range
22073 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
22074 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
22075 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
22076 number *[ " " contents ]
22079 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
22080 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
22081 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
22082 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
22083 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
22088 @subsection Group Info
22090 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
22091 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
22092 describes the group.
22094 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
22095 second is a more complex one:
22098 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
22100 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
22101 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
22103 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
22106 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
22107 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
22108 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
22109 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
22110 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
22111 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
22112 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
22113 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
22114 this section is about.
22116 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
22117 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
22118 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
22120 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
22123 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
22124 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
22125 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22126 group = quote <string> quote
22127 ralevel = rank / level
22128 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22129 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
22130 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22132 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
22133 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
22134 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
22135 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
22138 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
22139 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
22142 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
22143 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
22146 @item gnus-info-group
22147 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
22148 @findex gnus-info-group
22149 @findex gnus-info-set-group
22150 Get/set the group name.
22152 @item gnus-info-rank
22153 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
22154 @findex gnus-info-rank
22155 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
22156 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
22158 @item gnus-info-level
22159 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
22160 @findex gnus-info-level
22161 @findex gnus-info-set-level
22162 Get/set the group level.
22164 @item gnus-info-score
22165 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
22166 @findex gnus-info-score
22167 @findex gnus-info-set-score
22168 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
22170 @item gnus-info-read
22171 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
22172 @findex gnus-info-read
22173 @findex gnus-info-set-read
22174 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
22176 @item gnus-info-marks
22177 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
22178 @findex gnus-info-marks
22179 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
22180 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
22182 @item gnus-info-method
22183 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
22184 @findex gnus-info-method
22185 @findex gnus-info-set-method
22186 Get/set the group select method.
22188 @item gnus-info-params
22189 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
22190 @findex gnus-info-params
22191 @findex gnus-info-set-params
22192 Get/set the group parameters.
22195 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22196 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22198 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22199 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22200 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22201 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22204 @node Extended Interactive
22205 @subsection Extended Interactive
22206 @cindex interactive
22207 @findex gnus-interactive
22209 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22210 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22211 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22214 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22215 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22220 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22221 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22222 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22223 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22224 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22225 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22226 @code{interactive}.
22228 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22233 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22234 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22238 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22239 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22240 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22243 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22247 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22251 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22257 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22258 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22262 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22263 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22264 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22266 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22267 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22268 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22269 Gnus, that's very useful.
22271 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22272 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22273 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22274 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22275 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22276 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22277 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22278 following function:
22281 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22285 (,function ,@@args))
22289 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22290 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22291 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22294 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22295 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22296 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22298 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22299 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22300 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22303 @node Various File Formats
22304 @subsection Various File Formats
22307 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22308 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22312 @node Active File Format
22313 @subsubsection Active File Format
22315 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22316 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22319 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22322 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22323 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22324 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22325 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22326 no.general 1000 900 y
22329 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22332 active = *group-line
22333 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
22334 group = <non-white-space string>
22336 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22337 low-number = <positive integer>
22338 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22341 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22342 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22345 @node Newsgroups File Format
22346 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22348 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22349 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22350 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22353 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22354 Here's the definition:
22358 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22359 group = <non-white-space string>
22361 description = <string>
22366 @node Emacs for Heathens
22367 @section Emacs for Heathens
22369 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22370 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22371 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22372 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22373 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22374 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22375 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22379 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22380 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22385 @subsection Keystrokes
22389 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22392 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22395 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22396 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22397 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22398 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22399 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22400 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22402 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22403 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22404 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22405 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22406 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22407 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22408 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22410 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22411 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22412 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22413 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22414 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22415 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22416 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22418 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22419 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22420 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22421 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22422 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22428 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22430 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22431 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22432 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22433 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22435 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22436 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22437 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22438 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22439 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22440 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22441 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22444 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22445 write the following:
22448 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22451 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22452 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22453 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22456 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22457 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22458 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22459 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22460 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22462 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22463 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22464 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22468 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22472 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22475 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22476 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22479 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22482 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22483 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22486 @include gnus-faq.texi
22507 % LocalWords: Backend BNF mucho Backends backends detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
22508 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
22509 % LocalWords: nnmbox backend newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
22510 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
22511 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref