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14 Copyright @copyright{} 1995-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
17 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
18 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
19 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
20 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual'',
21 and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
22 is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
24 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
25 modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
26 developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
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309 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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324 @dircategory Emacs network features
326 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
335 @title Gnus Manual (DEVELOPMENT VERSION)
337 @ifclear WEBHACKDEVEL
341 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
343 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
351 @top The Gnus Newsreader
355 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
356 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
357 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
360 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
361 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.18
376 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
377 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
379 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
380 being accused of plagiarism:
382 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
383 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
384 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
385 can even read news with it!
387 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
388 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
389 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
390 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
391 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
394 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
395 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.18
397 @heading Other related manuals
399 @item Message manual: Composing messages
400 @item Emacs-MIME: Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
401 @item Sieve: Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
402 @item PGG: @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
403 @item SASL: @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
409 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
410 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
411 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
412 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
413 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
414 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
415 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
416 * Searching:: Mail and News search engines.
417 * Various:: General purpose settings.
418 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
419 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
420 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
421 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
422 * Key Index:: Key Index.
424 Other related manuals
426 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
427 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
428 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
429 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
430 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
433 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
437 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
438 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
439 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
440 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
441 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
442 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
443 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
444 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
445 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
446 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
450 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
451 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
452 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
456 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
457 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
458 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
459 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
460 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
461 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
462 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
463 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
464 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
465 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
466 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
467 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
468 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
469 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
470 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
471 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
472 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
473 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
477 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
478 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
479 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
483 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
484 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
485 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
486 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
487 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
491 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
492 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
493 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
494 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
495 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
499 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
500 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
501 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
502 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
503 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
504 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
505 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
506 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
507 * Threading:: How threads are made.
508 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
509 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
510 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
511 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
512 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
513 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
514 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
515 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
516 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
517 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
518 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
519 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
520 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
521 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
522 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
523 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
524 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
525 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
526 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
527 or reselecting the current group.
528 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
529 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
530 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
531 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
533 Summary Buffer Format
535 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
536 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
537 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
538 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
542 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
543 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
545 Reply, Followup and Post
547 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
548 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
549 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
550 * Canceling and Superseding::
554 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
555 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
556 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
557 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
558 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
559 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
563 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
564 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
566 Customizing Threading
568 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
569 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
570 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
571 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
575 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
576 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
577 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
578 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
579 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
580 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
584 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
585 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
586 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
590 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
591 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
592 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
593 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
594 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
595 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
596 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
597 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
598 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys, Gravatars
599 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
600 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
602 Alternative Approaches
604 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
605 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
607 Various Summary Stuff
609 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
610 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
611 * Summary Generation Commands::
612 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
616 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
617 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
618 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
619 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
620 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
624 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
625 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
626 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
627 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
628 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
629 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
630 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
631 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
632 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
636 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
637 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
638 * Using IMAP:: Reading mail from @acronym{IMAP}.
639 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
640 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
641 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files.
642 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
643 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
644 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
648 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
649 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
650 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
651 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
652 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
653 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
654 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
658 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
659 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
663 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
664 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
665 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
666 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
670 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
671 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
672 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
673 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
674 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
675 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
676 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
677 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
678 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
679 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
680 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
681 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
682 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
686 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
687 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
688 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
690 Choosing a Mail Back End
692 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
693 * Babyl:: Babyl was used by older versions of Rmail.
694 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
695 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
696 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
697 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
698 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
703 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
704 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
705 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
709 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
710 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
711 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
712 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
713 * The Empty Backend:: The backend that never has any news.
717 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
721 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
725 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
726 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
727 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
731 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
732 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
733 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
735 The Gnus Diary Library
737 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
738 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
739 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
740 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
744 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
745 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
746 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
747 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
748 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
749 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
750 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
751 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
752 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
753 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
754 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
755 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
756 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
757 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
761 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
762 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
763 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
767 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
768 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
769 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
773 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
774 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
775 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
776 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
777 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
778 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
779 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
780 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
781 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
782 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
783 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
784 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
785 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
786 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
787 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
788 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
792 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
793 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
794 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
798 * nnir:: Searching with various engines.
799 * nnmairix:: Searching with Mairix.
803 * What is nnir?:: What does nnir do.
804 * Basic Usage:: How to perform simple searches.
805 * Setting up nnir:: How to set up nnir.
809 * Associating Engines:: How to associate engines.
813 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
814 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
815 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
816 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
817 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
818 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
819 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
820 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
821 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
822 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
823 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
824 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
825 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
826 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
827 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
828 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
829 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
830 * The Gnus Registry:: A package for tracking messages by Message-ID.
831 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
832 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
836 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
837 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
838 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
839 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
840 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
841 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
842 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
843 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
847 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
848 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
849 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were
851 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
852 * Gravatars:: Display the avatar of people you read.
853 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
857 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
858 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
859 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
860 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
864 * Spam Package Introduction::
865 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
866 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
867 * Spam and Ham Processors::
868 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
870 * Extending the Spam package::
871 * Spam Statistics Package::
873 Spam Statistics Package
875 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
876 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
877 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
881 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
882 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
883 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
884 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
885 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
886 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
887 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
888 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
889 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
893 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
894 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
895 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
896 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
897 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
898 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
899 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
900 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
901 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
905 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
906 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
907 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
908 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
909 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
910 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
911 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
915 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
916 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
917 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
918 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
922 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
923 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
924 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
925 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
926 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
927 * Group Info:: The group info format.
928 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
929 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
930 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
934 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
935 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
936 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
937 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
938 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
939 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
943 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
944 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
948 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
949 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
955 @chapter Starting Gnus
958 If you haven't used Emacs much before using Gnus, read @ref{Emacs for
963 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
964 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
965 your Emacs. If not, you should customize the variable
966 @code{gnus-select-method} as described in @ref{Finding the News}. For a
967 minimal setup for posting should also customize the variables
968 @code{user-full-name} and @code{user-mail-address}.
970 @findex gnus-other-frame
971 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
972 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
973 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
975 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
976 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
977 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
979 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
980 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
983 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
984 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
985 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
986 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
987 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
988 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
989 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
990 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
991 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
995 @node Finding the News
996 @section Finding the News
999 First of all, you should know that there is a special buffer called
1000 @code{*Server*} that lists all the servers Gnus knows about. You can
1001 press @kbd{^} from the Group buffer to see it. In the Server buffer,
1002 you can press @kbd{RET} on a defined server to see all the groups it
1003 serves (subscribed or not!). You can also add or delete servers, edit
1004 a foreign server's definition, agentize or de-agentize a server, and
1005 do many other neat things. @xref{Server Buffer}.
1006 @xref{Foreign Groups}. @xref{Agent Basics}.
1008 @vindex gnus-select-method
1010 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
1011 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1012 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1013 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1016 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1017 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1020 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1023 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1026 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1029 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1030 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1031 server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
1032 server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1034 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1036 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1037 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1038 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1039 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1040 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1041 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1042 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1044 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1046 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1047 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1048 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1049 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1050 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1051 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1053 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1055 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1056 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1057 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1058 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1059 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1060 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1063 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1064 you would typically set this variable to
1067 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1070 Note: the @acronym{NNTP} back end stores marks in marks files
1071 (@pxref{NNTP marks}). This feature makes it easy to share marks between
1072 several Gnus installations, but may slow down things a bit when fetching
1073 new articles. @xref{NNTP marks}, for more information.
1076 @node The Server is Down
1077 @section The Server is Down
1078 @cindex server errors
1080 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1081 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1082 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1084 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1085 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1086 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1087 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1088 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1089 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1090 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1092 @findex gnus-no-server
1093 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1095 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1096 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1097 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1098 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1099 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1100 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1101 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1105 @section Slave Gnusae
1108 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1109 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1110 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1111 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1113 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1114 @file{.newsrc} file.
1116 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1117 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1118 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1119 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1120 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1121 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1122 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1125 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1126 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1127 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1128 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1129 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1130 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1131 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1132 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1134 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1135 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1137 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1138 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1139 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1140 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1141 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1148 @cindex subscription
1150 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1151 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1152 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1153 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1154 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1155 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1156 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1157 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1158 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1161 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1162 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1163 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1167 @node Checking New Groups
1168 @subsection Checking New Groups
1170 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing
1171 the list of groups (@pxref{Group Levels}) from the active file(s) with
1172 the lists of subscribed and dead groups. This isn't a particularly
1173 fast method. If @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is
1174 @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the server for new groups since the
1175 last time. This is both faster and cheaper. This also means that you
1176 can get rid of the list of killed groups altogether, so you may set
1177 @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to @code{nil}, which will save time both
1178 at startup, at exit, and all over. Saves disk space, too. Why isn't
1179 this the default, then? Unfortunately, not all servers support this
1182 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1183 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1184 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1185 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1186 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1187 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1188 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1189 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1190 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1191 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1192 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1194 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1195 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1196 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1197 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1198 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1199 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1202 @node Subscription Methods
1203 @subsection Subscription Methods
1205 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1206 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1207 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1209 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1210 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1212 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1216 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1217 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1218 Make all new groups zombies (@pxref{Group Levels}). This is the
1219 default. You can browse the zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either
1220 kill them all off properly (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them
1223 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1224 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1225 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1226 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1228 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1229 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1230 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1232 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1233 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1234 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1235 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1236 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1237 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1238 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1239 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1240 up. Or something like that.
1242 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1243 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1244 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1245 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1246 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1248 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1249 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1250 Kill all new groups.
1252 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1253 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1254 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1255 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1256 topic parameter that looks like
1262 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1265 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1270 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1271 A closely related variable is
1272 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1273 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1274 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1275 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1278 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1279 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1280 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1281 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1284 @node Filtering New Groups
1285 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1287 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1288 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1289 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1292 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1295 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1296 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1297 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1298 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1299 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1300 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1301 subscribing these groups.
1302 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1303 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1305 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1306 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1307 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1308 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1309 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1310 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1311 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1312 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1314 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1315 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1316 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1317 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1318 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1319 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1320 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1321 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1322 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, @code{nnimap}, and
1323 @code{nnmaildir}) subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this
1324 variable to @code{nil}.
1326 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-categories
1327 As if that wasn't enough, @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-categories} also
1328 allows you to specify that new groups should be subcribed based on the
1329 category their select methods belong to. The default is @samp{(mail
1330 post-mail)}, meaning that all new groups from mail-like backends
1331 should be subscribed automatically.
1333 New groups that match these variables are subscribed using
1334 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1337 @node Changing Servers
1338 @section Changing Servers
1339 @cindex changing servers
1341 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1342 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1343 very flaky and you want to use another.
1345 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1346 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1350 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1351 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1352 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1353 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1356 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1357 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1358 You can use the @kbd{M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups}
1359 command to clear out all data that you have on your native groups.
1362 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1363 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1364 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1365 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1367 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1368 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1369 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1370 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1371 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1372 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1373 cache for all groups).
1377 @section Startup Files
1378 @cindex startup files
1383 Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
1384 @file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
1385 groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
1388 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1389 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1390 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1391 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1392 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1393 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1394 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1396 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1397 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1398 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1399 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1400 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1401 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1403 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1404 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1405 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1406 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1407 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1408 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1409 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1410 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1411 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
1412 convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
1413 want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
1416 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1417 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1418 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1419 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1420 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1421 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1422 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1423 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1424 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1425 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1426 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1427 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1429 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1430 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1431 @vindex version-control
1432 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1433 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1434 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1435 If you want to keep multiple numbered backups of this file, set
1436 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1437 @code{version-control} variable.
1439 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1440 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1441 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1442 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1443 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1444 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1445 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1446 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1447 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1448 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1451 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1452 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1454 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1455 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1458 @vindex gnus-init-file
1459 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1460 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1461 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus-init} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1462 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1463 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1464 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1465 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1466 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1467 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1468 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order). If Emacs was invoked with
1469 the @option{-q} or @option{--no-init-file} options (@pxref{Initial
1470 Options, ,Initial Options, emacs, The Emacs Manual}), Gnus doesn't read
1471 @code{gnus-init-file}.
1476 @cindex dribble file
1479 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1480 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1481 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1482 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1483 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1486 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1487 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1490 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1491 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1492 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1494 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1495 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1496 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1497 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1498 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1499 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1501 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1502 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1503 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1506 @node The Active File
1507 @section The Active File
1509 @cindex ignored groups
1511 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1512 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1513 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1515 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1516 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1517 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1518 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1519 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1520 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1521 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1524 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1525 @c if you set it to anything else.
1527 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1529 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1530 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1531 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1533 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1534 you actually subscribe to.
1536 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1537 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1538 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1539 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1541 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1542 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1543 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1544 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1545 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1546 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1548 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1549 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1550 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1553 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1554 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1555 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1556 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1557 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1558 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1560 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1561 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1563 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1564 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1566 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1567 secondary select methods.
1570 @node Startup Variables
1571 @section Startup Variables
1575 @item gnus-load-hook
1576 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1577 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1578 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1579 times you start Gnus.
1581 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1582 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1583 A hook called as the first thing when Gnus is started.
1585 @item gnus-startup-hook
1586 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1587 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1589 @item gnus-started-hook
1590 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1591 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1594 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1595 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1596 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1597 generating the group buffer.
1599 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1600 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1601 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1602 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1603 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1604 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1605 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1606 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1608 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1609 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1610 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1611 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1612 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1613 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1615 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1616 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1617 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1619 @item gnus-use-backend-marks
1620 @vindex gnus-use-backend-marks
1621 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will store article marks both in the
1622 @file{.newsrc.eld} file and in the backends. This will slow down
1623 group operation some.
1629 @chapter Group Buffer
1630 @cindex group buffer
1632 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1634 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1635 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1636 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1637 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1638 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1639 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1640 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1641 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1642 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1643 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1644 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1645 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1646 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1647 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1648 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1649 @c human rights at 9...
1652 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1653 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1654 long as Gnus is active.
1658 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1659 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1660 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1661 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1662 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1663 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1664 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1665 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1671 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1672 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1673 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1674 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1675 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1676 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1677 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1678 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1679 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1680 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1681 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1682 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1683 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1684 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1685 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1686 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1687 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
1688 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1692 @node Group Buffer Format
1693 @section Group Buffer Format
1696 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1697 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1698 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1701 You can customize the Group Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
1702 customize-apropos RET gnus-group-tool-bar}. This feature is only
1705 The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly depending on the
1706 cursor position. Therefore, moving around in the Group Buffer is
1707 slower. You can disable this via the variable
1708 @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}. Its default value depends on your
1711 @node Group Line Specification
1712 @subsection Group Line Specification
1713 @cindex group buffer format
1715 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1716 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1718 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1721 25: news.announce.newusers
1722 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1727 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1728 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1729 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1730 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1732 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1733 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1734 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1735 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1736 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1737 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1739 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1741 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1742 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1743 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1744 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1745 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1747 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1748 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1749 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1751 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1756 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1759 Whether the group is subscribed.
1762 Level of subscribedness.
1765 Number of unread articles.
1768 Number of dormant articles.
1771 Number of ticked articles.
1774 Number of read articles.
1777 Number of unseen articles.
1780 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1781 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1783 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1784 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1785 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1786 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1787 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1788 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1789 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job.
1791 The nnml backend (@pxref{Mail Spool}) has a feature called ``group
1792 compaction'' which circumvents this deficiency: the idea is to
1793 renumber all articles from 1, removing all gaps between numbers, hence
1794 getting a correct total count. Other backends may support this in the
1795 future. In order to keep your total article count relatively up to
1796 date, you might want to compact your groups (or even directly your
1797 server) from time to time. @xref{Misc Group Stuff}, @xref{Server Commands}.
1800 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1803 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1812 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1813 comment element in the group parameters.
1816 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1817 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1818 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1822 @samp{m} if moderated.
1825 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1831 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1837 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1841 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1844 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1845 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1846 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1847 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1848 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1851 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1853 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1857 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1860 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1864 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1865 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1866 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1867 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1870 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1871 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1872 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1873 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1874 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1875 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1880 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1881 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1882 group, or a bogus native group.
1885 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1886 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1887 @cindex group mode line
1889 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1890 The mode line can be changed by setting
1891 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1892 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1896 The native news server.
1898 The native select method.
1902 @node Group Highlighting
1903 @subsection Group Highlighting
1904 @cindex highlighting
1905 @cindex group highlighting
1907 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1908 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1909 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1910 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1911 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1913 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1917 (cond (window-system
1918 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1919 (defface my-group-face-1
1920 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1921 (defface my-group-face-2
1922 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1923 "Second group face")
1924 (defface my-group-face-3
1925 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1926 (defface my-group-face-4
1927 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1928 (defface my-group-face-5
1929 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1931 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1932 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1933 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1934 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1935 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1936 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1939 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1941 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1948 The number of unread articles in the group.
1952 Whether the group is a mail group.
1954 The level of the group.
1956 The score of the group.
1958 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1960 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1961 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1963 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1964 topic being inserted.
1967 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1968 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1969 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1971 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1972 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1973 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1974 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
1977 @node Group Maneuvering
1978 @section Group Maneuvering
1979 @cindex group movement
1981 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1982 expected, hopefully.
1988 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1989 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1990 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1996 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1997 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1998 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2002 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2003 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2007 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2008 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2012 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2013 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2014 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2018 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2019 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2020 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2023 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2029 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2030 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2031 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2036 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2037 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2038 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2042 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2043 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2044 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2047 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2048 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2049 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2050 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2053 @vindex gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit
2054 If @code{gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit} is @code{t}, when a summary is
2055 exited, the point in the group buffer is moved to the next unread group.
2056 Otherwise, the point is set to the group just exited. The default is
2059 @node Selecting a Group
2060 @section Selecting a Group
2061 @cindex group selection
2066 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2067 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2068 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2069 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2070 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2071 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2072 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2073 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2074 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2075 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2077 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2078 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2079 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2081 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2082 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2087 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2088 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2089 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2090 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2091 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2095 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2096 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2097 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2098 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2099 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2100 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2101 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2102 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2103 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2104 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2107 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2108 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2109 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2110 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2111 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2114 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2115 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2116 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2117 doing any processing of its contents
2118 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2119 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2120 manner will have no permanent effects.
2124 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2125 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2126 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2127 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2128 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2129 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2130 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2131 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2132 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2133 most recently will be fetched.
2135 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2136 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2137 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2140 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles
2141 In groups in some news servers, there might be a big gap between a few
2142 very old articles that will never be expired and the recent ones. In
2143 such a case, the server will return the data like @code{(1 . 30000000)}
2144 for the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, for example. Even if there
2145 are actually only the articles 1-10 and 29999900-30000000, Gnus doesn't
2146 know it at first and prepares for getting 30000000 articles. However,
2147 it will consume hundreds megabytes of memories and might make Emacs get
2148 stuck as the case may be. If you use such news servers, set the
2149 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} to a positive number.
2150 The value means that Gnus ignores articles other than this number of the
2151 latest ones in every group. For instance, the value 10000 makes Gnus
2152 get only the articles 29990001-30000000 (if the latest article number is
2153 30000000 in a group). Note that setting this variable to a number might
2154 prevent you from reading very old articles. The default value of the
2155 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} is @code{nil}, which
2156 means Gnus never ignores old articles.
2158 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2159 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2160 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2161 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2162 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2163 Which article this is controlled by the
2164 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2170 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2173 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2176 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2178 @item unseen-or-unread
2179 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2180 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2184 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2188 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2189 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2191 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2192 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2193 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2194 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2198 @node Subscription Commands
2199 @section Subscription Commands
2200 @cindex subscription
2202 The following commands allow for managing your subscriptions in the
2203 Group buffer. If you want to subscribe to many groups, it's probably
2204 more convenient to go to the @ref{Server Buffer}, and choose the
2205 server there using @kbd{RET} or @kbd{SPC}. Then you'll have the
2206 commands listed in @ref{Browse Foreign Server} at hand.
2214 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2215 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2216 Toggle subscription to the current group
2217 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2223 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2224 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2225 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2226 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2232 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2233 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2234 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2240 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2241 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2244 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2245 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2246 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2247 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2248 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2254 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2255 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2259 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2260 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2263 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2264 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2265 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2266 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2267 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2268 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2269 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2270 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2271 @file{.newsrc} file.
2275 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2285 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2286 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2287 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2288 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2289 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2290 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2295 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2296 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2297 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2301 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2302 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2303 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2305 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2306 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2307 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2308 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2309 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2310 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2317 @section Group Levels
2321 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2322 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2323 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2324 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2325 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2327 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2333 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2334 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2335 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2336 prompted for a level.
2339 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2340 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2341 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2342 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2343 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2344 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2345 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2346 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2347 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2348 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2349 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2350 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2351 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2352 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2353 reasons of efficiency.
2355 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2356 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2358 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2359 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2360 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2361 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2362 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2363 groups are hidden, in a way.
2365 @cindex zombie groups
2366 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2367 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2368 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2369 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2370 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2371 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2373 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2374 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2375 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2376 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2377 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2378 list of killed groups.)
2380 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2381 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2382 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2384 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2385 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2386 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2387 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2388 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2389 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2390 relevant valid ranges.
2392 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2393 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2394 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2395 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2396 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2397 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2400 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2401 one with the best level.
2403 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2404 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2405 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2407 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2408 be called and the result will be used as value.
2411 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2412 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2413 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2414 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2417 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2418 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2419 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2420 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2422 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2423 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2424 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2425 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2426 to 5. The default is 6.
2430 @section Group Score
2435 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2436 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2437 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2440 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2441 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2442 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2443 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2444 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2445 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2446 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2447 least significant part.))
2449 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2450 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2451 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2452 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2453 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2454 action after each summary exit, you can add
2455 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2456 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2457 slow things down somewhat.
2460 @node Marking Groups
2461 @section Marking Groups
2462 @cindex marking groups
2464 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2465 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2466 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2467 bidding on those groups.
2469 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2470 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2471 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2479 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2480 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2486 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2487 Remove the mark from the current group
2488 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2492 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2493 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2497 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2498 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2502 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2503 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2507 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2508 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2509 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2512 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2514 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2515 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2516 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2517 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2518 the command to be executed.
2521 @node Foreign Groups
2522 @section Foreign Groups
2523 @cindex foreign groups
2525 If you recall how to subscribe to servers (@pxref{Finding the News})
2526 you will remember that @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} and
2527 @code{gnus-select-method} let you write a definition in Emacs Lisp of
2528 what servers you want to see when you start up. The alternate
2529 approach is to use foreign servers and groups. ``Foreign'' here means
2530 they are not coming from the select methods. All foreign server
2531 configuration and subscriptions are stored only in the
2532 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file.
2534 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2535 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2536 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2537 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2540 Changes from the group editing commands are stored in
2541 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} (@code{gnus-startup-file}). An alternative is the
2542 variable @code{gnus-parameters}, @xref{Group Parameters}.
2548 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2549 @cindex making groups
2550 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2551 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2552 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2556 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2557 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2558 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2562 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2563 @cindex renaming groups
2564 Rename the current group to something else
2565 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2566 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2572 @findex gnus-group-customize
2573 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2577 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2578 @cindex renaming groups
2579 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2580 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2584 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2585 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2586 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2590 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2591 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2592 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2596 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2598 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2599 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2604 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2605 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2609 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2611 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2612 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2613 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2617 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2618 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2620 Make a group based on some file or other
2621 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2622 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2623 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2624 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2625 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2626 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2627 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2628 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2629 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2633 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2634 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2635 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2636 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2640 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2644 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2645 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2646 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2647 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2648 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2649 @xref{Web Searches}.
2651 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2652 to a particular group by using a match string like
2653 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2657 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2658 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2659 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2663 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2664 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2665 This function will delete the current group
2666 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2667 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2668 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2669 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2670 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2674 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2675 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2676 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2680 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2681 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2682 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2685 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2688 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2689 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2690 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2691 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2692 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2693 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2697 The following commands create ephemeral groups. They can be called not
2698 only from the Group buffer, but in any Gnus buffer.
2701 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2702 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2703 @vindex gnus-gmane-group-download-format
2704 Read an ephemeral group on Gmane.org. The articles are downloaded via
2705 HTTP using the URL specified by @code{gnus-gmane-group-download-format}.
2706 Gnus will prompt you for a group name, the start article number and an
2709 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2710 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2711 This command is similar to @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group}, but
2712 the group name and the article number and range are constructed from a
2713 given @acronym{URL}. Supported @acronym{URL} formats include e.g.
2714 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12300/focus=12399},
2715 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2716 @url{http://article.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2717 @url{http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/}, and
2718 @url{http://news.gmane.org/group/gmane.foo.bar/thread=12345}.
2720 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2721 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2722 Read an Emacs bug report in an ephemeral group. Gnus will prompt for a
2723 bug number. The default is the number at point. The @acronym{URL} is
2724 specified in @code{gnus-bug-group-download-format-alist}.
2726 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2727 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2728 Read a Debian bug report in an ephemeral group. Analog to
2729 @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group}.
2732 Some of these command are also useful for article buttons, @xref{Article
2740 '("#\\([0-9]+\\)\\>" 1
2741 (string-match "\\<emacs\\>" (or gnus-newsgroup-name ""))
2742 gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group 1))
2746 @node Group Parameters
2747 @section Group Parameters
2748 @cindex group parameters
2750 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2752 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2753 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2754 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2755 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2756 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2757 Additionally, you can set group parameters via the
2758 @code{gnus-parameters} variable, see below.
2760 Here's an example group parameter list:
2763 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2767 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2768 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2769 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2770 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2772 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2773 is an alist of regexps and values.
2775 The following group parameters can be used:
2780 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2783 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2786 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2787 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2788 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2789 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2790 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2792 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2793 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2794 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2795 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2796 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2797 list address instead.
2799 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2803 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2806 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2809 It is totally ignored
2810 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2811 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2813 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2814 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2815 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2816 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2817 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2819 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2820 @cindex mail list groups
2821 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2822 entering summary buffer.
2824 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2829 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2830 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2831 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2832 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2833 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2834 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2835 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2836 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2839 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2840 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2843 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2844 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2848 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2849 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2850 of whether it has any unread articles.
2852 This parameter cannot be set via @code{gnus-parameters}. See
2853 @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.
2855 @item broken-reply-to
2856 @cindex broken-reply-to
2857 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2858 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2859 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2860 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2861 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2862 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2866 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2867 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2871 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2872 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2873 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2878 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2879 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2880 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2881 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2882 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2883 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2884 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2886 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2887 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2888 doesn't accept articles.
2892 @cindex expiring mail
2893 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2894 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2895 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2897 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2900 @cindex total-expire
2901 @cindex expiring mail
2902 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2903 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2904 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2905 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2908 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2912 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2913 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2914 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2915 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2916 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2917 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2918 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2921 @cindex expiry-target
2922 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2923 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2926 @cindex score file group parameter
2927 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2928 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2929 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2932 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2933 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2934 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2935 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2938 @cindex admin-address
2939 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2940 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2941 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2942 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2946 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2947 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2951 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2954 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2955 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2958 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2962 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2964 Here are some examples:
2968 Display only unread articles.
2971 Display everything except expirable articles.
2973 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2974 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2978 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2979 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2980 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2981 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2982 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2986 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2987 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2988 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2992 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2993 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2994 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2998 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2999 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
3000 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
3002 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
3004 @item ignored-charsets
3005 @cindex ignored-charset
3006 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
3007 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
3008 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
3010 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
3013 @cindex posting-style
3014 You can store additional posting style information for this group
3015 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
3016 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
3017 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
3018 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
3020 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
3021 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
3022 like this in the group parameters:
3027 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
3028 (signature "Funky Signature"))
3031 If you're using topics to organize your group buffer
3032 (@pxref{Group Topics}), note that posting styles can also be set in
3033 the topics parameters. Posting styles in topic parameters apply to all
3034 groups in this topic. More precisely, the posting-style settings for a
3035 group result from the hierarchical merging of all posting-style
3036 entries in the parameters of this group and all the topics it belongs
3042 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
3043 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
3047 If it is set, and the setting of @code{mail-sources} includes a
3048 @code{group} mail source (@pxref{Mail Sources}), the value is a
3049 mail source for this group.
3053 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
3054 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
3055 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
3056 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
3057 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
3061 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
3062 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
3063 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
3064 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3066 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3067 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3068 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3069 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3072 if address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com" @{
3073 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3077 To generate tests for multiple email-addresses use a group parameter
3078 like @code{(sieve address "sender" ("name@@one.org" else@@two.org"))}.
3079 When generating a sieve script (@pxref{Sieve Commands}) Sieve code
3080 like the following is generated:
3083 if address "sender" ["name@@one.org", "else@@two.org"] @{
3084 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3088 See @pxref{Sieve Commands} for commands and variables that might be of
3089 interest in relation to the sieve parameter.
3091 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3092 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3094 @item (agent parameters)
3095 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of its parameters to
3096 control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3097 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3098 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3099 minimize the configuration effort.
3101 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3102 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3103 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3104 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3105 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3106 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3107 @code{eval}ed there.
3109 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer
3110 if and only if @var{variable} has been bound as a variable. Otherwise,
3111 only evaluating the form will take place. So, you may want to bind the
3112 variable in advance using @code{defvar} or other if the result of the
3113 form needs to be set to it.
3115 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3116 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3117 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3118 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3119 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3120 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3121 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3124 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3127 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3128 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3129 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3132 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3135 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3136 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3137 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3138 into the group parameters for the group.
3140 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function. If you want to
3141 hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put something like
3142 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group. If
3143 @code{dummy-variable} has been bound (see above), it will be set to the
3144 (meaningless) result of the @code{(ding)} form.
3146 Alternatively, since the VARIABLE becomes local to the group, this
3147 pattern can be used to temporarily change a hook. For example, if the
3148 following is added to a group parameter
3151 (gnus-summary-prepared-hook
3152 '(lambda nil (local-set-key "d" (local-key-binding "n"))))
3155 when the group is entered, the 'd' key will not mark the article as
3160 @vindex gnus-parameters
3161 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3162 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect (For this
3163 case see @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.).
3167 (setq gnus-parameters
3169 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3170 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3171 (gnus-summary-line-format
3172 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3176 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3180 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3184 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3187 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3188 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3190 @vindex gnus-parameters-case-fold-search
3191 By default, whether comparing the group name and one of those regexps
3192 specified in @code{gnus-parameters} is done in a case-sensitive manner
3193 or a case-insensitive manner depends on the value of
3194 @code{case-fold-search} at the time when the comparison is done. The
3195 value of @code{case-fold-search} is typically @code{t}; it means, for
3196 example, the element @code{("INBOX\\.FOO" (total-expire . t))} might be
3197 applied to both the @samp{INBOX.FOO} group and the @samp{INBOX.foo}
3198 group. If you want to make those regexps always case-sensitive, set the
3199 value of the @code{gnus-parameters-case-fold-search} variable to
3200 @code{nil}. Otherwise, set it to @code{t} if you want to compare them
3201 always in a case-insensitive manner.
3203 You can define different sorting to different groups via
3204 @code{gnus-parameters}. Here is an example to sort an @acronym{NNTP}
3205 group by reverse date to see the latest news at the top and an
3206 @acronym{RSS} group by subject. In this example, the first group is the
3207 Debian daily news group @code{gmane.linux.debian.user.news} from
3208 news.gmane.org. The @acronym{RSS} group corresponds to the Debian
3209 weekly news RSS feed
3210 @url{http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main.en.rdf},
3216 '(("nntp.*gmane\\.debian\\.user\\.news"
3217 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3218 (gnus-article-sort-functions '((not gnus-article-sort-by-date)))
3219 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3220 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
3222 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3223 (gnus-article-sort-functions 'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
3224 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3225 (gnus-use-scoring t)
3226 (gnus-score-find-score-files-function 'gnus-score-find-single)
3227 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s %]%)\n"))))
3231 @node Listing Groups
3232 @section Listing Groups
3233 @cindex group listing
3235 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3243 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3244 List all groups that have unread articles
3245 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3246 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3247 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3248 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3255 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3256 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3257 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3258 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3259 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3260 unsubscribed groups).
3264 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3265 List all unread groups on a specific level
3266 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3267 with no unread articles.
3271 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3272 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3273 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3274 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3279 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3280 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3284 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3285 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3286 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3290 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3291 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3295 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3296 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3297 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3298 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3299 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3300 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3301 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3302 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3306 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3307 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3308 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3312 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3313 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3314 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3318 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3319 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3323 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3324 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3328 @findex gnus-group-list-ticked
3329 List all groups with ticked articles (@code{gnus-group-list-ticked}).
3333 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3334 List groups limited within the current selection
3335 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3339 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3340 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3344 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3345 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3349 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3350 @cindex visible group parameter
3351 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3352 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3353 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3354 get the same effect.
3356 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3357 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3358 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3359 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3360 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3363 @node Sorting Groups
3364 @section Sorting Groups
3365 @cindex sorting groups
3367 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3368 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3369 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3370 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3371 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3372 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3377 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3378 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3379 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3381 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3382 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3383 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3385 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3386 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3387 Sort by group level.
3389 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3390 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3391 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3393 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3394 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3395 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3396 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3398 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3399 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3400 Sort by number of unread articles.
3402 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3403 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3404 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3406 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3407 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3408 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3413 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3414 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3418 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3419 some sorting criteria:
3423 @kindex G S a (Group)
3424 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3425 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3426 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3429 @kindex G S u (Group)
3430 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3431 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3432 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3435 @kindex G S l (Group)
3436 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3437 Sort the group buffer by group level
3438 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3441 @kindex G S v (Group)
3442 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3443 Sort the group buffer by group score
3444 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3447 @kindex G S r (Group)
3448 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3449 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3450 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3453 @kindex G S m (Group)
3454 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3455 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3456 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3459 @kindex G S n (Group)
3460 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3461 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3462 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3466 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3467 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3469 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3470 commands will sort in reverse order.
3472 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3476 @kindex G P a (Group)
3477 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3478 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3479 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3482 @kindex G P u (Group)
3483 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3484 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3485 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3488 @kindex G P l (Group)
3489 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3490 Sort the groups by group level
3491 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3494 @kindex G P v (Group)
3495 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3496 Sort the groups by group score
3497 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3500 @kindex G P r (Group)
3501 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3502 Sort the groups by group rank
3503 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3506 @kindex G P m (Group)
3507 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3508 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3509 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3512 @kindex G P n (Group)
3513 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3514 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3515 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3518 @kindex G P s (Group)
3519 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3520 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3524 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3528 @node Group Maintenance
3529 @section Group Maintenance
3530 @cindex bogus groups
3535 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3536 Find bogus groups and delete them
3537 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3541 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3542 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3543 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3544 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3545 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3549 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3550 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3551 @cindex expiring mail
3552 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3553 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3554 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3555 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3558 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3559 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3560 @cindex expiring mail
3561 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3562 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3567 @node Browse Foreign Server
3568 @section Browse Foreign Server
3569 @cindex foreign servers
3570 @cindex browsing servers
3575 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3576 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3577 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3578 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3581 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3582 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3583 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3584 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3586 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3591 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3592 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3596 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3597 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3600 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3601 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3602 Enter the current group and display the first article
3603 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3606 @kindex RET (Browse)
3607 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3608 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3612 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3613 @vindex gnus-browse-subscribe-newsgroup-method
3614 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3615 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}). You
3616 can affect the way the new group is entered into the Group buffer
3617 using the variable @code{gnus-browse-subscribe-newsgroup-method}. See
3618 @pxref{Subscription Methods} for available options.
3624 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3625 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3629 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3630 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3634 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3635 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3636 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3641 @section Exiting Gnus
3642 @cindex exiting Gnus
3644 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3649 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3650 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3651 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3652 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3656 @findex gnus-group-exit
3657 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3658 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3662 @findex gnus-group-quit
3663 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3664 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3667 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3668 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3669 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3670 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3671 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3672 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3678 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3679 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3680 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3686 @section Group Topics
3689 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3690 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3691 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3692 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3693 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3694 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3698 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3699 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3710 2: alt.religion.emacs
3713 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3715 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3716 13: comp.sources.unix
3719 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3721 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3722 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3723 is a toggling command.)
3725 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3726 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3727 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3728 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3731 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3732 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3733 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3736 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3740 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3741 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3742 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3743 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3744 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3748 @node Topic Commands
3749 @subsection Topic Commands
3750 @cindex topic commands
3752 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3753 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3754 definitions slightly.
3756 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3757 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3758 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3759 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3760 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3761 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3763 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3770 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3771 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3772 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3776 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3778 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3779 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3780 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3781 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3784 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3785 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3786 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3787 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3791 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3792 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3793 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3794 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3800 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3801 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3802 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3806 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3807 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3808 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3811 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3812 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3813 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3814 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3815 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3817 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3818 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3822 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3823 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3830 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3832 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3833 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3834 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3835 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3836 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3837 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3841 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3847 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3848 Move the current group to some other topic
3849 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3850 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3854 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3855 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3859 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3860 Copy the current group to some other topic
3861 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3862 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3866 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3867 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3868 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3872 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3873 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3874 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3878 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3879 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3880 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3881 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3882 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3883 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3884 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3887 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3888 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3892 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3893 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3894 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3898 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3899 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3900 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3904 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3905 Toggle hiding empty topics
3906 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3910 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3911 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3912 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3913 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3916 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3917 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3918 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3919 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3920 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3923 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3924 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3925 @cindex expiring mail
3926 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3927 expiry process (if any)
3928 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3932 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3933 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3936 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3937 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3938 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3942 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3943 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3944 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3947 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3948 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3949 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3952 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3953 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3954 Go to the previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3958 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3959 @cindex group parameters
3960 @cindex topic parameters
3962 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3963 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3968 @node Topic Variables
3969 @subsection Topic Variables
3970 @cindex topic variables
3972 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3973 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3975 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3976 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3977 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3990 Number of groups in the topic.
3992 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3994 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3997 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3998 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3999 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
4002 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
4003 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
4005 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
4006 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
4007 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
4011 @subsection Topic Sorting
4012 @cindex topic sorting
4014 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
4020 @kindex T S a (Topic)
4021 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
4022 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
4023 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
4026 @kindex T S u (Topic)
4027 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
4028 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
4029 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
4032 @kindex T S l (Topic)
4033 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
4034 Sort the current topic by group level
4035 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
4038 @kindex T S v (Topic)
4039 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
4040 Sort the current topic by group score
4041 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
4044 @kindex T S r (Topic)
4045 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
4046 Sort the current topic by group rank
4047 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
4050 @kindex T S m (Topic)
4051 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
4052 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
4053 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
4056 @kindex T S e (Topic)
4057 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
4058 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
4059 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
4062 @kindex T S s (Topic)
4063 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
4064 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
4065 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
4066 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
4070 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
4071 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
4075 @node Topic Topology
4076 @subsection Topic Topology
4077 @cindex topic topology
4080 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
4087 2: alt.religion.emacs
4090 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4092 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4093 13: comp.sources.unix
4097 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
4098 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
4099 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
4104 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
4105 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
4109 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
4110 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
4111 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
4112 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
4113 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
4114 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
4116 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
4117 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
4118 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
4121 @node Topic Parameters
4122 @subsection Topic Parameters
4123 @cindex topic parameters
4125 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
4126 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
4127 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
4128 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
4129 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
4131 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
4136 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4137 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4138 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4141 @item subscribe-level
4142 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4143 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4144 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4148 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4149 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4150 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4151 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4158 2: alt.religion.emacs
4162 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4164 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4165 13: comp.sources.unix
4170 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4171 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4172 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4173 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4174 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4175 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4177 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4178 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4179 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4180 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4181 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4183 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4184 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4185 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4186 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4187 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4188 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4189 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4190 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4193 @node Non-ASCII Group Names
4194 @section Accessing groups of non-English names
4195 @cindex non-ascii group names
4197 There are some news servers that provide groups of which the names are
4198 expressed with their native languages in the world. For instance, in a
4199 certain news server there are some newsgroups of which the names are
4200 spelled in Chinese, where people are talking in Chinese. You can, of
4201 course, subscribe to such news groups using Gnus. Currently Gnus
4202 supports non-@acronym{ASCII} group names not only with the @code{nntp}
4203 back end but also with the @code{nnml} back end and the @code{nnrss}
4206 Every such group name is encoded by a certain charset in the server
4207 side (in an @acronym{NNTP} server its administrator determines the
4208 charset, but for groups in the other back ends it is determined by you).
4209 Gnus has to display the decoded ones for you in the group buffer and the
4210 article buffer, and needs to use the encoded ones when communicating
4211 with servers. However, Gnus doesn't know what charset is used for each
4212 non-@acronym{ASCII} group name. The following two variables are just
4213 the ones for telling Gnus what charset should be used for each group:
4216 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4217 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4218 An alist of select methods and charsets. The default value is
4219 @code{nil}. The names of groups in the server specified by that select
4220 method are all supposed to use the corresponding charset. For example:
4223 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4224 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4227 Charsets specified for groups with this variable are preferred to the
4228 ones specified for the same groups with the
4229 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} variable (see below).
4231 A select method can be very long, like:
4235 (nntp-address "news.gmane.org")
4236 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
4237 (nntp-open-connection-function
4238 nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
4239 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
4240 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
4241 ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
4242 (nntp-via-address @dots{}))
4245 In that case, you can truncate it into @code{(nntp "gmane")} in this
4246 variable. That is, it is enough to contain only the back end name and
4249 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4250 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4251 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4252 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
4253 @code{((".*" . utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported,
4254 otherwise the default is @code{nil}. For example:
4257 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4258 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)
4262 Note that this variable is ignored if the match is made with
4263 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist}.
4266 Those two variables are used also to determine the charset for encoding
4267 and decoding non-@acronym{ASCII} group names that are in the back ends
4268 other than @code{nntp}. It means that it is you who determine it. If
4269 you do nothing, the charset used for group names in those back ends will
4270 all be @code{utf-8} because of the last element of
4271 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4273 There is one more important variable for non-@acronym{ASCII} group
4277 @item nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4278 @vindex nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4279 The value of this variable should be a coding system or @code{nil}. The
4280 default is @code{nil} in Emacs, or is the aliasee of the coding system
4281 named @code{file-name} (a certain coding system of which an alias is
4282 @code{file-name}) in XEmacs.
4284 The @code{nnml} back end, the @code{nnrss} back end, the @acronym{NNTP}
4285 marks feature (@pxref{NNTP marks}), the agent, and the cache use
4286 non-@acronym{ASCII} group names in those files and directories. This
4287 variable overrides the value of @code{file-name-coding-system} which
4288 specifies the coding system used when encoding and decoding those file
4289 names and directory names.
4291 In XEmacs (with the @code{mule} feature), @code{file-name-coding-system}
4292 is the only means to specify the coding system used to encode and decode
4293 file names. On the other hand, Emacs uses the value of
4294 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} if @code{file-name-coding-system}
4295 is @code{nil} or it is bound to the value of
4296 @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} which is @code{nil}.
4298 Normally the value of @code{default-file-name-coding-system} in Emacs or
4299 @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} in XEmacs is initialized according
4300 to the locale, so you will need to do nothing if the value is suitable
4301 to encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4303 The value of this variable (or @code{default-file-name-coding-system})
4304 does not necessarily need to be the same value that is determined by
4305 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} and
4306 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4308 If @code{default-file-name-coding-system} or this variable is
4309 initialized by default to @code{iso-latin-1} for example, although you
4310 want to subscribe to the groups spelled in Chinese, that is the most
4311 typical case where you have to customize
4312 @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}. The @code{utf-8} coding system is
4313 a good candidate for it. Otherwise, you may change the locale in your
4314 system so that @code{default-file-name-coding-system} or this variable
4315 may be initialized to an appropriate value.
4318 Note that when you copy or move articles from a non-@acronym{ASCII}
4319 group to another group, the charset used to encode and decode group
4320 names should be the same in both groups. Otherwise the Newsgroups
4321 header will be displayed incorrectly in the article buffer.
4324 @node Misc Group Stuff
4325 @section Misc Group Stuff
4328 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4329 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4330 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4331 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4332 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4339 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Group)
4340 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4341 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4344 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map (kbd "v j d")
4347 (gnus-group-jump-to-group "nndraft:drafts")))
4350 On keys reserved for users in Emacs and on keybindings in general
4351 @xref{Keymaps, Keymaps, , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.
4355 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4356 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4357 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4361 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4362 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4363 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4364 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4365 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4366 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4367 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4371 @findex gnus-group-mail
4372 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4373 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4374 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4375 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4379 @findex gnus-group-news
4380 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4381 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4382 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4384 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4385 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4386 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4387 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4388 for this to work though.
4392 @findex gnus-group-compact-group
4394 Compact the group under point (@code{gnus-group-compact-group}).
4395 Currently implemented only in nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes
4396 gaps between article numbers, hence getting a correct total article
4401 Variables for the group buffer:
4405 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4406 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4407 is called after the group buffer has been
4410 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4411 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4412 is called after the group buffer is
4413 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4416 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4417 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4418 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4419 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4421 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4422 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4423 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4424 whether they are empty or not.
4428 @node Scanning New Messages
4429 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4430 @cindex new messages
4431 @cindex scanning new news
4437 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4438 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4439 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4440 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4441 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4442 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4447 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4448 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4449 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4450 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4451 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4452 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4453 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4455 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4456 @cindex activating groups
4458 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4459 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4464 @findex gnus-group-restart
4465 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4466 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4467 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4471 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4472 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4474 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4475 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4479 @node Group Information
4480 @subsection Group Information
4481 @cindex group information
4482 @cindex information on groups
4489 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4490 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4493 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4494 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4495 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4496 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4497 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4498 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4499 used for fetching the file.
4501 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4502 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4506 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4508 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4509 @cindex describing groups
4510 @cindex group description
4511 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4512 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4513 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4517 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4518 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4519 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4526 @findex gnus-version
4527 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4531 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4532 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4535 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4538 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4539 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4543 @node Group Timestamp
4544 @subsection Group Timestamp
4546 @cindex group timestamps
4548 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4549 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4550 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4553 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4556 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4558 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4559 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4562 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4563 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4566 This will result in lines looking like:
4569 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4570 0: custom 19961002T012713
4573 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4574 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4578 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4579 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4582 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4583 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4587 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4588 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4589 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4590 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4592 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4598 @subsection File Commands
4599 @cindex file commands
4605 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4606 @vindex gnus-init-file
4607 @cindex reading init file
4608 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4609 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4613 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4614 @cindex saving .newsrc
4615 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4616 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4617 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4620 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4621 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4622 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4627 @node Sieve Commands
4628 @subsection Sieve Commands
4629 @cindex group sieve commands
4631 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4632 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4633 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4634 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4635 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4637 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4638 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4639 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4640 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4641 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4642 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4643 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4644 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4645 regenerate the Sieve script.
4647 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4648 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4649 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4650 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4651 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4652 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4653 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4654 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4655 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4656 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4659 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4660 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4665 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4671 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4672 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4673 @cindex generating sieve script
4674 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4675 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4679 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4680 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4681 @cindex updating sieve script
4682 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4683 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4684 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4689 @node Summary Buffer
4690 @chapter Summary Buffer
4691 @cindex summary buffer
4693 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4694 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4696 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4697 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4699 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4701 You can customize the Summary Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
4702 customize-apropos RET gnus-summary-tool-bar}. This feature is only
4706 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Summary)
4707 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4708 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4710 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map (kbd "v -") "LrS") ;; lower subthread
4714 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4715 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4716 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4717 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4718 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4719 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4720 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4721 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4722 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4723 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4724 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4725 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4726 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4727 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
4728 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4729 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4730 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4731 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4732 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4733 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4734 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4735 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4736 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4737 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4738 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4739 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4740 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4741 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4742 or reselecting the current group.
4743 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4744 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4745 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4746 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4750 @node Summary Buffer Format
4751 @section Summary Buffer Format
4752 @cindex summary buffer format
4756 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4757 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4758 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4764 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4765 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4766 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4767 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4770 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4771 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4772 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4773 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4774 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4775 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4776 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4777 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4778 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4779 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4780 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4783 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4784 'mail-extract-address-components)
4787 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4788 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4789 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4790 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4793 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4794 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4796 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4797 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4798 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4799 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4800 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4802 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4803 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4804 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4805 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4806 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4807 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4809 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4811 The following format specification characters and extended format
4812 specification(s) are understood:
4818 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4819 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4821 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4822 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4823 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4825 Full @code{From} header.
4827 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4829 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4832 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4833 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4834 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4835 may be more thorough.
4837 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4840 Number of lines in the article.
4842 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4843 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4845 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4846 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4848 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4850 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4851 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4864 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4865 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4866 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4867 line-drawing glyphs.
4869 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4870 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4871 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4872 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4874 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4875 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4876 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4877 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4879 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4880 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4881 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4882 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4884 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4885 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4886 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4888 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4889 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4890 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4892 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4893 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4894 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4896 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4897 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4898 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4903 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4904 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4906 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4907 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4909 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4910 for adopted articles.
4912 One space for each thread level.
4914 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4916 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4919 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4920 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4921 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4924 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4926 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4927 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4928 default level. If the difference between
4929 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4930 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4938 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4940 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4946 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4947 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4949 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4950 article has any children.
4956 Desired cursor position (instead of after first colon).
4958 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4959 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4961 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4962 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4963 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
4964 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4965 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4966 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4969 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4970 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4971 There can only be one such area.
4973 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4974 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4975 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4976 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4977 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4978 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4980 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4981 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4983 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4986 @node To From Newsgroups
4987 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4991 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4992 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4993 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4994 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4995 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4999 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
5000 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
5001 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
5005 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5006 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
5009 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
5010 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
5013 @findex gnus-extra-header
5014 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
5015 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
5016 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
5019 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
5023 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5024 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
5025 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
5026 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
5027 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
5028 headers are used instead.
5030 To distinguish regular articles from those where the @code{From} field
5031 has been swapped, a string is prefixed to the @code{To} or
5032 @code{Newsgroups} header in the summary line. By default the string is
5033 @samp{-> } for @code{To} and @samp{=> } for @code{Newsgroups}, you can
5034 customize these strings with @code{gnus-summary-to-prefix} and
5035 @code{gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix}.
5039 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
5040 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
5041 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
5042 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
5043 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
5044 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
5047 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
5048 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
5049 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
5050 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
5052 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
5056 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5058 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
5059 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
5060 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
5061 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5065 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
5068 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
5069 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
5072 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
5073 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
5074 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
5080 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
5081 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
5084 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
5085 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
5087 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
5088 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
5089 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
5090 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
5092 Here are the elements you can play with:
5098 Unprefixed group name.
5100 Current article number.
5102 Current article score.
5106 Number of unread articles in this group.
5108 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
5111 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
5112 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
5113 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
5114 and no unselected ones.
5116 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
5117 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
5119 Subject of the current article.
5121 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
5123 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
5125 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5127 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5129 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
5131 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
5135 @node Summary Highlighting
5136 @subsection Summary Highlighting
5140 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5141 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5142 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
5143 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
5144 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5146 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
5147 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
5148 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
5149 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5151 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
5152 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
5153 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
5154 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
5156 @item gnus-summary-highlight
5157 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
5158 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
5159 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
5160 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
5161 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
5164 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
5165 ((> score default) . bold))
5167 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
5168 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
5172 @node Summary Maneuvering
5173 @section Summary Maneuvering
5174 @cindex summary movement
5176 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
5177 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
5179 None of these commands select articles.
5184 @kindex M-n (Summary)
5185 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
5186 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
5187 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
5188 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
5192 @kindex M-p (Summary)
5193 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
5194 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
5195 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
5196 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
5199 @kindex G g (Summary)
5200 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
5201 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
5202 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
5205 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
5206 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
5207 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
5208 to the group buffer.
5210 Variables related to summary movement:
5214 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
5215 @item gnus-auto-select-next
5216 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
5217 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
5218 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
5219 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
5220 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
5221 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
5222 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
5223 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
5224 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
5225 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
5226 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
5227 @pxref{Group Levels}.
5229 @item gnus-auto-select-same
5230 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
5231 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
5232 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
5233 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
5234 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
5235 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
5237 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
5239 @item gnus-summary-check-current
5240 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
5241 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
5242 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
5243 Instead, they will choose the current article.
5245 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
5246 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
5247 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
5248 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
5249 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
5250 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
5251 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
5252 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
5255 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
5256 the given number of lines from the top.
5258 @item gnus-summary-stop-at-end-of-message
5259 @vindex gnus-summary-stop-at-end-of-message
5260 If non-@code{nil}, don't go to the next article when hitting
5261 @kbd{SPC}, and you're at the end of the article.
5266 @node Choosing Articles
5267 @section Choosing Articles
5268 @cindex selecting articles
5271 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5272 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5276 @node Choosing Commands
5277 @subsection Choosing Commands
5279 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5280 and they all select and display an article.
5282 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5283 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5287 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5288 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5289 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5290 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5292 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5293 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5294 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5299 @kindex G n (Summary)
5300 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5301 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5302 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5307 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5308 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5309 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5314 @kindex G N (Summary)
5315 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5316 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5321 @kindex G P (Summary)
5322 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5323 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5326 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5327 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5328 Go to the next article with the same subject
5329 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5332 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5333 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5334 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5335 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5339 @kindex G f (Summary)
5341 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5342 Go to the first unread article
5343 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5347 @kindex G b (Summary)
5349 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5350 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5351 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5352 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5357 @kindex G l (Summary)
5358 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5359 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5362 @kindex G o (Summary)
5363 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5365 @cindex article history
5366 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5367 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5368 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5369 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5370 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5371 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5376 @kindex G j (Summary)
5377 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5378 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5379 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5384 @node Choosing Variables
5385 @subsection Choosing Variables
5387 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5390 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5391 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5392 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5393 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5394 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5395 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5397 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5398 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5399 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. The default is
5400 @code{nil}. If you would like each article to be saved in the Agent as
5401 you read it, putting @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this
5404 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5405 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5406 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5407 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5408 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5409 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5410 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5411 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5412 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-read-mark}. The only
5413 articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5414 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5415 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5416 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5417 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5422 @node Paging the Article
5423 @section Scrolling the Article
5424 @cindex article scrolling
5429 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5430 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5431 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5432 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5433 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5435 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5436 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5437 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5438 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5439 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5440 what is considered uninteresting with
5441 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5442 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5445 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5446 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5447 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5450 @kindex RET (Summary)
5451 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5452 Scroll the current article one line forward
5453 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5456 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5457 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5458 Scroll the current article one line backward
5459 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5463 @kindex A g (Summary)
5465 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5466 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5467 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5468 given a prefix, show a completely ``raw'' article, just the way it
5469 came from the server. If given a prefix twice (i.e., @kbd{C-u C-u
5470 g'}), fetch the current article, but don't run any of the article
5471 treatment functions.
5473 @cindex charset, view article with different charset
5474 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5475 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5476 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5479 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5484 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5489 @kindex A < (Summary)
5490 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5491 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5492 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5497 @kindex A > (Summary)
5498 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5499 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5503 @kindex A s (Summary)
5505 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5506 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5507 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5511 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5512 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5517 @node Reply Followup and Post
5518 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5521 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5522 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5523 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5524 * Canceling and Superseding::
5528 @node Summary Mail Commands
5529 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5531 @cindex composing mail
5533 Commands for composing a mail message:
5539 @kindex S r (Summary)
5541 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5542 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5543 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5544 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5545 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5550 @kindex S R (Summary)
5551 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5552 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5553 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5554 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5555 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5558 @kindex S w (Summary)
5559 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5560 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5561 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5562 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5563 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5564 present, that's used instead.
5567 @kindex S W (Summary)
5568 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5569 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5570 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5571 the process/prefix convention, but only uses the headers from the
5572 first article to determine the recipients.
5575 @kindex S L (Summary)
5576 @findex gnus-summary-reply-to-list-with-original
5577 When replying to a message from a mailing list, send a reply to that
5578 message to the mailing list, and include the original message
5579 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-to-list-with-original}).
5582 @kindex S v (Summary)
5583 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5584 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5585 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5586 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5587 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5588 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5591 @kindex S V (Summary)
5592 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5593 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5594 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5595 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5598 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5599 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5600 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5601 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5602 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5603 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5604 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5605 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5608 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5609 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5610 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5611 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5612 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5616 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5617 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5618 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5619 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5620 Forward the current article to some other person
5621 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5622 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5623 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5624 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5625 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5626 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5627 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5628 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5629 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
5635 @kindex S m (Summary)
5636 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5637 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5638 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5639 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5640 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5643 @kindex S i (Summary)
5644 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5645 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5646 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5647 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5649 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5650 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5651 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5652 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5653 for this to work though.
5656 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5657 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5658 @cindex bouncing mail
5659 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5660 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5661 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5662 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5663 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5664 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5665 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5666 very well fail, though.
5669 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5670 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5671 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5672 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5673 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5674 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5675 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5676 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5677 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5678 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5680 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5681 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5682 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5683 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5684 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5686 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5687 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5690 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5691 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5693 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5694 if it were a new message before resending.
5697 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5698 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5699 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5700 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5701 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5704 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5705 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5706 @cindex crossposting
5707 @cindex excessive crossposting
5708 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5709 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5711 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5712 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5713 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5714 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5715 command understands the process/prefix convention
5716 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5720 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5721 Manual}, for more information.
5724 @node Summary Post Commands
5725 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5727 @cindex composing news
5729 Commands for posting a news article:
5735 @kindex S p (Summary)
5736 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5737 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5738 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5739 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5740 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5745 @kindex S f (Summary)
5746 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5747 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5748 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5752 @kindex S F (Summary)
5754 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5755 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5756 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5757 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5758 process/prefix convention.
5761 @kindex S n (Summary)
5762 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5763 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5764 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5767 @kindex S N (Summary)
5768 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5769 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5770 message through mail and include the original message
5771 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5772 the process/prefix convention.
5775 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5776 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5777 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5778 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5779 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5780 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5781 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5782 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5783 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5784 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5785 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5786 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5787 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
5790 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5791 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5793 @cindex making digests
5794 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5795 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5796 process/prefix convention.
5799 @kindex S u (Summary)
5800 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5801 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5802 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5803 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5806 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5807 Manual}, for more information.
5810 @node Summary Message Commands
5811 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5815 @kindex S y (Summary)
5816 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5817 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5818 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5819 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5820 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5825 @node Canceling and Superseding
5826 @subsection Canceling Articles
5827 @cindex canceling articles
5828 @cindex superseding articles
5830 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5831 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5833 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5835 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5837 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5838 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5839 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5840 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5841 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5842 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5844 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5845 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5848 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5849 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5850 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5852 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5853 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5854 message, Message Manual}).
5856 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5857 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5858 your original article.
5860 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5862 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5863 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5864 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5867 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5868 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5869 have posted almost the same article twice.
5871 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5872 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5873 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5874 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5875 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5876 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5877 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5878 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5879 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5880 canceled/superseded.
5882 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5884 @node Delayed Articles
5885 @section Delayed Articles
5886 @cindex delayed sending
5887 @cindex send delayed
5889 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5890 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5891 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5892 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5895 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5898 @findex gnus-delay-article
5899 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5900 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5901 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5902 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5906 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5907 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5908 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5909 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5912 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5913 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5914 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5917 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5918 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5919 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5920 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5921 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5922 that means a time tomorrow.
5925 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5926 couple of variables:
5929 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5930 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5931 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5932 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5934 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5935 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5936 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5937 formats described above.
5939 @item gnus-delay-group
5940 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5941 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5942 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5943 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5945 @item gnus-delay-header
5946 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5947 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5948 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5949 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5952 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5953 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5954 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5955 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5956 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5958 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5959 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5960 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5961 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5962 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5963 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5964 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5967 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5968 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5969 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5970 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5971 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5972 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5973 argument is ignored.
5975 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5976 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5977 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5980 When delaying an article with @kbd{C-c C-j}, Message mode will
5981 automatically add a @code{"Date"} header with the current time. In
5982 many cases you probably want the @code{"Date"} header to reflect the
5983 time the message is sent instead. To do this, you have to delete
5984 @code{Date} from @code{message-draft-headers}.
5987 @node Marking Articles
5988 @section Marking Articles
5989 @cindex article marking
5990 @cindex article ticking
5993 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5995 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5996 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5997 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5999 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
6002 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks.
6006 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
6007 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
6008 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
6009 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
6010 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
6011 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
6015 @node Unread Articles
6016 @subsection Unread Articles
6018 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
6023 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
6024 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
6026 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
6027 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
6028 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
6029 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
6030 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
6031 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
6032 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
6035 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
6036 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
6038 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
6039 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
6040 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
6041 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
6045 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
6046 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
6048 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
6053 @subsection Read Articles
6054 @cindex expirable mark
6056 All the following marks mark articles as read.
6061 @vindex gnus-del-mark
6062 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
6063 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
6066 @vindex gnus-read-mark
6067 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
6070 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
6071 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
6072 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
6075 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
6076 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
6079 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
6080 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
6083 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
6084 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
6087 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
6088 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
6091 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
6092 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
6095 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
6096 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
6100 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
6101 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
6102 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
6106 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
6107 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
6109 One more special mark, though:
6113 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
6114 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
6116 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
6117 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
6118 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
6119 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
6125 @subsection Other Marks
6126 @cindex process mark
6129 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
6135 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
6136 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
6137 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
6138 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
6139 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
6142 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
6143 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
6144 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
6145 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
6148 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
6149 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
6150 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
6153 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
6154 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
6155 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6158 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
6159 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
6160 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
6161 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
6164 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
6165 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
6166 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
6167 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
6168 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
6169 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
6172 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
6173 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
6174 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
6175 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
6178 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
6179 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
6180 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
6181 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
6182 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
6186 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
6187 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
6188 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
6189 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
6190 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
6191 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
6194 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
6195 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
6196 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
6197 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
6198 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
6199 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
6203 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
6204 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
6205 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
6206 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
6207 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
6210 @vindex gnus-process-mark
6211 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
6212 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
6213 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
6214 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
6215 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
6219 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
6220 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
6221 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
6223 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
6224 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
6225 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
6229 @subsection Setting Marks
6230 @cindex setting marks
6232 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
6237 @kindex M c (Summary)
6238 @kindex M-u (Summary)
6239 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
6240 @cindex mark as unread
6241 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
6242 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
6248 @kindex M t (Summary)
6249 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
6250 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
6251 @xref{Article Caching}.
6256 @kindex M ? (Summary)
6257 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
6258 Mark the current article as dormant
6259 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6263 @kindex M d (Summary)
6265 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
6266 Mark the current article as read
6267 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
6271 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
6272 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
6273 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6278 @kindex M k (Summary)
6279 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6280 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6281 and then select the next unread article
6282 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6286 @kindex M K (Summary)
6287 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6288 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6289 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6290 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6293 @kindex M C (Summary)
6294 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6295 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6296 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6299 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6301 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6302 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6305 @kindex M H (Summary)
6306 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6307 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6308 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6311 @kindex M h (Summary)
6312 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6313 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6314 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6317 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6318 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6319 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6320 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6323 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6324 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6325 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6326 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6330 @kindex M e (Summary)
6332 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6333 Mark the current article as expirable
6334 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6337 @kindex M b (Summary)
6338 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6339 Set a bookmark in the current article
6340 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6343 @kindex M B (Summary)
6344 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6345 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6346 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6349 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6350 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6351 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6352 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6355 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6356 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6357 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6358 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6361 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6362 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6363 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6364 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6365 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6368 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6369 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6370 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6371 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6372 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6373 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6374 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6375 The default is @code{t}.
6378 @node Generic Marking Commands
6379 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6381 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6382 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6383 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6384 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6385 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6388 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6389 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6392 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6393 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6394 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6395 to list in this manual.
6397 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6398 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6399 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6400 article, you could say something like:
6404 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6405 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6406 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6414 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6415 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6419 @node Setting Process Marks
6420 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6421 @cindex setting process marks
6423 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6424 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6425 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6426 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6427 articles into the cache. For more information,
6428 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6435 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6436 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6437 Mark the current article with the process mark
6438 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6439 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6443 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6444 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6445 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6446 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6449 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6450 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6451 Remove the process mark from all articles
6452 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6455 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6456 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6457 Invert the list of process marked articles
6458 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6461 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6462 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6463 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6464 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6467 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6468 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6469 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6470 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6473 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6474 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6475 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6478 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6479 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6480 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6483 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6484 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6485 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6486 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6489 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6490 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6491 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6492 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6495 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6496 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6497 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6498 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6501 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6502 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6503 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6506 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6507 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6508 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6509 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6512 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6513 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6514 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}).
6517 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6518 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6519 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6520 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6523 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6524 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6525 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6526 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6529 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6530 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6531 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6532 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6535 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6536 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6537 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6538 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6542 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6543 set process marks based on article body contents.
6550 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6551 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6552 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6555 Limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched from
6556 the servers. These commands don't query the server for additional
6563 @kindex / / (Summary)
6564 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6565 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6566 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6570 @kindex / a (Summary)
6571 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6572 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6573 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6577 @kindex / R (Summary)
6578 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient
6579 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some recipient
6580 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient}). If given a prefix, exclude
6584 @kindex / A (Summary)
6585 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-address
6586 Limit the summary buffer to articles in which contents of From, To or Cc
6587 header match a given address (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-address}). If
6588 given a prefix, exclude matching articles.
6591 @kindex / S (Summary)
6592 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons
6593 Limit the summary buffer to articles that aren't part of any displayed
6594 threads (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons}). If given a prefix,
6595 limit to articles that are part of displayed threads.
6598 @kindex / x (Summary)
6599 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6600 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6601 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6602 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6607 @kindex / u (Summary)
6609 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6610 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6611 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6612 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6613 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6616 @kindex / m (Summary)
6617 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6618 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6619 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6622 @kindex / t (Summary)
6623 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6624 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6625 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6626 articles younger than that number of days.
6629 @kindex / n (Summary)
6630 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6631 With prefix @samp{n}, limit the summary buffer to the next @samp{n}
6632 articles. If not given a prefix, use the process marked articles
6633 instead. (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}).
6636 @kindex / w (Summary)
6637 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6638 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6639 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6643 @kindex / . (Summary)
6644 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6645 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6646 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6649 @kindex / v (Summary)
6650 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6651 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6652 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6655 @kindex / p (Summary)
6656 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6657 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6658 group parameter predicate
6659 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6660 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6663 @kindex / r (Summary)
6664 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6665 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6666 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6671 @kindex M S (Summary)
6672 @kindex / E (Summary)
6673 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6674 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6675 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6678 @kindex / D (Summary)
6679 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6680 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6681 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6684 @kindex / * (Summary)
6685 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6686 Include all cached articles in the limit
6687 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6690 @kindex / d (Summary)
6691 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6692 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6693 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6696 @kindex / M (Summary)
6697 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6698 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6701 @kindex / T (Summary)
6702 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6703 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6706 @kindex / c (Summary)
6707 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6708 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6709 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6712 @kindex / C (Summary)
6713 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6714 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6715 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6716 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6719 @kindex / b (Summary)
6720 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies
6721 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have bodies that match a
6722 certain regexp (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies}). If given a
6723 prefix, reverse the limit. This command is quite slow since it
6724 requires selecting each article to find the matches.
6727 @kindex / h (Summary)
6728 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-headers
6729 Like the previous command, only limit to headers instead
6730 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-headers}).
6735 The following commands aren't limiting commands, but use the @kbd{/}
6740 @kindex / N (Summary)
6741 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6742 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6743 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6746 @kindex / o (Summary)
6747 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6748 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6749 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6757 @cindex article threading
6759 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6760 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6761 hierarchical fashion.
6763 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6764 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6765 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6766 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6767 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6768 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6769 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6771 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6775 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6778 A tree-like article structure.
6781 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6784 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6785 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6786 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6787 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6788 called loose threads.
6790 @item thread gathering
6791 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6793 @item sparse threads
6794 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6795 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6801 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6802 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6806 @node Customizing Threading
6807 @subsection Customizing Threading
6808 @cindex customizing threading
6811 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6812 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6813 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6814 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6819 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6822 @cindex loose threads
6825 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6826 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6827 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6828 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6829 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6830 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6832 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6833 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6834 There are four possible values:
6838 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6839 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6840 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6841 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6842 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6847 @cindex adopting articles
6852 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6853 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6854 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6855 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6858 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6859 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6860 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6861 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6862 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6863 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6864 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6865 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6866 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6867 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6870 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6871 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6872 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6876 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6877 display them after one another.
6880 Don't gather loose threads.
6883 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6884 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6885 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6886 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6887 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6888 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6889 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6890 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6891 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6892 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6893 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6895 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6896 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6897 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6900 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6901 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6902 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6903 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6904 simplification is used.
6906 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6907 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6908 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6909 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6911 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6913 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6919 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6920 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6921 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6922 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6927 (mapconcat 'identity
6928 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6930 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6933 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6936 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6937 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6938 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6939 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6940 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6941 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6943 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6946 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6947 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6948 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6950 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6951 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6954 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6955 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6956 Remove excessive whitespace.
6958 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6959 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6960 Remove all whitespace.
6963 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6966 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6967 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6968 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6969 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6970 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6971 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6972 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6973 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6975 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6976 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6977 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6978 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6979 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6980 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6981 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6982 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6983 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6987 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6988 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6989 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6990 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6992 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6993 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6994 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6997 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
7001 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7002 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
7008 @node Filling In Threads
7009 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
7012 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
7013 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
7014 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
7015 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
7016 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
7017 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
7018 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
7019 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
7020 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
7021 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
7022 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
7023 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
7026 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
7027 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
7028 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
7030 The server has to support @acronym{NOV} for any of this to work.
7032 @cindex Gmane, gnus-fetch-old-headers
7033 This feature can seriously impact performance it ignores all locally
7034 cached header entries. Setting it to @code{t} for groups for a server
7035 that doesn't expire articles (such as news.gmane.org), leads to very
7036 slow summary generation.
7038 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7039 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7040 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
7043 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
7044 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
7045 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
7046 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
7047 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
7048 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
7049 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
7050 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
7051 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
7052 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
7053 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
7054 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
7055 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
7056 @code{nil} by default.
7058 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
7059 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
7060 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
7061 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
7062 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
7063 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
7066 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
7067 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
7068 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
7073 @node More Threading
7074 @subsubsection More Threading
7077 @item gnus-show-threads
7078 @vindex gnus-show-threads
7079 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
7080 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
7081 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
7082 slower and more awkward.
7084 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7085 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7086 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
7089 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
7090 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
7091 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
7096 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7097 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
7098 gnus-article-unseen-p))
7101 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
7102 unread, but you get my drift.)
7105 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
7106 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
7107 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
7108 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
7109 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
7110 threads are expunged.
7112 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
7113 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
7114 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
7117 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7118 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7119 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
7120 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
7121 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
7122 result in a new thread.
7124 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
7125 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
7126 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
7129 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7130 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7131 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
7132 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
7133 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
7134 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
7135 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
7136 Setting this variable to an alternate value
7137 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
7138 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
7139 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
7144 @node Low-Level Threading
7145 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
7149 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
7150 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
7151 Hook run before parsing any headers.
7153 @item gnus-alter-header-function
7154 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
7155 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
7156 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
7157 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
7158 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
7159 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
7160 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
7161 meaningful. Here's one example:
7164 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
7166 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
7167 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
7169 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
7171 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
7178 @node Thread Commands
7179 @subsection Thread Commands
7180 @cindex thread commands
7186 @kindex T k (Summary)
7187 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
7188 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
7189 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
7190 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
7191 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
7196 @kindex T l (Summary)
7197 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
7198 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
7199 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
7200 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
7203 @kindex T i (Summary)
7204 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
7205 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
7206 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
7209 @kindex T # (Summary)
7210 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
7211 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
7212 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
7215 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
7216 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7217 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
7218 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7221 @kindex T T (Summary)
7222 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
7223 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
7226 @kindex T s (Summary)
7227 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
7228 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
7229 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
7232 @kindex T h (Summary)
7233 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
7234 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
7237 @kindex T S (Summary)
7238 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
7239 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
7242 @kindex T H (Summary)
7243 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
7244 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
7247 @kindex T t (Summary)
7248 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
7249 Re-thread the current article's thread
7250 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
7251 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
7254 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
7255 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
7256 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
7257 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
7260 @kindex T M-^ (Summary)
7261 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-children
7262 Make the current article the parent of the marked articles
7263 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-children}).
7267 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
7268 understand the numeric prefix.
7273 @kindex T n (Summary)
7275 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
7277 @kindex M-down (Summary)
7278 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
7279 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
7282 @kindex T p (Summary)
7284 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
7286 @kindex M-up (Summary)
7287 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
7288 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
7291 @kindex T d (Summary)
7292 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
7293 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
7296 @kindex T u (Summary)
7297 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
7298 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
7301 @kindex T o (Summary)
7302 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
7303 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
7306 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
7307 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
7308 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
7309 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
7310 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
7311 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
7312 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
7313 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
7314 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
7315 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
7316 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
7317 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
7321 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
7322 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
7324 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
7325 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
7326 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
7327 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7328 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
7329 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient
7330 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7331 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
7332 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
7333 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
7334 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
7335 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
7336 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
7337 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7338 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7340 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7341 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7342 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient},
7343 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7344 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date},
7345 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7346 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7347 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7348 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7349 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7351 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7352 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7353 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. Exceptions
7354 to this rule are @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number} and
7355 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date}.
7357 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7358 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7359 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7360 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7361 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7362 ascending article order.
7364 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7365 by number, you could do something like:
7368 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7369 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7370 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7371 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7374 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7375 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7376 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7377 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7378 which the articles arrived.
7380 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7384 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7385 '((not gnus-thread-sort-by-number)
7386 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7389 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7390 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7391 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7392 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7395 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7396 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7397 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-most-recent-date
7398 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7399 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7400 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7401 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7402 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7403 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-most-recent-number
7404 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7405 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7406 variable. It is very similar to the
7407 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7408 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7409 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7410 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7411 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7412 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7413 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7415 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7419 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7420 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7421 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7424 You can define group specific sorting via @code{gnus-parameters},
7425 @xref{Group Parameters}.
7428 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7429 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7430 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7431 @cindex article pre-fetch
7434 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7435 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7436 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7437 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7438 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7440 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7441 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
7443 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7444 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7445 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7446 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7447 connection is blocked.
7449 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7450 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7451 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7452 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
7454 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7455 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7456 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7457 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7460 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7463 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7464 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7465 happen automatically.
7467 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7468 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7469 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7470 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7471 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7472 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7473 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7475 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7476 @findex gnus-async-unread-p
7477 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7478 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7479 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7480 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7481 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-unread-p}, which
7482 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7483 article data structure as the only parameter.
7485 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7486 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7489 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7490 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7491 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7492 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7495 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7498 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7499 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7500 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7502 @vindex gnus-async-post-fetch-function
7503 @findex gnus-html-prefetch-images
7504 After an article has been prefetched, this
7505 @code{gnus-async-post-fetch-function} will be called. The buffer will
7506 be narrowed to the region of the article that was fetched. A useful
7507 value would be @code{gnus-html-prefetch-images}, which will prefetch
7508 and store images referenced in the article, so that you don't have to
7509 wait for them to be fetched when you read the article. This is useful
7510 for @acronym{HTML} messages that have external images.
7512 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7513 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7514 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7515 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7519 Remove articles when they are read.
7522 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7525 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7527 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7528 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7529 @c from the next group.
7532 @node Article Caching
7533 @section Article Caching
7534 @cindex article caching
7537 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7538 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7539 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7540 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7541 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7543 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7545 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7546 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7547 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7548 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7549 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7550 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7551 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7552 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7554 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7555 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7556 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7557 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7558 as dormant, and don't worry.
7560 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7562 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7563 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7564 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7565 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7566 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7567 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7568 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7569 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7570 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7571 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7573 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7574 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7575 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7576 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7577 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7578 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7579 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7580 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7581 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7582 not then be downloaded by this command.
7584 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7585 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7586 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7587 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7588 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7589 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7591 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7592 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7593 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7594 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7595 variables, the group is not cached.
7597 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7598 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7599 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7600 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7601 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7602 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7603 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7604 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7605 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7608 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7609 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7610 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7611 where, isn't that cool?
7613 @node Persistent Articles
7614 @section Persistent Articles
7615 @cindex persistent articles
7617 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7618 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7619 useful in my opinion.
7621 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7622 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7623 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7624 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7625 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7626 the expiry going on at the news server.
7628 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7629 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7630 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7636 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7637 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7640 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7641 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7642 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7643 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7647 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7649 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7650 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7651 interested in persistent articles:
7654 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7657 @node Sticky Articles
7658 @section Sticky Articles
7659 @cindex sticky articles
7661 When you select an article the current article buffer will be reused
7662 according to the value of the variable
7663 @code{gnus-single-article-buffer}. If its value is non-@code{nil} (the
7664 default) all articles reuse the same article buffer. Else each group
7665 has its own article buffer.
7667 This implies that it's not possible to have more than one article buffer
7668 in a group at a time. But sometimes you might want to display all the
7669 latest emails from your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle and
7670 your 17 cousins to coordinate the next christmas party.
7672 That's where sticky articles come in handy. A sticky article buffer
7673 basically is a normal article buffer, but it won't be reused when you
7674 select another article. You can make an article sticky with:
7678 @kindex A S (Summary)
7679 @findex gnus-sticky-article
7680 Make the current article sticky. If a prefix arg is given, ask for a
7681 name for this sticky article buffer.
7684 To close a sticky article buffer you can use these commands:
7690 Puts this sticky article buffer at the end of the list of all buffers.
7694 @findex gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffer
7695 Kills this sticky article buffer.
7698 To kill all sticky article buffers you can use:
7700 @defun gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffers ARG
7701 Kill all sticky article buffers.
7702 If a prefix ARG is given, ask for confirmation.
7705 @node Article Backlog
7706 @section Article Backlog
7708 @cindex article backlog
7710 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7711 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7712 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7713 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7714 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7715 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7716 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7717 increase memory usage some.
7719 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7720 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7721 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7722 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7723 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7724 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7725 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7727 The default value is 20.
7730 @node Saving Articles
7731 @section Saving Articles
7732 @cindex saving articles
7734 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7735 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7736 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7737 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7738 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7740 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7741 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7742 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7744 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7745 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7746 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7748 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7749 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7750 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7751 deleted before saving.
7757 @kindex O o (Summary)
7759 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7760 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7761 Save the current article using the default article saver
7762 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7765 @kindex O m (Summary)
7766 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7767 Save the current article in a Unix mail box (mbox) file
7768 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7771 @kindex O r (Summary)
7772 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7773 Save the current article in Rmail format
7774 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}). This is mbox since Emacs 23,
7775 Babyl in older versions.
7778 @kindex O f (Summary)
7779 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7780 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7781 Save the current article in plain file format
7782 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7785 @kindex O F (Summary)
7786 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7787 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7788 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7791 @kindex O b (Summary)
7792 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7793 Save the current article body in plain file format
7794 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7797 @kindex O h (Summary)
7798 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7799 Save the current article in mh folder format
7800 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7803 @kindex O v (Summary)
7804 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7805 Save the current article in a VM folder
7806 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7810 @kindex O p (Summary)
7812 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7813 @vindex gnus-summary-pipe-output-default-command
7814 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7815 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7816 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7817 complete headers in the piped output. The symbolic prefix @code{r} is
7818 special; it lets this command pipe a raw article including all headers.
7819 The @code{gnus-summary-pipe-output-default-command} variable can be set
7820 to a string containing the default command and options (default
7824 @kindex O P (Summary)
7825 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7826 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7827 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7828 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7829 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7830 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7831 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7835 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7836 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7837 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7838 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7839 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7840 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7841 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7842 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7843 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7844 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7845 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7846 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7850 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7851 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7852 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the eight ready-made
7853 functions below, or you can create your own.
7857 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7858 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7859 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7860 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7861 This is the default format, that used by the Rmail package. Since Emacs
7862 23, Rmail uses standard mbox format. Before this, it used the
7863 @dfn{Babyl} format. Accordingly, this command writes mbox format since
7864 Emacs 23, unless appending to an existing Babyl file. In older versions
7865 of Emacs, it always uses Babyl format. Uses the function in the
7866 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7867 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7869 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7870 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7871 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7872 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7873 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7874 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7876 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7877 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7878 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7879 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7880 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7881 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7882 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7884 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7885 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7886 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7887 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7888 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7889 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7891 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7892 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7893 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7894 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7895 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7897 @item gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7898 @findex gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7899 Write the article body straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7900 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7901 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7902 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7904 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7905 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7906 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7907 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7908 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7911 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7912 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7913 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7914 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7915 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7917 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7918 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7919 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7920 reader to use this setting.
7922 @item gnus-summary-save-in-pipe
7923 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-pipe
7924 Pipe the article to a shell command. This function takes optional two
7925 arguments COMMAND and RAW. Valid values for COMMAND include:
7929 The executable command name and possibly arguments.
7931 You will be prompted for the command in the minibuffer.
7932 @item the symbol @code{default}@*
7933 It will be replaced with the command which the variable
7934 @code{gnus-summary-pipe-output-default-command} holds or the command
7935 last used for saving.
7938 Non-@code{nil} value for RAW overrides @code{:decode} and
7939 @code{:headers} properties (see below) and the raw article including all
7940 headers will be piped.
7943 The symbol of each function may have the following properties:
7947 The value non-@code{nil} means save decoded articles. This is
7948 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-save-in-file},
7949 @code{gnus-summary-save-body-in-file},
7950 @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file},
7951 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}, and
7952 @code{gnus-summary-save-in-pipe}.
7955 The value specifies an alternative function which appends, not
7956 overwrites, articles to a file. This implies that when saving many
7957 articles at a time, @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} is bound to
7958 @code{t} and all articles are saved in a single file. This is
7959 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file} and
7960 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7963 The value specifies the symbol of a variable of which the value
7964 specifies headers to be saved. If it is omitted,
7965 @code{gnus-save-all-headers} and @code{gnus-saved-headers} control what
7966 headers should be saved.
7969 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7970 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7971 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7972 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7975 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7976 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7977 available functions that generate names:
7981 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7982 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7983 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7985 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7986 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7987 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7989 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7990 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7991 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7993 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7994 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7995 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7997 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7998 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7999 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
8002 @vindex gnus-split-methods
8003 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
8004 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
8005 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
8006 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
8010 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
8011 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
8012 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
8013 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
8016 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
8017 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
8018 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
8019 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
8020 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
8021 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
8022 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
8023 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
8024 called returns a string or a list of strings.
8026 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
8027 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
8028 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
8029 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
8031 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
8032 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
8033 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
8036 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
8037 lots of mail groups called things like
8038 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
8039 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
8040 following will do just that:
8043 (defun my-save-name (group)
8044 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
8045 (substring group (match-end 0))))
8047 (setq gnus-split-methods
8048 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
8053 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
8054 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
8055 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
8056 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
8057 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
8058 all the files in the top level directory
8059 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
8060 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
8061 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
8062 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
8064 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
8065 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
8066 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
8067 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
8068 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
8071 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
8075 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
8076 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
8077 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
8080 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
8081 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
8082 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
8083 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
8086 @node Decoding Articles
8087 @section Decoding Articles
8088 @cindex decoding articles
8090 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
8091 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
8094 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
8095 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
8096 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
8097 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
8098 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
8099 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
8103 @cindex article series
8104 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
8105 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
8106 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
8107 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
8108 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
8110 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
8111 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
8112 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
8114 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
8115 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
8116 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
8118 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
8119 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
8120 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
8123 @node Uuencoded Articles
8124 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
8126 @cindex uuencoded articles
8131 @kindex X u (Summary)
8132 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
8133 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
8134 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
8137 @kindex X U (Summary)
8138 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
8139 Uudecodes and saves the current series
8140 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8143 @kindex X v u (Summary)
8144 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
8145 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
8148 @kindex X v U (Summary)
8149 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
8150 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
8151 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
8155 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
8156 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
8157 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
8158 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
8159 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8161 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
8162 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
8163 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
8164 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
8167 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
8168 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
8169 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
8170 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
8171 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
8172 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
8176 @node Shell Archives
8177 @subsection Shell Archives
8179 @cindex shell archives
8180 @cindex shared articles
8182 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
8183 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
8184 some commands to deal with these:
8189 @kindex X s (Summary)
8190 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
8191 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
8194 @kindex X S (Summary)
8195 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
8196 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
8199 @kindex X v s (Summary)
8200 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
8201 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
8204 @kindex X v S (Summary)
8205 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
8206 Unshars, views and saves the current series
8207 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
8211 @node PostScript Files
8212 @subsection PostScript Files
8218 @kindex X p (Summary)
8219 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
8220 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
8223 @kindex X P (Summary)
8224 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
8225 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
8226 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
8229 @kindex X v p (Summary)
8230 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
8231 View the current PostScript series
8232 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
8235 @kindex X v P (Summary)
8236 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
8237 View and save the current PostScript series
8238 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
8243 @subsection Other Files
8247 @kindex X o (Summary)
8248 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
8249 Save the current series
8250 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
8253 @kindex X b (Summary)
8254 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
8255 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
8256 doesn't really work yet.
8259 @kindex X Y (Summary)
8260 @findex gnus-uu-decode-yenc
8261 yEnc-decode the current series and save it (@code{gnus-uu-decode-yenc}).
8265 @node Decoding Variables
8266 @subsection Decoding Variables
8268 Adjective, not verb.
8271 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
8272 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
8273 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
8277 @node Rule Variables
8278 @subsubsection Rule Variables
8279 @cindex rule variables
8281 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
8282 variables are of the form
8285 (list '(regexp1 command2)
8292 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8293 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8295 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
8296 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
8299 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8300 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
8303 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8304 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8305 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
8306 user and default view rules.
8308 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8309 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8310 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
8315 @node Other Decode Variables
8316 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
8319 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8321 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8322 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
8323 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
8324 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
8325 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
8329 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
8330 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
8333 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
8334 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
8335 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
8338 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8339 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8340 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
8341 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
8342 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
8345 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8346 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8347 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
8349 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8350 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8351 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
8352 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
8353 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
8356 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8357 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8358 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
8360 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8361 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8362 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
8363 looking for files to display.
8365 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
8366 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
8367 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
8370 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8371 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8372 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
8375 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8376 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8377 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
8380 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8381 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8382 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
8385 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8386 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8387 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
8388 decoded articles as unread.
8390 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8391 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8392 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
8393 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
8395 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8396 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8397 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
8399 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8400 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8402 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
8403 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
8404 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
8405 @code{metamail} for viewing.
8407 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8408 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8409 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
8410 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
8411 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
8412 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
8413 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
8414 simply dropped them.
8419 @node Uuencoding and Posting
8420 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
8424 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8425 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8426 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
8427 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
8428 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
8429 for you when you post the article.
8431 @item gnus-uu-post-length
8432 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
8433 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
8434 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
8436 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
8437 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
8438 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
8439 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
8440 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
8441 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
8442 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
8444 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8445 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8446 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
8447 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
8448 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
8449 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
8450 Default is @code{t}.
8456 @subsection Viewing Files
8457 @cindex viewing files
8458 @cindex pseudo-articles
8460 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
8461 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
8462 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
8463 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
8464 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
8465 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
8466 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
8468 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
8469 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8470 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8471 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8473 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8474 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8475 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8477 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8478 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8479 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8480 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8481 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8483 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8484 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8485 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8486 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8487 a list of parameters to that command.
8489 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8490 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8491 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8493 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8494 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8495 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8498 @node Article Treatment
8499 @section Article Treatment
8501 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8502 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8503 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8504 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8505 these articles easier.
8508 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8509 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8510 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8511 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8512 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8513 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8514 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8515 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8516 * Article Display:: Display various stuff:
8517 X-Face, Picons, Gravatars, Smileys.
8518 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8519 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8523 @node Article Highlighting
8524 @subsection Article Highlighting
8525 @cindex highlighting
8527 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8528 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8533 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8534 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8535 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8536 Do much highlighting of the current article
8537 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8538 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8541 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8542 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8543 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8544 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8545 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8546 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8547 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8548 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8549 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8550 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8551 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8552 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8555 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8556 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8557 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8559 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8562 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8564 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8565 If the article size in bytes is bigger than this variable (which is
8566 25000 by default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8568 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8569 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8570 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8572 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8573 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8574 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8575 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8576 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8577 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8579 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8580 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8581 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8583 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8584 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8585 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8587 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8588 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8589 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8590 that it's a citation.
8592 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8593 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8594 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8596 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8597 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8598 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8600 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8601 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8602 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8603 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8605 @item gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8606 @vindex gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8607 If non-@code{nil}, no citation highlighting will be performed on lines
8608 beginning with @samp{>From }. Those lines may have been quoted by MTAs
8609 in order not to mix up with the envelope From line. The default value
8616 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8617 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8618 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8619 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8620 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8621 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8622 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8623 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8628 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8631 @node Article Fontisizing
8632 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8634 @cindex article emphasis
8636 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8637 @kindex W e (Summary)
8638 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8639 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8640 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8641 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8643 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8644 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8645 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8646 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8647 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8648 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8649 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8650 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8654 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8655 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8656 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8665 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8666 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8667 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8668 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8669 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8670 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8671 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8672 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8673 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8674 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8675 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8676 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8677 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8679 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8680 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8681 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8685 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8688 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8690 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8691 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8692 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8693 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8695 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8698 @node Article Hiding
8699 @subsection Article Hiding
8700 @cindex article hiding
8702 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8703 too much cruft in most articles.
8708 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8709 @findex gnus-article-hide
8710 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8711 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8712 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8715 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8716 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8717 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8721 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8722 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8723 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8724 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8727 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8728 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8729 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8733 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8734 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8735 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8736 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8737 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8738 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8739 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8740 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8744 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8745 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8746 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8747 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8752 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8753 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8754 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8755 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8758 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8759 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8760 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8761 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8764 @cindex stripping advertisements
8765 @cindex advertisements
8766 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8767 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8768 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8769 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8770 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8771 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8772 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8773 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8774 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8775 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8781 (setq gnus-article-banner-alist
8783 "^\n*--~--~---------\\(.+\n\\)+")))
8786 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8787 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8788 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8792 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8793 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8794 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8795 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8796 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8797 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8798 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8799 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8800 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8801 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8802 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8805 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8806 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8812 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8813 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8814 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8815 customizing the hiding:
8819 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8820 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8821 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8822 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8823 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8824 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8825 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8830 Starting point of the hidden text.
8832 Ending point of the hidden text.
8834 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8836 Number of lines of hidden text.
8839 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8840 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8841 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8842 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8843 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8848 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8849 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8851 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8852 following two variables:
8855 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8856 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8857 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8858 50), hide the cited text.
8860 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8861 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8862 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8867 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8868 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8869 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8870 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8871 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8872 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8876 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8877 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8878 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8880 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8881 citation customization.
8883 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8887 @node Article Washing
8888 @subsection Article Washing
8890 @cindex article washing
8892 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8893 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8895 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8896 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8899 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8900 articles by default.
8905 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8906 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8910 Force redisplaying of the current article
8911 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8912 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8913 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8914 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8917 @kindex W l (Summary)
8918 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8919 Remove page breaks from the current article
8920 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8924 @kindex W r (Summary)
8925 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8926 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8927 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8928 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8929 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8930 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8932 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8933 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8934 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8935 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8938 @kindex W m (Summary)
8939 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8940 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8943 @kindex W i (Summary)
8944 @findex gnus-summary-idna-message
8945 Decode IDNA encoded domain names in the current articles. IDNA
8946 encoded domain names looks like @samp{xn--bar}. If a string remain
8947 unencoded after running invoking this, it is likely an invalid IDNA
8948 string (@samp{xn--bar} is invalid). You must have GNU Libidn
8949 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}) installed for this command
8954 @kindex W t (Summary)
8956 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8957 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8958 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8961 @kindex W v (Summary)
8962 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8963 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8964 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8967 @kindex W o (Summary)
8968 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8969 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8972 @kindex W d (Summary)
8973 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8974 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8976 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8978 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8979 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8980 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8981 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8984 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8985 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8986 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8987 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8990 @kindex W U (Summary)
8991 @findex gnus-article-treat-non-ascii
8993 @cindex Non-@acronym{ASCII}
8994 Translate many non-@acronym{ASCII} characters into their
8995 @acronym{ASCII} equivalents (@code{gnus-article-treat-non-ascii}).
8996 This is mostly useful if you're on a terminal that has a limited font
8997 and does't show accented characters, ``advanced'' punctuation, and the
8998 like. For instance, @samp{»} is tranlated into @samp{>>}, and so on.
9001 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
9002 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
9003 @cindex Outlook Express
9004 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
9005 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
9006 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
9009 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
9010 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
9011 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
9012 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
9013 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
9014 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
9015 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
9016 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
9017 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
9018 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
9021 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
9022 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
9023 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
9024 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
9027 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
9028 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
9029 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
9030 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
9033 @kindex W w (Summary)
9034 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
9035 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
9037 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
9041 @kindex W Q (Summary)
9042 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
9043 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
9046 @kindex W C (Summary)
9047 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
9048 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
9049 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
9052 @kindex W c (Summary)
9053 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
9054 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
9055 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
9056 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
9057 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
9060 @kindex W q (Summary)
9061 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
9062 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
9063 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
9064 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
9065 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
9066 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
9067 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9068 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9069 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9072 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
9073 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
9074 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
9075 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
9076 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
9077 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9078 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9079 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9082 @kindex W Z (Summary)
9083 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
9084 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
9085 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
9086 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
9089 @kindex W A (Summary)
9090 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
9091 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
9092 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
9093 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
9094 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
9097 @kindex W u (Summary)
9098 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
9099 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
9100 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
9101 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
9102 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
9105 @kindex W h (Summary)
9106 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
9107 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
9108 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9109 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
9111 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for. If it is a number,
9112 the charset defined in @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist}
9113 (@pxref{Paging the Article}) will be used.
9115 The default is to use the function specified by
9116 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
9117 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
9118 @acronym{HTML}. Pre-defined functions you can use include:
9122 Use Gnus simple html renderer.
9125 Use Gnus rendered based on w3m.
9131 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
9133 @item w3m-standalone
9134 Use @uref{http://w3m.sourceforge.net/, w3m}.
9137 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
9140 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
9143 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
9148 @kindex W b (Summary)
9149 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
9150 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
9151 @xref{Article Buttons}.
9154 @kindex W B (Summary)
9155 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
9156 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
9157 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
9160 @kindex W p (Summary)
9161 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
9162 Verify a signed control message
9163 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
9164 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
9165 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
9166 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
9167 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
9168 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
9171 @kindex W s (Summary)
9172 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
9173 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
9174 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
9175 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
9178 @kindex W a (Summary)
9179 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
9180 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
9181 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
9184 @kindex W E l (Summary)
9185 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
9186 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
9187 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
9190 @kindex W E m (Summary)
9191 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
9192 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
9193 lines with a single empty line.
9194 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
9197 @kindex W E t (Summary)
9198 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
9199 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
9200 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
9203 @kindex W E a (Summary)
9204 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
9205 Do all the three commands above
9206 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
9209 @kindex W E A (Summary)
9210 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
9211 Remove all blank lines
9212 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
9215 @kindex W E s (Summary)
9216 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
9217 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
9218 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
9221 @kindex W E e (Summary)
9222 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
9223 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
9224 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
9228 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
9231 @node Article Header
9232 @subsection Article Header
9234 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
9239 @kindex W G u (Summary)
9240 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
9241 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
9244 @kindex W G n (Summary)
9245 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
9246 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
9247 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
9250 @kindex W G f (Summary)
9251 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
9252 Fold all the message headers
9253 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
9256 @kindex W E w (Summary)
9257 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
9258 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
9259 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
9264 @node Article Buttons
9265 @subsection Article Buttons
9268 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
9269 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
9270 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
9271 button on these references.
9273 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9274 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
9275 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
9276 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
9277 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
9281 @item gnus-button-alist
9282 @vindex gnus-button-alist
9283 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
9286 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9292 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
9293 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
9294 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
9295 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
9296 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
9299 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
9300 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
9301 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
9304 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
9305 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
9306 avoid false matches. Often variables named
9307 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
9308 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
9310 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
9313 This function will be called when you click on this button.
9316 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
9317 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
9321 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
9324 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
9327 @item gnus-header-button-alist
9328 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
9329 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
9330 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
9331 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
9334 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9337 @var{header} is a regular expression.
9340 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
9343 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
9344 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
9346 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
9348 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
9349 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
9350 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
9351 default values of the variables above.
9353 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
9355 @item gnus-button-man-handler
9356 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9357 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
9358 argument with a string naming the man page.
9360 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
9362 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9363 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9364 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
9366 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9367 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9368 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
9369 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
9370 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
9371 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
9372 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
9373 @code{ask}, always query the user what to do. If it is a function, this
9374 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
9375 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
9376 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
9377 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9379 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9380 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9381 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
9382 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
9383 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
9386 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9387 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9388 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
9389 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9393 @item gnus-article-button-face
9394 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
9395 Face used on buttons.
9397 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
9398 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
9399 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
9403 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
9406 @node Article Button Levels
9407 @subsection Article button levels
9408 @cindex button levels
9409 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
9410 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
9411 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
9412 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
9413 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
9414 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
9415 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
9416 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
9419 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
9420 (setq gnus-parameters
9421 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
9422 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
9423 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
9428 @item gnus-button-browse-level
9429 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
9430 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
9431 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
9432 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
9433 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
9435 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
9436 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
9437 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
9438 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
9439 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
9440 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
9441 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
9442 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
9443 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
9444 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
9445 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
9446 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
9447 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
9449 @item gnus-button-man-level
9450 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
9451 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
9452 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
9454 @item gnus-button-message-level
9455 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
9456 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
9457 Related variables and functions include
9458 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
9459 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
9460 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
9461 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
9467 @subsection Article Date
9469 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
9470 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
9471 when the article was sent.
9476 @kindex W T u (Summary)
9477 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
9478 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
9479 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
9482 @kindex W T i (Summary)
9483 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
9485 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
9486 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
9489 @kindex W T l (Summary)
9490 @findex gnus-article-date-local
9491 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9494 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9495 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9496 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9497 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9500 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9501 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9502 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9503 @findex format-time-string
9504 Display the date using a user-defined format
9505 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9506 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9507 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9508 for a list of possible format specs.
9511 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9512 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9513 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9514 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9515 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9516 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9519 Date: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9522 This line is updated continually by default. The frequency (in
9523 seconds) is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-update-date-headers}
9526 If you wish to switch updating off, say:
9528 @vindex gnus-article-update-date-headers
9530 (setq gnus-article-update-date-headers nil)
9533 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9536 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9537 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9538 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9539 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9540 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9541 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9542 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9546 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9547 preferred format automatically.
9550 @node Article Display
9551 @subsection Article Display
9557 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9558 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9560 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9561 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9563 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9564 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9566 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9567 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9569 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9570 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9572 Gravatars reside on-line and are fetched from
9573 @uref{http://www.gravatar.com/} (@pxref{Gravatars}).
9575 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9580 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9581 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9582 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9583 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9586 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9587 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9588 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9589 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9592 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9593 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9594 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9597 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9598 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9599 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9602 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9603 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9604 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9605 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9608 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9609 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9610 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9611 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9614 @kindex W D g (Summary)
9615 @findex gnus-treat-from-gravatar
9616 Gravatarify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-gravatar}).
9619 @kindex W D h (Summary)
9620 @findex gnus-treat-mail-gravatar
9621 Gravatarify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9622 (@code{gnus-treat-from-gravatar}).
9625 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9626 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9627 Remove all images from the article buffer
9628 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9631 @kindex W D W (Summary)
9632 @findex gnus-html-show-images
9633 If you're reading an @acronym{HTML} article rendered with
9634 @code{gnus-article-html}, then you can insert any blocked images in
9635 the buffer with this command.
9636 (@code{gnus-html-show-images}).
9642 @node Article Signature
9643 @subsection Article Signature
9645 @cindex article signature
9647 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9648 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9649 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9650 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9651 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9652 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9653 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9654 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9655 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9658 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9659 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9660 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9661 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9662 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9663 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9664 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9665 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9668 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9671 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9672 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9673 signature when displaying articles.
9677 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9680 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9683 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9684 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9686 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9687 in question is not a signature.
9690 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9691 listed above. Here's an example:
9694 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9695 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9698 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9699 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9700 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9701 signature after all.
9704 @node Article Miscellanea
9705 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9709 @kindex A t (Summary)
9710 @findex gnus-article-babel
9711 Translate the article from one language to another
9712 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9718 @section MIME Commands
9719 @cindex MIME decoding
9721 @cindex viewing attachments
9723 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9724 instance, @kbd{3 K v} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9730 @kindex K v (Summary)
9731 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9734 @kindex K o (Summary)
9735 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9738 @kindex K O (Summary)
9739 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} part and strip it
9740 from the article. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred
9741 via the message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
9744 @kindex K r (Summary)
9745 Replace the @acronym{MIME} part with an external body.
9748 @kindex K d (Summary)
9749 Delete the @acronym{MIME} part and add some information about the
9753 @kindex K c (Summary)
9754 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9757 @kindex K e (Summary)
9758 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9761 @kindex K i (Summary)
9762 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9765 @kindex K | (Summary)
9766 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9769 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9774 @kindex K H (Summary)
9775 @findex gnus-article-browse-html-article
9776 View @samp{text/html} parts of the current article with a WWW browser.
9777 Inline images embedded in a message using the @code{cid} scheme, as they
9778 are generally considered to be safe, will be processed properly. The
9779 message header is added to the beginning of every @acronym{HTML} part
9780 unless the prefix argument is given.
9782 Warning: Spammers use links to images (using the @code{http} scheme) in
9783 @acronym{HTML} articles to verify whether you have read the message. As
9784 this command passes the @acronym{HTML} content to the browser without
9785 eliminating these ``web bugs'' you should only use it for mails from
9788 If you always want to display @acronym{HTML} parts in the browser, set
9789 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} to @code{nil}.
9791 This command creates temporary files to pass @acronym{HTML} contents
9792 including images if any to the browser, and deletes them when exiting
9793 the group (if you want).
9796 @kindex K b (Summary)
9797 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9798 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9802 @kindex K m (Summary)
9803 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9804 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9805 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9806 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9807 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9810 @kindex X m (Summary)
9811 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9812 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9813 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9814 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9817 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9818 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9819 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9820 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9823 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9824 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9825 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9826 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9829 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9830 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9831 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9832 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9834 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9835 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9836 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9837 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9838 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9839 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9842 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9843 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9844 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9845 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9852 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9853 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9854 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9855 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9858 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9861 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9865 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9866 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9867 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9868 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9869 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9870 default is @code{t}.
9872 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9873 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9876 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9877 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9878 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9879 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9880 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}. Only
9881 single-part yEnc encoded attachments can be decoded. There's no support
9882 for encoding in Gnus.
9884 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9885 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9886 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9887 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9888 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9889 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9890 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9891 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9893 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9894 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9895 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9896 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9897 displayed. This variable overrides
9898 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9899 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9902 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9903 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9904 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9906 You could also add @code{"multipart/alternative"} to this list to
9907 display radio buttons that allow you to choose one of two media types
9908 those mails include. See also @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}
9909 (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The
9910 Emacs MIME Manual}).
9912 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9913 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9914 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9915 default value is @code{nil}.
9917 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9918 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9919 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9920 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9921 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9922 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9923 save all jpegs into some directory).
9925 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9928 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9929 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9931 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9932 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9933 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9934 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9935 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9938 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9939 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9940 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9942 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9943 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9944 Display "multipart/alternative" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9946 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9947 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9948 Display "multipart/related" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9950 If displaying @samp{text/html} is discouraged, see
9951 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}, images or other material inside a
9952 "multipart/related" part might be overlooked when this variable is
9953 @code{nil}. @ref{Display Customization, Display Customization, ,
9954 emacs-mime, Emacs-Mime Manual}.
9956 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9957 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9958 Display "multipart" parts as "multipart/mixed". If @code{t}, it
9959 overrides @code{nil} values of
9960 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed} and
9961 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed}.
9963 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9964 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9965 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9966 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9968 Ready-made functions include@*
9969 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9970 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9971 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9972 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9973 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9974 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9975 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9976 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9977 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9978 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9979 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9980 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9982 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9983 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9985 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9986 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9987 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9990 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9991 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9992 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9993 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9997 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
10006 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
10007 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
10008 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
10009 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
10010 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
10011 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
10012 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp}.
10014 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
10015 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
10016 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
10017 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
10019 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
10020 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
10021 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
10022 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
10023 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
10024 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
10025 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
10026 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
10027 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
10029 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
10030 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
10031 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
10032 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
10033 quoted-printable header encoding.
10035 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
10036 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
10037 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
10041 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
10044 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
10045 means encode all charsets),
10047 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
10048 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
10049 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
10056 @cindex coding system aliases
10057 @cindex preferred charset
10059 @xref{Encoding Customization, , Encoding Customization, emacs-mime,
10060 The Emacs MIME Manual}, for additional variables that control which
10061 MIME charsets are used when sending messages.
10063 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
10065 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
10066 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
10069 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
10070 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
10073 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
10074 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
10076 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
10079 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
10082 This will almost do the right thing.
10084 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
10088 (codepage-setup 1251)
10089 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
10093 @node Article Commands
10094 @section Article Commands
10101 @kindex A P (Summary)
10102 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
10103 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
10104 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
10105 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
10106 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
10107 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
10110 @vindex gnus-fetch-partial-articles
10111 @findex gnus-summary-show-complete-article
10112 If @code{<backend>-fetch-partial-articles} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
10113 fetch partial articles, if the backend it fetches them from supports
10114 it. Currently only @code{nnimap} does. If you're looking at a
10115 partial article, and want to see the complete article instead, then
10116 the @kbd{A C} command (@code{gnus-summary-show-complete-article}) will
10122 @node Summary Sorting
10123 @section Summary Sorting
10124 @cindex summary sorting
10126 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
10127 can't really see why you'd want that.
10132 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10133 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
10134 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
10136 @item C-c C-s C-m C-n
10137 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10138 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-number
10139 Sort by most recent article number
10140 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-number}).
10143 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
10144 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
10145 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
10148 @kindex C-c C-s C-t (Summary)
10149 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient
10150 Sort by recipient (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient}).
10153 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
10154 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
10155 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
10158 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
10159 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
10160 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
10162 @item C-c C-s C-m C-d
10163 @kindex C-c C-s C-m C-d (Summary)
10164 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-date
10165 Sort by most recent date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-date}).
10168 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
10169 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
10170 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
10173 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
10174 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
10175 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
10178 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
10179 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
10180 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
10183 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
10184 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
10185 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
10188 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
10189 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
10190 Sort using the default sorting method
10191 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
10194 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
10195 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
10196 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
10197 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
10198 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
10201 If a prefix argument if given, the sort order is reversed.
10204 @node Finding the Parent
10205 @section Finding the Parent
10206 @cindex parent articles
10207 @cindex referring articles
10211 @kindex ^ (Summary)
10212 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
10213 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
10214 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
10215 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
10216 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
10217 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
10218 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
10219 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
10220 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
10222 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
10223 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
10224 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
10225 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
10226 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
10229 @item A R (Summary)
10230 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
10231 @kindex A R (Summary)
10232 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
10233 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
10235 @item A T (Summary)
10236 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
10237 @kindex A T (Summary)
10238 Display the full thread where the current article appears
10239 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
10240 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
10241 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
10242 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
10243 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
10244 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
10246 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
10247 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
10248 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
10249 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
10250 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
10251 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
10253 @item M-^ (Summary)
10254 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
10255 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
10257 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
10258 You can also ask Gnus for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it
10259 belongs to. @kbd{M-^} (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you
10260 for a @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read
10261 thingies that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}.
10262 You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
10264 Gnus looks for the @code{Message-ID} in the headers that have already
10265 been fetched, but also tries all the select methods specified by
10266 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} if it is not found.
10269 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
10270 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
10271 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
10272 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
10273 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
10274 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
10277 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
10278 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
10279 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
10282 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
10283 then ask Google if that fails:
10286 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
10288 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
10291 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
10292 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
10293 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
10294 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
10295 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
10296 group. @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
10298 Fortunately, the special @code{nnregistry} back end is able to locate
10299 articles in any groups, regardless of their back end (@pxref{Registry
10300 Article Refer Method, fetching by @code{Message-ID} using the
10303 @node Alternative Approaches
10304 @section Alternative Approaches
10306 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
10307 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
10310 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
10311 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
10315 @node Pick and Read
10316 @subsection Pick and Read
10317 @cindex pick and read
10319 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
10320 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
10321 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
10322 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
10324 @findex gnus-pick-mode
10325 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
10326 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
10327 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
10328 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
10329 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
10331 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
10336 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
10337 Pick the article or thread on the current line
10338 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10339 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
10340 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
10341 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
10342 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
10343 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
10346 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
10347 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
10348 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
10349 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
10353 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
10354 Unpick the thread or article
10355 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10356 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
10357 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
10358 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
10359 the thread or article at that line.
10363 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
10364 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
10365 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
10366 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
10367 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
10368 will still be visible when you are reading.
10372 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
10373 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
10374 which is mapped to the same function
10375 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
10377 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
10380 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
10383 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
10384 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
10386 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
10387 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
10388 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
10390 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
10391 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
10392 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
10393 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
10394 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
10395 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
10396 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
10399 @node Binary Groups
10400 @subsection Binary Groups
10401 @cindex binary groups
10403 @findex gnus-binary-mode
10404 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
10405 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
10406 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
10407 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
10408 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
10409 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
10412 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
10413 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
10414 command, when you have turned on this mode
10415 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
10417 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
10418 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
10422 @section Tree Display
10425 @vindex gnus-use-trees
10426 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
10427 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
10428 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
10429 in the tree buffer.
10431 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
10434 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
10435 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
10436 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
10438 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10439 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10440 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
10441 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
10442 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
10444 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
10445 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
10446 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
10447 default is @code{modeline}.
10449 @item gnus-tree-line-format
10450 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
10451 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
10452 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
10453 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
10454 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
10455 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
10461 The name of the poster.
10463 The @code{From} header.
10465 The number of the article.
10467 The opening bracket.
10469 The closing bracket.
10474 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
10476 Variables related to the display are:
10479 @item gnus-tree-brackets
10480 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
10481 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
10482 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
10484 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
10485 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
10486 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
10488 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
10490 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10491 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10492 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
10493 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
10497 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
10498 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
10499 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
10500 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
10501 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
10502 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
10503 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
10504 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
10505 other windows displayed next to it.
10507 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
10511 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
10512 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
10515 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
10516 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
10517 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10518 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
10519 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
10520 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
10521 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
10525 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
10528 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
10538 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
10543 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
10544 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
10546 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
10548 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
10554 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
10555 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
10556 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
10559 (setq gnus-use-trees t
10560 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10561 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
10562 (gnus-add-configuration
10566 (summary 0.75 point)
10571 @xref{Window Layout}.
10574 @node Mail Group Commands
10575 @section Mail Group Commands
10576 @cindex mail group commands
10578 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
10579 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
10581 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
10582 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10587 @kindex B e (Summary)
10588 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
10589 @cindex expiring mail
10590 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
10591 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
10592 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
10593 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
10596 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
10597 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
10598 @cindex expiring mail
10599 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
10600 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
10601 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
10602 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
10605 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
10606 @cindex deleting mail
10607 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
10608 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
10609 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
10610 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
10611 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
10614 @kindex B m (Summary)
10616 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10617 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10618 Move the article from one mail group to another
10619 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10620 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10623 @kindex B c (Summary)
10625 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10626 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10627 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10628 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10629 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10632 @kindex B B (Summary)
10633 @cindex crosspost mail
10634 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10635 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10636 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10637 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10638 be properly updated.
10641 @kindex B i (Summary)
10642 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10643 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10644 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10645 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10648 @kindex B I (Summary)
10649 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10650 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10651 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10652 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10655 @kindex B r (Summary)
10656 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10657 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10658 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10659 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10660 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10661 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10662 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10663 (which is the default).
10667 @kindex B w (Summary)
10668 @kindex e (Summary)
10669 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10670 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10671 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10672 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10673 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10674 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10675 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10678 @kindex B q (Summary)
10679 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10680 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10681 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10682 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10685 @kindex B t (Summary)
10686 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10687 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10688 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10691 @kindex B p (Summary)
10692 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10693 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10694 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10695 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10696 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10697 article from your news server (or rather, from
10698 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10699 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10700 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10701 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10702 just not have arrived yet.
10705 @kindex K E (Summary)
10706 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10707 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10708 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10709 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10710 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10714 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10715 @cindex moving articles
10716 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
10717 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10718 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10719 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10720 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10721 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10722 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10725 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10726 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10727 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10728 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10732 @node Various Summary Stuff
10733 @section Various Summary Stuff
10736 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10737 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10738 * Summary Generation Commands::
10739 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10743 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10744 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10745 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10746 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10747 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10748 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10750 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10751 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10752 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10755 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10756 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10757 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10759 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10760 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10761 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10762 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10763 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10764 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10767 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10768 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10769 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10770 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10771 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10773 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10774 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10775 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10778 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10779 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10780 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10781 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10782 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10783 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10784 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10785 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10786 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10787 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10789 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10790 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10791 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10792 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10793 list of articles to be selected.
10795 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10796 the list in one particular group:
10799 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10800 (if (string= group "some.group")
10801 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10805 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10806 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10807 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10808 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
10809 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
10812 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
10813 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
10814 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
10815 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
10816 variable will be used instead.
10818 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10819 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10820 buffers. For example:
10823 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10824 '(message-use-followup-to
10825 (gnus-visible-headers .
10826 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10829 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
10831 @vindex gnus-propagate-marks
10832 @item gnus-propagate-marks
10833 If non-@code{nil}, propagate marks to the backends for possible
10834 storing. @xref{NNTP marks}, and friends, for a more fine-grained
10840 @node Summary Group Information
10841 @subsection Summary Group Information
10846 @kindex H d (Summary)
10847 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10848 Give a brief description of the current group
10849 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10850 rereading the description from the server.
10853 @kindex H h (Summary)
10854 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10855 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10856 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10859 @kindex H i (Summary)
10860 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10861 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10865 @node Searching for Articles
10866 @subsection Searching for Articles
10871 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10872 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10873 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10874 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10877 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10878 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10879 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10880 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10883 @kindex M-S (Summary)
10884 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward
10885 Repeat the previous search forwards
10886 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward}).
10889 @kindex M-R (Summary)
10890 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward
10891 Repeat the previous search backwards
10892 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward}).
10895 @kindex & (Summary)
10896 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10897 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10898 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10899 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10900 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10901 search backward instead.
10903 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10904 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10907 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10908 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10909 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10910 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10913 @node Summary Generation Commands
10914 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10919 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10920 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10921 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10924 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10925 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10926 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10927 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10930 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10931 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10932 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10933 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10936 @kindex Y t (Summary)
10937 @findex gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles
10938 Pull all ticked articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10939 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles}).
10944 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10945 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10951 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10952 @kindex A D (Summary)
10953 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10954 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10955 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10956 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10957 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10958 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10959 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10960 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10963 @vindex gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit
10964 The variable @code{gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit} controls what
10965 article should be selected after exiting a digest group. Valid values
10970 Select the next article.
10973 Select the next unread article.
10975 @item next-noselect
10976 Move the cursor to the next article. This is the default.
10978 @item next-unread-noselect
10979 Move the cursor to the next unread article.
10982 If it has any other value or there is no next (unread) article, the
10983 article selected before entering to the digest group will appear.
10986 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10987 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10988 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10989 several documents into one biiig group
10990 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10991 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10992 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10993 command understands the process/prefix convention
10994 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10997 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10998 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10999 Toggle truncation of summary lines
11000 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
11001 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
11002 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
11005 @kindex = (Summary)
11006 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
11007 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
11008 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
11011 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
11012 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
11013 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
11014 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
11017 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
11018 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
11019 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
11020 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
11025 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
11026 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
11027 @cindex summary exit
11028 @cindex exiting groups
11030 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
11031 group and return you to the group buffer.
11038 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
11039 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
11040 @kindex q (Summary)
11041 @findex gnus-summary-exit
11042 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
11043 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
11044 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
11045 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
11046 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
11047 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
11048 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
11049 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
11050 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
11051 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
11052 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
11056 @kindex Z E (Summary)
11057 @kindex Q (Summary)
11058 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
11059 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
11060 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
11064 @kindex Z c (Summary)
11065 @kindex c (Summary)
11066 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
11067 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
11068 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
11069 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
11072 @kindex Z C (Summary)
11073 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
11074 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
11075 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
11078 @kindex Z n (Summary)
11079 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
11080 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
11081 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
11084 @kindex Z p (Summary)
11085 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group
11086 Mark all articles as read and go to the previous group
11087 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group}).
11091 @kindex Z R (Summary)
11092 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
11093 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
11094 Exit this group, and then enter it again
11095 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
11096 all articles, both read and unread.
11100 @kindex Z G (Summary)
11101 @kindex M-g (Summary)
11102 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
11103 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
11104 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
11105 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
11106 articles, both read and unread.
11109 @kindex Z N (Summary)
11110 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
11111 Exit the group and go to the next group
11112 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
11115 @kindex Z P (Summary)
11116 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
11117 Exit the group and go to the previous group
11118 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
11121 @kindex Z s (Summary)
11122 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
11123 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
11124 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
11125 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
11126 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
11129 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
11130 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
11131 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
11132 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
11134 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
11135 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
11136 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
11137 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
11138 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
11139 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
11140 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
11141 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
11142 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
11143 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
11144 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
11145 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
11147 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
11149 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
11150 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
11151 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
11152 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
11153 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
11154 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
11155 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
11156 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
11157 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
11160 @node Crosspost Handling
11161 @section Crosspost Handling
11165 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
11166 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
11167 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
11168 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
11169 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
11172 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
11173 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
11174 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
11175 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
11176 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
11178 @cindex cross-posting
11180 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
11181 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
11182 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
11183 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
11184 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
11185 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
11186 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
11187 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
11188 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
11189 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
11190 the cross reference mechanism.
11192 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
11193 @cindex overview.fmt
11194 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
11195 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
11196 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
11197 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
11198 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
11199 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
11202 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
11203 set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
11204 considerably. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
11208 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
11211 @node Duplicate Suppression
11212 @section Duplicate Suppression
11214 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
11215 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
11216 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
11217 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
11222 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
11223 is evil and not very common.
11226 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
11227 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
11230 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
11231 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
11234 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
11237 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
11238 well, but these four are the most common situations.
11240 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
11241 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
11242 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
11243 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
11244 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
11245 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
11246 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
11249 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
11250 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
11251 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
11252 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
11253 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
11254 saw the article in.
11257 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
11258 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
11259 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
11261 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
11262 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
11263 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
11264 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
11265 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
11266 session are suppressed.
11268 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
11269 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
11270 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
11271 suppression list. The default is 10000.
11273 @item gnus-duplicate-file
11274 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
11275 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
11276 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
11279 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
11280 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
11281 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
11282 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
11283 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
11284 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
11285 to you to figure out, I think.
11290 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
11291 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
11292 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
11297 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
11298 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
11299 to GnuPG included with Emacs is called EasyPG (@pxref{Top, ,EasyPG,
11300 epa, EasyPG Assistant user's manual}), but PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg,
11301 PGG Manual}), and Mailcrypt are also supported.
11304 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
11305 or newer is recommended.
11309 The variables that control security functionality on reading/composing
11313 @item mm-verify-option
11314 @vindex mm-verify-option
11315 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
11316 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
11317 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11319 @item mm-decrypt-option
11320 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
11321 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
11322 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
11323 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11325 @item mm-sign-option
11326 @vindex mm-sign-option
11327 Option of creating signed parts. @code{nil}, use default signing
11328 keys; @code{guided}, ask user to select signing keys from the menu.
11330 @item mm-encrypt-option
11331 @vindex mm-encrypt-option
11332 Option of creating encrypted parts. @code{nil}, use the first
11333 public-key matching the @samp{From:} header as the recipient;
11334 @code{guided}, ask user to select recipient keys from the menu.
11337 @vindex mml1991-use
11338 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11339 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{epg}, but @code{pgg},
11340 and @code{mailcrypt} are also supported although
11341 deprecated. By default, Gnus uses the first available interface in
11345 @vindex mml2015-use
11346 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11347 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{epg}, but
11348 @code{pgg}, and @code{mailcrypt} are also supported
11349 although deprecated. By default, Gnus uses the first available
11350 interface in this order.
11354 By default the buttons that display security information are not
11355 shown, because they clutter reading the actual e-mail. You can type
11356 @kbd{K b} manually to display the information. Use the
11357 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types} and
11358 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} variables to control this
11359 permanently. @ref{MIME Commands} for further details, and hints on
11360 how to customize these variables to always display security
11363 @cindex snarfing keys
11364 @cindex importing PGP keys
11365 @cindex PGP key ring import
11366 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
11367 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
11368 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
11369 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
11370 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
11371 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
11372 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
11373 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
11374 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
11377 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
11380 This happens to also be the default action defined in
11381 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
11383 More information on how to set things for sending outgoing signed and
11384 encrypted messages up can be found in the message manual
11385 (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
11388 @section Mailing List
11389 @cindex mailing list
11392 @kindex A M (summary)
11393 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
11394 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
11395 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
11396 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
11399 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
11404 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
11405 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
11406 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
11409 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
11410 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
11411 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
11414 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
11415 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
11416 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
11420 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
11421 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
11422 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
11425 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
11426 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
11427 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
11430 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
11431 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
11432 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
11437 @node Article Buffer
11438 @chapter Article Buffer
11439 @cindex article buffer
11441 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
11442 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
11443 tell Gnus otherwise.
11446 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
11447 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
11448 * HTML:: Reading @acronym{HTML} messages.
11449 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
11450 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
11451 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
11455 @node Hiding Headers
11456 @section Hiding Headers
11457 @cindex hiding headers
11458 @cindex deleting headers
11460 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
11461 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
11463 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
11464 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
11465 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
11466 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
11467 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
11468 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
11469 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
11470 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
11471 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
11473 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
11477 @item gnus-visible-headers
11478 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
11479 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
11480 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
11481 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
11483 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
11484 the article and the subject, you'd say:
11487 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
11490 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11493 @item gnus-ignored-headers
11494 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
11495 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
11496 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
11497 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
11498 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
11500 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
11501 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
11504 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
11507 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11510 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
11511 variable will have no effect.
11515 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
11516 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
11517 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
11518 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
11519 the headers are to be displayed.
11521 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
11522 and then the subject, you might say something like:
11525 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
11528 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
11529 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
11531 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
11532 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
11533 You can hide further boring headers by setting
11534 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
11535 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
11536 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
11537 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
11540 These conditions are:
11543 Remove all empty headers.
11545 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
11546 @code{Newsgroups} header.
11548 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
11549 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
11552 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
11555 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11556 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
11558 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11559 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11561 Remove the @code{Cc} header if it only contains the address identical to
11562 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11564 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
11567 Remove the @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} header if it is very long.
11569 Remove all @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} headers if there are more than one.
11572 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
11575 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
11576 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
11579 This is also the default value for this variable.
11583 @section Using MIME
11584 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11586 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
11587 while people stand around yawning.
11589 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
11590 while all newsreaders die of fear.
11592 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
11593 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
11594 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
11596 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
11597 @findex gnus-display-mime
11598 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
11599 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
11600 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
11601 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
11603 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
11604 @acronym{MIME} button:
11607 @findex gnus-article-press-button
11608 @item RET (Article)
11609 @kindex RET (Article)
11610 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
11611 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
11612 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
11613 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
11614 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
11615 object is displayed inline.
11617 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
11618 @item M-RET (Article)
11619 @kindex M-RET (Article)
11621 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11622 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
11624 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
11626 @kindex t (Article)
11627 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
11628 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
11630 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
11632 @kindex C (Article)
11633 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11634 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
11636 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
11638 @kindex o (Article)
11639 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
11640 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
11642 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
11643 @item C-o (Article)
11644 @kindex C-o (Article)
11645 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
11646 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
11647 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
11648 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
11649 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
11650 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
11652 @findex gnus-mime-replace-part
11654 @kindex r (Article)
11655 Prompt for a file name, replace the @acronym{MIME} object with an
11656 external body refering to the file via the message/external-body
11657 @acronym{MIME} type. (@code{gnus-mime-replace-part}).
11659 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
11661 @kindex d (Article)
11662 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
11663 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
11664 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
11666 @c FIXME: gnus-auto-select-part should be documented here
11668 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
11670 @kindex c (Article)
11671 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
11672 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). If given a prefix, copy the raw contents
11673 without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual
11674 charset stuff (see @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in
11675 @ref{Paging the Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
11676 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
11677 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
11678 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11680 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
11682 @kindex p (Article)
11683 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
11684 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
11685 @file{.mailcap} file.
11687 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
11689 @kindex i (Article)
11690 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
11691 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as @samp{text/plain}. If given a prefix, insert
11692 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
11693 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
11694 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
11695 Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and @file{.bz2} are
11696 automatically decompressed depending on @code{jka-compr} regardless of
11697 @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed Files,, Accessing
11698 Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11700 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
11702 @kindex E (Article)
11703 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
11704 viewer is available, use an external viewer
11705 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
11707 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
11709 @kindex e (Article)
11710 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
11711 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
11713 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
11715 @kindex | (Article)
11716 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
11718 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
11720 @kindex . (Article)
11721 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
11722 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
11726 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
11727 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
11728 @acronym{MIME} manual.
11730 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
11731 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
11732 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
11733 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
11734 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
11735 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
11736 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
11737 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
11738 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
11740 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
11742 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
11746 @section @acronym{HTML}
11747 @cindex @acronym{HTML}
11749 If you have @code{w3m} installed on your system, Gnus can display
11750 @acronym{HTML} articles in the article buffer. There are many Gnus
11751 add-ons for doing this, using various approaches, but there's one
11752 (sort of) built-in method that's used by default.
11754 For a complete overview, consult @xref{Display Customization,
11755 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. This
11756 section only describes the default method.
11759 @item mm-text-html-renderer
11760 @vindex mm-text-html-renderer
11761 If set to @code{gnus-article-html}, Gnus will use the built-in method,
11762 that's based on @code{w3m}.
11764 @item gnus-blocked-images
11765 @vindex gnus-blocked-images
11766 External images that have @acronym{URL}s that match this regexp won't
11767 be fetched and displayed. For instance, do block all @acronym{URL}s
11768 that have the string ``ads'' in them, do the following:
11771 (setq gnus-blocked-images "ads")
11774 This can also be a function to be evaluated. If so, it will be
11775 called with the group name as the parameter. The default value is
11776 @code{gnus-block-private-groups}, which will return @samp{"."} for
11777 anything that isn't a newsgroup. This means that no external images
11778 will be fetched as a result of reading mail, so that nobody can use
11779 web bugs (and the like) to track whether you've read email.
11781 Also @pxref{Misc Article} for @code{gnus-inhibit-images}.
11783 @item gnus-html-cache-directory
11784 @vindex gnus-html-cache-directory
11785 Gnus will download and cache images according to how
11786 @code{gnus-blocked-images} is set. These images will be stored in
11789 @item gnus-html-cache-size
11790 @vindex gnus-html-cache-size
11791 When @code{gnus-html-cache-size} bytes have been used in that
11792 directory, the oldest files will be deleted. The default is 500MB.
11794 @item gnus-html-frame-width
11795 @vindex gnus-html-frame-width
11796 The width to use when rendering HTML. The default is 70.
11798 @item gnus-max-image-proportion
11799 @vindex gnus-max-image-proportion
11800 How big pictures displayed are in relation to the window they're in.
11801 A value of 0.7 (the default) means that they are allowed to take up
11802 70% of the width and height of the window. If they are larger than
11803 this, and Emacs supports it, then the images will be rescaled down to
11804 fit these criteria.
11808 To use this, make sure that you have @code{w3m} and @code{curl}
11809 installed. If you have, then Gnus should display @acronym{HTML}
11814 @node Customizing Articles
11815 @section Customizing Articles
11816 @cindex article customization
11818 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
11819 exist. You can call these functions interactively
11820 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
11821 called automatically when you select the articles.
11823 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
11824 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
11825 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
11826 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
11828 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
11829 for sensible values.
11833 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
11836 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
11839 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
11842 @code{first}: Do this treatment on the first body part.
11845 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last body part.
11848 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
11852 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
11853 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
11854 regexps in the list.
11857 A list where the first element is not a string:
11859 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
11860 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
11861 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
11865 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
11870 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11871 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11872 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11873 considered to contain just a single part.
11875 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11876 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11877 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11878 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11879 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11880 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11881 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11884 @c Avoid sort of redundant entries in the same section for the printed
11885 @c manual, but add them in info to allow `i gnus-treat-foo-bar RET' or
11887 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize
11888 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize-head
11889 @vindex gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
11890 @vindex gnus-treat-overstrike
11891 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-cr
11892 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
11893 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
11894 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
11895 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-pem
11896 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
11897 @vindex gnus-treat-unsplit-urls
11898 @vindex gnus-treat-wash-html
11899 @vindex gnus-treat-date
11900 @vindex gnus-treat-from-picon
11901 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-picon
11902 @vindex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
11903 @vindex gnus-treat-from-gravatar
11904 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-gravatar
11905 @vindex gnus-treat-display-smileys
11906 @vindex gnus-treat-body-boundary
11907 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11908 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11909 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11910 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
11911 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
11912 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
11913 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
11914 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
11915 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
11916 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
11917 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
11918 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
11919 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
11920 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
11921 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
11922 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
11923 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
11924 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
11925 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
11926 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
11927 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
11930 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11931 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11932 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11933 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11936 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11937 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11939 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11941 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11942 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11943 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11944 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11945 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, first, integer)
11946 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11947 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11948 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11949 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11950 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11952 @xref{Article Washing}.
11954 @item gnus-treat-date (head)
11956 This will transform/add date headers according to the
11957 @code{gnus-article-date-headers} variable. This is a list of Date
11958 headers to display. The formats available are:
11962 Universal time, aka GMT, aka ZULU.
11965 The user's local time zone.
11968 A semi-readable English sentence.
11971 The time elapsed since the message was posted.
11973 @item combined-lapsed
11974 Both the original date header and a (shortened) elapsed time.
11977 The original date header.
11980 ISO8601 format, i.e., ``2010-11-23T22:05:21''.
11983 A format done according to the @code{gnus-article-time-format}
11988 @xref{Article Date}.
11990 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11991 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11992 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11996 @item gnus-treat-from-gravatar (head)
11997 @item gnus-treat-mail-gravatar (head)
12001 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
12003 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
12005 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
12006 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
12007 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
12011 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
12012 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
12016 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
12017 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
12021 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
12022 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
12023 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
12024 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
12025 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
12026 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
12027 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
12028 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
12029 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
12030 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
12031 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
12032 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
12033 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
12034 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
12035 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
12036 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
12037 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
12038 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
12039 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
12040 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
12042 @xref{Article Hiding}.
12044 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
12045 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
12046 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
12047 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
12048 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
12049 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
12051 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
12053 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
12054 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
12055 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
12056 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
12057 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
12059 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
12060 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
12061 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
12062 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
12063 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
12064 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
12065 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
12066 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
12068 @xref{Article Header}.
12073 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
12074 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
12075 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
12076 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
12077 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
12081 @node Article Keymap
12082 @section Article Keymap
12084 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
12085 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
12086 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
12087 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
12090 @kindex v (Article)
12091 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Article)
12092 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
12093 command or better use it as a prefix key.
12095 A few additional keystrokes are available:
12100 @kindex SPACE (Article)
12101 @findex gnus-article-next-page
12102 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
12103 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
12106 @kindex DEL (Article)
12107 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
12108 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
12109 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
12112 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
12113 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
12114 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
12115 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
12116 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
12119 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
12120 @findex gnus-article-mail
12121 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
12122 given a prefix, include the mail.
12125 @kindex s (Article)
12126 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
12127 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
12128 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
12131 @kindex ? (Article)
12132 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
12133 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
12134 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
12137 @kindex TAB (Article)
12138 @findex gnus-article-next-button
12139 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
12140 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
12143 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
12144 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
12145 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
12148 @kindex R (Article)
12149 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
12150 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
12151 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If the region is active,
12152 only yank the text in the region.
12155 @kindex S W (Article)
12156 @findex gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original
12157 Send a wide reply to the current article and yank the current article
12158 (@code{gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original}). If the region is
12159 active, only yank the text in the region.
12162 @kindex F (Article)
12163 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
12164 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
12165 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If the region is active,
12166 only yank the text in the region.
12173 @section Misc Article
12177 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
12178 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
12179 @cindex article buffers, several
12180 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
12181 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
12184 @item gnus-widen-article-window
12185 @cindex gnus-widen-article-window
12186 If non-@code{nil}, selecting the article buffer with the @kbd{h}
12187 command will ``widen'' the article window to take the entire frame.
12189 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
12190 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
12191 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
12192 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
12193 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
12195 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
12196 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
12197 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
12198 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
12199 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
12200 the contents of the article buffer.
12202 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
12203 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
12204 Hook called in article mode buffers.
12206 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12207 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12208 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
12209 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
12211 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
12212 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
12213 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
12214 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
12216 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
12217 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
12218 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
12219 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
12220 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
12221 with two extensions:
12226 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
12227 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
12228 performed. The characters and their meaning:
12233 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
12236 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
12239 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
12240 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
12241 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
12244 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
12247 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
12250 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasized strings in the article buffer.
12255 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
12259 @vindex gnus-break-pages
12261 @item gnus-break-pages
12262 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
12263 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
12264 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
12265 paging will not be done.
12267 @item gnus-page-delimiter
12268 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
12269 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
12273 @cindex internationalized domain names
12274 @vindex gnus-use-idna
12275 @item gnus-use-idna
12276 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
12277 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
12278 @samp{Cc} headers. @xref{IDNA, ,IDNA,message, The Message Manual},
12279 for how to compose such messages. This requires
12280 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
12281 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
12283 @vindex gnus-inhibit-images
12284 @item gnus-inhibit-images
12285 If this is non-@code{nil}, inhibit displaying of images inline in the
12286 article body. It is effective to images that are in articles as
12287 @acronym{MIME} parts, and images in @acronym{HTML} articles rendered
12288 when @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization,
12289 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) is
12290 @code{shr} or @code{gnus-w3m}.
12295 @node Composing Messages
12296 @chapter Composing Messages
12297 @cindex composing messages
12300 @cindex sending mail
12305 @cindex using s/mime
12306 @cindex using smime
12308 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
12309 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
12310 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
12311 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
12312 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
12313 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
12316 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
12317 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
12318 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
12319 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
12320 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
12321 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
12322 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
12323 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
12324 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
12327 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
12328 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
12334 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
12337 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
12338 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
12339 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
12340 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
12341 @code{nil} include all headers.
12343 @item gnus-add-to-list
12344 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
12345 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
12346 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
12348 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12349 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12350 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you for a confirmation when you are
12351 about to reply to news articles by mail. If it is @code{nil}, nothing
12352 interferes in what you want to do. This can also be a function
12353 receiving the group name as the only parameter which should return
12354 non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is needed, or a regular expression
12355 matching group names, where confirmation should be asked for.
12357 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
12358 press @kbd{R} anyway, this variable might be for you.
12360 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12361 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12362 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
12363 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
12364 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
12369 @node Posting Server
12370 @section Posting Server
12372 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
12373 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
12375 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
12377 It can be quite complicated.
12379 @vindex gnus-post-method
12380 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
12381 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
12382 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
12383 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
12384 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
12385 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
12386 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
12387 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
12388 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
12391 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
12394 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
12395 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
12396 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
12397 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
12399 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
12400 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
12402 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
12403 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
12406 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
12407 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
12409 @vindex message-send-mail-function
12410 When sending mail, Message invokes the function specified by the
12411 variable @code{message-send-mail-function}. Gnus tries to set it to a
12412 value suitable for your system.
12413 @xref{Mail Variables, ,Mail Variables,message,Message manual}, for more
12416 @node POP before SMTP
12417 @section POP before SMTP
12418 @cindex pop before smtp
12419 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
12420 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
12422 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
12423 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
12424 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
12425 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
12426 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12429 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
12430 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
12434 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
12435 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
12436 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
12437 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
12438 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
12439 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
12440 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
12441 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
12443 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
12444 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
12445 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
12446 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
12447 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
12448 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
12451 (setq mail-source-primary-source
12452 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12453 :password "secret"))
12457 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
12458 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
12461 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
12463 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
12464 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12465 :password "secret")))
12466 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
12469 @node Mail and Post
12470 @section Mail and Post
12472 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
12476 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
12477 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
12478 @cindex mailing lists
12480 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
12481 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
12482 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
12483 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
12484 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
12485 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
12486 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
12487 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
12488 still a pain, though.
12490 @item gnus-user-agent
12491 @vindex gnus-user-agent
12494 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
12495 User-Agent header. It can be a list of symbols or a string. Valid
12496 symbols are @code{gnus} (show Gnus version) and @code{emacs} (show Emacs
12497 version). In addition to the Emacs version, you can add @code{codename}
12498 (show (S)XEmacs codename) or either @code{config} (show system
12499 configuration) or @code{type} (show system type). If you set it to a
12500 string, be sure to use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
12504 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
12505 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
12506 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
12509 @findex ispell-message
12511 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
12514 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
12515 you're in, you could say something like the following:
12518 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
12522 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
12523 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
12525 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
12528 Modify to suit your needs.
12530 @vindex gnus-message-highlight-citation
12531 If @code{gnus-message-highlight-citation} is t, different levels of
12532 citations are highlighted like in Gnus article buffers also in message
12535 @node Archived Messages
12536 @section Archived Messages
12537 @cindex archived messages
12538 @cindex sent messages
12540 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
12541 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
12542 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
12543 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
12546 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
12547 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
12550 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
12551 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
12552 use to store sent messages. The default is @code{"archive"}, and when
12553 actually being used it is expanded into:
12556 (nnfolder "archive"
12557 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
12558 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
12559 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
12560 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
12564 @vindex gnus-update-message-archive-method
12565 Note: a server like this is saved in the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file first
12566 so that it may be used as a real method of the server which is named
12567 @code{"archive"} (that is, for the case where
12568 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} is set to @code{"archive"}) ever
12569 since. If it once has been saved, it will never be updated by default
12570 even if you change the value of @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12571 afterward. Therefore, the server @code{"archive"} doesn't necessarily
12572 mean the @code{nnfolder} server like this at all times. If you want the
12573 saved method to reflect always the value of
12574 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, set the
12575 @code{gnus-update-message-archive-method} variable to a non-@code{nil}
12576 value. The default value of this variable is @code{nil}.
12579 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
12580 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
12581 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
12582 directory chosen, you could say something like:
12585 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
12586 '(nnfolder "archive"
12587 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
12588 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
12589 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
12592 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
12594 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
12595 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
12596 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
12598 This variable can be used to do the following:
12602 Messages will be saved in that group.
12604 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
12605 message will not be stored in the select method given by
12606 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
12607 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12608 has the default value shown above. Then setting
12609 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
12610 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
12611 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
12614 @item a list of strings
12615 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
12617 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
12618 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
12621 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
12626 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
12628 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
12631 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
12633 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
12636 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
12638 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12639 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
12640 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
12641 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
12644 More complex stuff:
12646 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12647 '((if (message-news-p)
12652 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
12653 messages in one file per month:
12656 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12657 '((if (message-news-p)
12659 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
12662 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
12663 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
12664 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
12665 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
12666 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
12667 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
12668 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
12669 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
12670 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
12671 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
12674 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12675 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12676 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
12678 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12679 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12680 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
12681 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
12682 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
12683 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
12684 changed in the future.
12689 @node Posting Styles
12690 @section Posting Styles
12691 @cindex posting styles
12694 All them variables, they make my head swim.
12696 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
12697 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
12698 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
12701 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
12702 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
12703 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
12704 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
12705 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
12710 (signature "Peace and happiness")
12711 (organization "What me?"))
12713 (signature "Death to everybody"))
12714 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
12715 (organization "Emacs is it")))
12718 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
12719 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
12720 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
12721 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
12722 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
12723 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
12724 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
12725 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
12727 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
12728 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
12729 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
12730 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
12731 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
12732 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
12733 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
12734 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
12735 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
12736 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
12737 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
12738 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
12739 said to @dfn{match}.
12741 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
12742 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. In
12743 addition, you can also use the @code{(@var{name} :file @var{value})}
12744 form or the @code{(@var{name} :value @var{value})} form. Where
12745 @code{:file} signifies @var{value} represents a file name and its
12746 contents should be used as the attribute value, @code{:value} signifies
12747 @var{value} does not represent a file name explicitly. The attribute
12748 name can be one of:
12751 @item @code{signature}
12752 @item @code{signature-file}
12753 @item @code{x-face-file}
12754 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
12755 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
12759 Note that the @code{signature-file} attribute honors the variable
12760 @code{message-signature-directory}.
12762 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
12763 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
12764 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
12765 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
12766 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
12768 The attribute value can be a string, a function with zero arguments
12769 (the return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used)
12770 or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be
12771 used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
12772 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current
12773 article are available through the @code{message-reply-headers}
12774 variable, which is a vector of the following headers: number subject
12775 from date id references chars lines xref extra.
12777 In the case of a string value, if the @code{match} is a regular
12778 expression, a @samp{gnus-match-substitute-replacement} is proceed on
12779 the value to replace the positional parameters @samp{\@var{n}} by the
12780 corresponding parenthetical matches (see @xref{Replacing the Text that
12781 Matched, , Text Replacement, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}.)
12783 @vindex message-reply-headers
12785 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
12786 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
12787 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
12789 @findex message-mail-p
12790 @findex message-news-p
12792 So here's a new example:
12795 (setq gnus-posting-styles
12797 (signature-file "~/.signature")
12799 (x-face-file "~/.xface")
12800 (x-url (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
12801 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
12803 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
12804 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
12805 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
12806 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
12807 (signature my-news-signature))
12808 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
12809 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
12810 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
12811 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
12812 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
12813 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
12814 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
12815 (address "user@@bar.foo")
12816 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
12817 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
12819 (From (with-current-buffer gnus-article-buffer
12820 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
12822 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
12825 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
12826 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
12827 if you fill many roles.
12828 You may also use @code{message-alternative-emails} instead.
12829 @xref{Message Headers, ,Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
12835 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
12836 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
12837 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
12838 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
12839 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
12841 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
12842 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
12843 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
12844 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
12845 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
12849 @vindex nndraft-directory
12850 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
12851 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
12852 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
12853 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
12854 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
12855 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
12857 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
12858 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
12859 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
12860 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
12861 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
12862 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
12863 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
12864 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
12865 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
12867 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
12868 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
12869 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
12870 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
12871 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
12872 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
12873 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
12874 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
12875 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
12876 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
12877 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
12878 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
12879 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
12880 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
12882 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
12883 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
12884 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
12886 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
12887 @kindex D e (Draft)
12888 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
12889 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
12890 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
12892 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
12895 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
12896 @kindex D s (Draft)
12897 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
12898 @kindex D S (Draft)
12899 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
12900 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
12901 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
12902 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
12903 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
12906 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
12907 @kindex D t (Draft)
12908 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
12909 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
12910 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
12912 Finally, if you want to delete a draft, use the normal @kbd{B DEL}
12913 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12916 @node Rejected Articles
12917 @section Rejected Articles
12918 @cindex rejected articles
12920 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
12921 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
12922 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
12923 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
12925 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
12926 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
12927 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
12928 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
12929 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
12931 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
12932 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
12933 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
12935 @node Signing and encrypting
12936 @section Signing and encrypting
12938 @cindex using s/mime
12939 @cindex using smime
12941 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
12942 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
12943 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
12944 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
12946 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
12947 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
12948 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
12949 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
12950 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
12951 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
12952 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
12953 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
12954 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
12955 automatically encrypted messages.
12957 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
12958 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
12959 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
12964 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
12965 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
12967 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12970 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
12971 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12973 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12976 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
12977 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12979 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12982 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
12983 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
12985 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12988 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
12989 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
12991 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12994 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
12995 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
12997 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
13000 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
13001 @findex mml-unsecure-message
13002 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
13006 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
13008 @node Select Methods
13009 @chapter Select Methods
13010 @cindex foreign groups
13011 @cindex select methods
13013 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
13014 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
13015 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
13016 personal mail group.
13018 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
13019 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
13020 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
13021 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
13022 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
13023 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
13025 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
13026 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
13028 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
13031 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
13032 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
13033 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
13034 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
13035 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
13037 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
13040 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
13041 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
13042 * Using IMAP:: Reading mail from @acronym{IMAP}.
13043 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
13044 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
13045 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files.
13046 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
13047 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
13048 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
13052 @node Server Buffer
13053 @section Server Buffer
13055 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
13056 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
13057 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
13058 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
13059 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
13060 back end represents a virtual server.
13062 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
13063 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
13064 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
13065 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
13067 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
13068 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
13069 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
13070 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
13071 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
13072 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
13073 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
13075 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
13076 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
13079 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
13080 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
13081 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
13082 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
13083 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
13084 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
13085 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
13088 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
13089 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
13092 @node Server Buffer Format
13093 @subsection Server Buffer Format
13094 @cindex server buffer format
13096 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
13097 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
13098 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
13099 variable, with some simple extensions:
13104 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
13107 The name of this server.
13110 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
13113 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
13116 Whether this server is agentized.
13119 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
13120 The mode line can also be customized by using the
13121 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
13122 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
13132 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
13135 @node Server Commands
13136 @subsection Server Commands
13137 @cindex server commands
13143 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Server)
13144 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
13145 command or better use it as a prefix key.
13149 @findex gnus-server-add-server
13150 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
13154 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
13155 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
13159 @findex gnus-server-show-server
13160 Show the definition of a server (@code{gnus-server-show-server}).
13163 @kindex SPACE (Server)
13164 @findex gnus-server-read-server
13165 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
13169 @findex gnus-server-exit
13170 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
13174 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
13175 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
13179 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
13180 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
13184 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13185 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
13189 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
13190 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
13194 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
13195 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
13196 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
13201 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
13202 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
13203 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
13204 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
13208 @findex gnus-server-compact-server
13210 Compact all groups in the server under point
13211 (@code{gnus-server-compact-server}). Currently implemented only in
13212 nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes gaps between article numbers,
13213 hence getting a correct total article count.
13217 Some more commands for closing, disabling, and re-opening servers are
13218 listed in @ref{Unavailable Servers}.
13221 @node Example Methods
13222 @subsection Example Methods
13224 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
13227 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
13230 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
13236 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
13237 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
13240 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
13241 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
13243 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
13244 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
13248 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
13251 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
13252 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
13254 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
13255 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
13256 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
13260 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
13263 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
13266 Here's the method for a public spool:
13270 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
13271 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
13277 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
13278 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
13279 on the firewall machine and connect with
13280 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} from there to the
13281 @acronym{NNTP} server.
13282 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
13283 should probably look something like this:
13287 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat)
13288 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
13289 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host"))
13292 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
13293 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
13294 configuration to the example above:
13297 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13300 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}. Here's an example for
13301 an indirect connection:
13304 (setq gnus-select-method
13306 (nntp-address "news.server.example")
13307 (nntp-via-user-name "intermediate_user_name")
13308 (nntp-via-address "intermediate.host.example")
13309 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13310 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches ("-C"))
13311 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat)))
13314 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
13315 provide automatic authorization, of course.
13317 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
13318 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
13319 netcat connection to the news server as follows:
13323 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13324 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-netcat-stream)
13325 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13329 @node Creating a Virtual Server
13330 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
13332 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
13333 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
13335 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
13336 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
13337 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
13339 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
13341 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
13342 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
13343 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
13344 will contain the following:
13354 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
13355 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
13358 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
13359 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
13360 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
13363 @node Server Variables
13364 @subsection Server Variables
13365 @cindex server variables
13366 @cindex server parameters
13368 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
13369 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
13370 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
13371 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
13372 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
13374 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
13375 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
13376 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
13377 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
13378 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
13379 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
13380 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
13381 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
13382 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
13386 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
13387 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
13388 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
13391 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
13393 @node Servers and Methods
13394 @subsection Servers and Methods
13396 Wherever you would normally use a select method
13397 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
13398 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
13399 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
13403 @node Unavailable Servers
13404 @subsection Unavailable Servers
13406 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
13407 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
13408 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
13409 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
13410 actually the case or not.
13412 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
13413 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
13414 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
13415 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
13416 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
13417 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
13418 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
13419 it will regard that server as ``down''.
13421 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
13422 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
13424 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
13425 with the following commands:
13431 @findex gnus-server-open-server
13432 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
13433 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
13437 @findex gnus-server-close-server
13438 Close the connection (if any) to the server
13439 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
13443 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
13444 Mark the current server as unreachable
13445 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
13448 @kindex M-o (Server)
13449 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
13450 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
13451 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
13454 @kindex M-c (Server)
13455 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
13456 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
13457 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
13461 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
13462 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
13463 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
13467 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13468 Copy a server and give it a new name
13469 (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}). This can be useful if you have a
13470 complex method definition, and want to use the same definition towards
13471 a different (physical) server.
13475 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
13476 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
13482 @section Getting News
13483 @cindex reading news
13484 @cindex news back ends
13486 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
13487 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
13488 or it can read from a local spool.
13491 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13492 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
13500 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
13501 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
13502 server as the, uhm, address.
13504 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
13505 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
13506 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
13507 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13509 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
13510 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
13511 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
13513 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
13518 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
13519 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
13520 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
13522 @cindex authentication
13523 @cindex nntp authentication
13524 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13525 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
13526 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
13527 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
13528 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
13529 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
13530 present in this hook.
13532 @item nntp-authinfo-function
13533 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
13534 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13535 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
13536 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
13537 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
13538 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
13539 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
13540 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
13541 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
13542 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
13543 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
13547 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
13550 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
13552 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
13553 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
13554 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
13555 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
13556 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
13557 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
13558 @samp{force} is explained below.
13562 Here's an example file:
13565 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
13566 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
13569 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
13570 have to be first, for instance.
13572 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
13573 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
13574 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
13575 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
13576 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
13577 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
13578 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
13580 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
13581 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
13587 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
13588 previously mentioned.
13590 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
13592 @item nntp-server-action-alist
13593 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
13594 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
13595 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
13596 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
13599 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
13600 '(("innd" (ding))))
13603 You probably don't want to do that, though.
13605 The default value is
13608 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
13609 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
13610 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
13613 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
13614 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
13616 @item nntp-maximum-request
13617 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
13618 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
13619 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
13620 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
13621 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
13622 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
13623 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
13625 @item nntp-connection-timeout
13626 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
13627 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
13628 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
13629 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
13630 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
13631 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
13632 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
13633 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
13634 no timeouts are done.
13636 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
13637 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
13638 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
13639 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
13642 @item nntp-xover-commands
13643 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
13644 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
13646 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
13647 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
13651 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
13652 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
13653 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
13654 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
13655 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
13656 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
13657 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
13658 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
13659 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
13660 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
13661 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
13663 @item nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13664 @vindex nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13665 When Gnus refers to an article having the @code{Message-ID} that a user
13666 specifies or having the @code{Message-ID} of the parent article of the
13667 current one (@pxref{Finding the Parent}), Gnus sends a @code{HEAD}
13668 command to the @acronym{NNTP} server to know where it is, and the server
13669 returns the data containing the pairs of a group and an article number
13670 in the @code{Xref} header. Gnus normally uses the article number to
13671 refer to the article if the data shows that that article is in the
13672 current group, while it uses the @code{Message-ID} otherwise. However,
13673 some news servers, e.g., ones running Diablo, run multiple engines
13674 having the same articles but article numbers are not kept synchronized
13675 between them. In that case, the article number that appears in the
13676 @code{Xref} header varies by which engine is chosen, so you cannot refer
13677 to the parent article that is in the current group, for instance. If
13678 you connect to such a server, set this variable to a non-@code{nil}
13679 value, and Gnus never uses article numbers. For example:
13682 (setq gnus-select-method
13684 (nntp-address "newszilla.example.com")
13685 (nntp-xref-number-is-evil t)
13689 The default value of this server variable is @code{nil}.
13691 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
13692 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
13693 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13695 @item nntp-record-commands
13696 @vindex nntp-record-commands
13697 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
13698 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
13699 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
13700 that doesn't seem to work.
13702 @item nntp-open-connection-function
13703 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
13704 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
13705 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
13706 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
13707 Seven pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped
13708 in two categories: direct connection functions (four pre-made), and
13709 indirect ones (three pre-made).
13711 @item nntp-never-echoes-commands
13712 @vindex nntp-never-echoes-commands
13713 Non-@code{nil} means the nntp server never echoes commands. It is
13714 reported that some nntps server doesn't echo commands. So, you may want
13715 to set this to non-@code{nil} in the method for such a server setting
13716 @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream} for
13717 example. The default value is @code{nil}. Note that the
13718 @code{nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands} variable
13719 overrides the @code{nil} value of this variable.
13721 @item nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13722 @vindex nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13723 List of functions that never echo commands. Add or set a function which
13724 you set to @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to this list if it does
13725 not echo commands. Note that a non-@code{nil} value of the
13726 @code{nntp-never-echoes-commands} variable overrides this variable. The
13727 default value is @code{(nntp-open-network-stream)}.
13729 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
13730 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
13731 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
13732 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
13733 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
13734 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
13735 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
13738 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
13741 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
13742 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
13744 @item nntp-server-list-active-group
13745 If @code{nil}, then always use @samp{GROUP} instead of @samp{LIST
13746 ACTIVE}. This is usually slower, but on misconfigured servers that
13747 don't update their active files often, this can help.
13753 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
13754 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
13755 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
13756 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
13760 @node Direct Functions
13761 @subsubsection Direct Functions
13762 @cindex direct connection functions
13764 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
13765 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
13766 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
13767 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13770 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
13771 @item nntp-open-network-stream
13772 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
13773 remote system. If both Emacs and the server supports it, the
13774 connection will be upgraded to an encrypted @acronym{STARTTLS}
13775 connection automatically.
13778 The same as the above, but don't do automatic @acronym{STARTTLS} upgrades.
13780 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
13781 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
13782 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13783 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
13784 installed. You then define a server as follows:
13787 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13788 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
13790 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13791 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
13792 (nntp-port-number 563)
13793 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13796 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
13797 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
13798 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13799 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
13800 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
13801 then define a server as follows:
13804 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13805 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
13807 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13808 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
13809 (nntp-port-number 563)
13810 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13813 @findex nntp-open-netcat-stream
13814 @item nntp-open-netcat-stream
13815 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server using the @code{netcat}
13816 program. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have
13817 the default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
13818 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
13819 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
13820 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
13824 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13825 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-netcat-stream)
13826 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13829 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
13830 session, which is not a good idea.
13832 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
13833 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
13834 Like @code{nntp-open-netcat-stream}, but uses @code{telnet} rather than
13835 @code{netcat}. @code{telnet} is a bit less robust because of things
13836 like line-end-conversion, but sometimes netcat is simply
13837 not available. The previous example would turn into:
13841 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13842 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
13843 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
13844 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
13849 @node Indirect Functions
13850 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
13851 @cindex indirect connection functions
13853 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
13854 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13855 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
13856 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
13857 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
13858 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13861 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13862 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13863 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then uses @code{netcat} to connect
13864 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
13865 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
13867 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
13870 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13871 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13872 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13873 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13875 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13876 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13877 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13878 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
13879 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
13880 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections.
13883 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13884 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13885 Does essentially the same, but uses @code{telnet} instead of @samp{netcat}
13886 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
13887 @code{telnet} is a bit less robust because of things like
13888 line-end-conversion, but sometimes @code{netcat} is simply not available.
13890 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13893 @item nntp-telnet-command
13894 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
13895 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
13896 intermediate host. The default is @samp{telnet}.
13898 @item nntp-telnet-switches
13899 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
13900 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13901 @code{nntp-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{("-8")}.
13903 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13904 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13905 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13906 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13908 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13909 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13910 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13911 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. If you use @samp{ssh}, you may need to set
13912 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
13913 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
13914 host. The default is @code{nil}.
13917 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13918 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13920 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13921 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13922 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
13923 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
13925 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13928 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
13929 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
13930 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
13933 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
13934 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
13935 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13936 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
13938 @item nntp-via-user-password
13939 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
13940 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
13942 @item nntp-via-envuser
13943 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
13944 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
13945 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
13946 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
13948 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
13949 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
13950 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
13951 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
13955 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13956 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13960 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
13965 @item nntp-via-user-name
13966 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
13967 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
13969 @item nntp-via-address
13970 @vindex nntp-via-address
13971 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
13976 @node Common Variables
13977 @subsubsection Common Variables
13979 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
13980 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
13981 affected (the values of the following variables will be used as the
13982 default if each virtual @code{nntp} server doesn't specify those server
13983 variables individually).
13987 @item nntp-pre-command
13988 @vindex nntp-pre-command
13989 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
13990 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
13991 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}). This is
13992 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
13995 @vindex nntp-address
13996 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13998 @item nntp-port-number
13999 @vindex nntp-port-number
14000 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
14001 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
14002 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
14003 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
14004 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
14005 not work with named ports.
14007 @item nntp-end-of-line
14008 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
14009 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
14010 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
14011 using a non native telnet connection function.
14013 @item nntp-netcat-command
14014 @vindex nntp-netcat-command
14015 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
14016 @samp{netcat}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
14017 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
14020 @item nntp-netcat-switches
14021 @vindex nntp-netcat-switches
14022 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-netcat-command}. The default
14028 @subsubsection NNTP marks
14029 @cindex storing NNTP marks
14031 Gnus stores marks (@pxref{Marking Articles}) for @acronym{NNTP}
14032 servers in marks files. A marks file records what marks you have set
14033 in a group and each file is specific to the corresponding server.
14034 Marks files are stored in @file{~/News/marks}
14035 (@code{nntp-marks-directory}) under a classic hierarchy resembling
14036 that of a news server, for example marks for the group
14037 @samp{gmane.discuss} on the news.gmane.org server will be stored in
14038 the file @file{~/News/marks/news.gmane.org/gmane/discuss/.marks}.
14040 Marks files are useful because you can copy the @file{~/News/marks}
14041 directory (using rsync, scp or whatever) to another Gnus installation,
14042 and it will realize what articles you have read and marked. The data
14043 in @file{~/News/marks} has priority over the same data in
14044 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
14046 Note that marks files are very much server-specific: Gnus remembers
14047 the article numbers so if you don't use the same servers on both
14048 installations things are most likely to break (most @acronym{NNTP}
14049 servers do not use the same article numbers as any other server).
14050 However, if you use servers A, B, C on one installation and servers A,
14051 D, E on the other, you can sync the marks files for A and then you'll
14052 get synchronization for that server between the two installations.
14054 Using @acronym{NNTP} marks can possibly incur a performance penalty so
14055 if Gnus feels sluggish, try setting the @code{nntp-marks-is-evil}
14056 variable to @code{t}. Marks will then be stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
14062 @item nntp-marks-is-evil
14063 @vindex nntp-marks-is-evil
14064 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any marks files. The
14065 default is @code{nil}.
14067 @item nntp-marks-directory
14068 @vindex nntp-marks-directory
14069 The directory where marks for nntp groups will be stored.
14075 @subsection News Spool
14079 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
14080 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
14081 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
14084 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
14085 anything else) as the address.
14087 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
14088 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
14089 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
14090 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
14094 @item nnspool-inews-program
14095 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
14096 Program used to post an article.
14098 @item nnspool-inews-switches
14099 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
14100 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
14102 @item nnspool-spool-directory
14103 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
14104 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
14105 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
14107 @item nnspool-nov-directory
14108 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
14109 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
14110 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
14112 @item nnspool-lib-dir
14113 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
14114 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
14116 @item nnspool-active-file
14117 @vindex nnspool-active-file
14118 The name of the active file.
14120 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
14121 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
14122 The name of the group descriptions file.
14124 @item nnspool-history-file
14125 @vindex nnspool-history-file
14126 The name of the news history file.
14128 @item nnspool-active-times-file
14129 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
14130 The name of the active date file.
14132 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
14133 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
14134 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
14137 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
14138 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
14140 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
14141 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
14142 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
14149 @section Using IMAP
14152 The most popular mail backend is probably @code{nnimap}, which
14153 provides access to @acronym{IMAP} servers. @acronym{IMAP} servers
14154 store mail remotely, so the client doesn't store anything locally.
14155 This means that it's a convenient choice when you're reading your mail
14156 from different locations, or with different user agents.
14159 * Connecting to an IMAP Server:: Getting started with @acronym{IMAP}.
14160 * Customizing the IMAP Connection:: Variables for @acronym{IMAP} connection.
14161 * Client-Side IMAP Splitting:: Put mail in the correct mail box.
14165 @node Connecting to an IMAP Server
14166 @subsection Connecting to an IMAP Server
14168 Connecting to an @acronym{IMAP} can be very easy. Type @kbd{B} in the
14169 group buffer, or (if your primary interest is reading email), say
14173 (setq gnus-select-method
14174 '(nnimap "imap.gmail.com"))
14177 You'll be prompted for a user name and password. If you grow tired of
14178 that, then add the following to your @file{~/.authinfo} file:
14181 machine imap.gmail.com login <username> password <password> port imap
14184 That should basically be it for most users.
14187 @node Customizing the IMAP Connection
14188 @subsection Customizing the IMAP Connection
14190 Here's an example method that's more complex:
14193 (nnimap "imap.gmail.com"
14194 (nnimap-inbox "INBOX")
14195 (nnimap-split-methods default)
14197 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14201 @item nnimap-address
14202 The address of the server, like @samp{imap.gmail.com}.
14204 @item nnimap-server-port
14205 If the server uses a non-standard port, that can be specified here. A
14206 typical port would be @code{"imap"} or @code{"imaps"}.
14208 @item nnimap-stream
14209 How @code{nnimap} should connect to the server. Possible values are:
14213 This is the default, and this first tries the @code{ssl} setting, and
14214 then tries the @code{network} setting.
14217 This uses standard @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14220 Non-encrypted and unsafe straight socket connection, but will upgrade
14221 to encrypted @acronym{STARTTLS} if both Emacs and the server
14225 Encrypted @acronym{STARTTLS} over the normal @acronym{IMAP} port.
14228 If you need to tunnel via other systems to connect to the server, you
14229 can use this option, and customize @code{nnimap-shell-program} to be
14234 @item nnimap-authenticator
14235 Some @acronym{IMAP} servers allow anonymous logins. In that case,
14236 this should be set to @code{anonymous}.
14238 @item nnimap-expunge
14239 If non-@code{nil}, expunge articles after deleting them. This is always done
14240 if the server supports UID EXPUNGE, but it's not done by default on
14241 servers that doesn't support that command.
14243 @item nnimap-streaming
14244 Virtually all @code{IMAP} server support fast streaming of data. If
14245 you have problems connecting to the server, try setting this to @code{nil}.
14247 @item nnimap-fetch-partial-articles
14248 If non-@code{nil}, fetch partial articles from the server. If set to
14249 a string, then it's interpreted as a regexp, and parts that have
14250 matching types will be fetched. For instance, @samp{"text/"} will
14251 fetch all textual parts, while leaving the rest on the server.
14256 @node Client-Side IMAP Splitting
14257 @subsection Client-Side IMAP Splitting
14259 Many people prefer to do the sorting/splitting of mail into their mail
14260 boxes on the @acronym{IMAP} server. That way they don't have to
14261 download the mail they're not all that interested in.
14263 If you do want to do client-side mail splitting, then the following
14264 variables are relevant:
14268 This is the @acronym{IMAP} mail box that will be scanned for new mail.
14270 @item nnimap-split-methods
14271 Uses the same syntax as @code{nnmail-split-methods} (@pxref{Splitting
14272 Mail}), except the symbol @code{default}, which means that it should
14273 use the value of the @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable.
14275 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14276 Uses the same syntax as @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14278 @item nnimap-unsplittable-articles
14279 List of flag symbols to ignore when doing splitting. That is,
14280 articles that have these flags won't be considered when splitting.
14281 The default is @samp{(%Deleted %Seen)}.
14285 Here's a complete example @code{nnimap} backend with a client-side
14286 ``fancy'' splitting method:
14289 (nnimap "imap.example.com"
14290 (nnimap-inbox "INBOX")
14291 (nnimap-split-methods
14292 (| ("MailScanner-SpamCheck" "spam" "spam.detected")
14293 (to "foo@@bar.com" "foo")
14299 @section Getting Mail
14300 @cindex reading mail
14303 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
14307 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
14308 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
14309 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
14310 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
14311 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
14312 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
14313 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
14314 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
14315 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
14316 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
14317 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
14318 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
14319 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
14323 @node Mail in a Newsreader
14324 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
14326 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
14327 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
14328 of a culture shock.
14330 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
14331 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
14333 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
14334 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
14335 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
14336 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
14338 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
14340 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
14341 deleted? How awful!
14343 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
14344 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
14345 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
14346 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
14349 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
14350 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
14351 they want to treat a message.
14353 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
14354 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
14355 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
14356 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
14357 archived somewhere else.
14359 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
14360 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
14361 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
14362 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
14363 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
14365 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
14366 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
14367 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
14369 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
14370 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
14373 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
14374 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
14375 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
14376 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
14377 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
14379 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
14380 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
14381 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
14382 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
14383 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
14384 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
14388 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
14389 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
14391 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
14392 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
14393 and things will happen automatically.
14395 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
14396 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14399 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14402 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
14403 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
14404 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
14405 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
14406 like any other group.
14408 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
14411 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14412 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14413 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14417 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
14418 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
14419 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
14422 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
14423 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
14424 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
14427 @node Splitting Mail
14428 @subsection Splitting Mail
14429 @cindex splitting mail
14430 @cindex mail splitting
14431 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
14433 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
14434 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
14435 to be split into groups.
14438 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14439 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14440 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14441 ("mail.other" "")))
14444 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
14445 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
14446 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
14447 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
14448 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
14449 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
14450 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
14453 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
14457 In that case, @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether
14458 the inserted text should be made lowercase. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14460 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14461 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
14462 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
14463 mail belongs in that group.
14465 @cindex @samp{bogus} group
14466 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
14467 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{""} so that it matches any mails
14468 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
14469 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first rule
14470 to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled. In
14471 that case, all matching rules will ``win''.) If no rule matched, the mail
14472 will end up in the @samp{bogus} group. When new groups are created by
14473 splitting mail, you may want to run @code{gnus-group-find-new-groups} to
14474 see the new groups. This also applies to the @samp{bogus} group.
14476 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
14477 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
14478 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
14479 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
14480 thinks should carry this mail message.
14482 This variable can also be a fancy split method. For the syntax,
14483 see @ref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14485 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
14486 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
14487 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
14488 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
14490 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
14491 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
14492 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
14493 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
14494 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{""}) group.
14496 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
14499 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
14500 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
14501 links. If that's the case for you, set
14502 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
14503 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
14505 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
14506 @findex nnmail-split-history
14507 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
14508 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
14509 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
14510 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
14513 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
14514 Header lines longer than the value of
14515 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
14518 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
14519 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
14520 By default, splitting does not decode headers, so you can not match on
14521 non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. But it is useful if you want to match
14522 articles based on the raw header data. To enable it, set the
14523 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} variable to a non-@code{nil} value.
14524 In addition, the value of the @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
14525 variable is used for decoding non-@acronym{MIME} encoded string when
14526 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} is non-@code{nil}. The default
14527 value is @code{nil} which means not to decode non-@acronym{MIME} encoded
14528 string. A suitable value for you will be @code{undecided} or be the
14529 charset used normally in mails you are interested in.
14531 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14532 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
14533 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
14534 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
14535 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
14536 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
14537 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
14538 other kinds of entries.)
14540 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
14541 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
14542 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
14543 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
14544 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
14545 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
14546 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
14547 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
14548 month's rent money.
14552 @subsection Mail Sources
14554 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
14555 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
14556 maildir, for instance.
14559 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
14560 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
14561 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
14565 @node Mail Source Specifiers
14566 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
14568 @cindex mail server
14571 @cindex mail source
14573 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
14574 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
14579 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
14582 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
14583 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
14584 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
14587 The @code{mail-sources} is global for all mail groups. You can specify
14588 an additional mail source for a particular group by including the
14589 @code{group} mail specifier in @code{mail-sources}, and setting a
14590 @code{mail-source} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) specifying
14591 a single mail source. When this is used, @code{mail-sources} is
14592 typically just @code{(group)}; the @code{mail-source} parameter for a
14593 group might look like this:
14596 (mail-source . (file :path "home/user/spools/foo.spool"))
14599 This means that the group's (and only this group's) messages will be
14600 fetched from the spool file @samp{/user/spools/foo.spool}.
14602 The following mail source types are available:
14606 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
14612 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
14613 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
14614 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
14618 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14621 An example file mail source:
14624 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
14627 Or using the default file name:
14633 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
14634 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
14635 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
14636 mail spool while moving the mail.
14638 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
14642 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
14645 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
14649 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
14652 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
14654 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
14657 Alter this script to fit the @samp{movemail} and temporary
14658 file you want to use.
14662 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
14663 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
14664 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
14665 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
14666 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
14667 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
14668 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
14669 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
14670 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
14671 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
14673 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14674 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
14675 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
14676 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
14682 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
14686 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
14690 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
14691 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
14692 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
14693 predicate are considered.
14697 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14701 An example directory mail source:
14704 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
14709 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14715 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
14716 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14719 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
14720 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
14721 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
14722 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
14723 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
14726 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
14730 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
14731 the user is prompted.
14734 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
14735 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
14738 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
14741 The valid format specifier characters are:
14745 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
14746 included in this string.
14749 The name of the server.
14752 The port number of the server.
14755 The user name to use.
14758 The password to use.
14761 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14762 corresponding keywords.
14765 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14766 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14769 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14770 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14773 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
14774 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
14775 mail should be moved to.
14777 @item :authentication
14778 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
14779 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
14784 @vindex pop3-movemail
14785 @vindex pop3-leave-mail-on-server
14786 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
14787 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used. If @code{pop3-leave-mail-on-server}
14788 is non-@code{nil} the mail is to be left on the @acronym{POP} server
14789 after fetching when using @code{pop3-movemail}. Note that POP servers
14790 maintain no state information between sessions, so what the client
14791 believes is there and what is actually there may not match up. If they
14792 do not, then you may get duplicate mails or the whole thing can fall
14793 apart and leave you with a corrupt mailbox.
14795 Here are some examples for getting mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14796 Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server, using the default user
14797 name, and default fetcher:
14803 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
14806 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
14807 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
14810 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
14813 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
14817 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
14818 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
14819 contains exactly one mail.
14825 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
14826 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
14829 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
14830 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
14832 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
14833 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
14834 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
14837 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
14838 from locking problems).
14842 Two example maildir mail sources:
14845 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
14846 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
14850 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
14855 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
14856 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
14857 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
14858 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
14859 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{Using IMAP}, for more information.
14865 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
14866 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14869 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
14870 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14873 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
14877 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
14881 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
14882 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
14883 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
14884 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
14886 @item :authentication
14887 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
14888 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
14889 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
14890 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
14893 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
14894 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
14895 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
14901 Make sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g.,
14902 don't forget to redirect the error output to the void. The valid format
14903 specifier characters are:
14907 The name of the server.
14910 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
14913 The port number of the server.
14916 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14917 corresponding keywords.
14920 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
14921 which normally is the mailbox which receives incoming mail.
14924 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
14925 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
14926 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
14927 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
14928 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
14929 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
14932 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
14933 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
14934 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
14935 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
14938 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
14939 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
14943 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
14946 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
14948 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
14952 Get the actual mail source from the @code{mail-source} group parameter,
14953 @xref{Group Parameters}.
14958 @item Common Keywords
14959 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
14965 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
14966 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
14971 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
14976 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
14977 useful when you use local mail and news.
14982 @subsubsection Function Interface
14984 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
14985 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
14986 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
14987 consider the following mail-source setting:
14990 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
14991 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
14994 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
14995 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
14996 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
14997 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
14998 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
15000 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
15003 @node Mail Source Customization
15004 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
15006 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
15007 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
15011 @item mail-source-crash-box
15012 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
15013 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
15014 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
15017 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
15018 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
15019 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
15020 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
15021 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
15022 (the deletion will only happen when receiving new mail). You may also
15023 set @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
15024 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
15025 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{10} in alpha Gnusae
15026 and @code{2} in released Gnusae. @xref{Gnus Development}.
15028 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
15029 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
15030 If non-@code{nil}, ask for confirmation before deleting old incoming
15031 files. This variable only applies when
15032 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
15034 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
15035 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
15036 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
15038 @item mail-source-directory
15039 @vindex mail-source-directory
15040 Directory where incoming mail source files (if any) will be stored. The
15041 default is @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for
15042 is to say where the incoming files will be stored if the variable
15043 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a number.
15045 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
15046 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
15047 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
15048 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
15049 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
15050 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a
15053 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
15054 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
15055 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
15057 @item mail-source-movemail-program
15058 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
15059 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
15060 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
15065 @node Fetching Mail
15066 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
15068 @vindex mail-sources
15069 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
15070 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
15071 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
15073 If this variable is @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to
15074 fetch mail by themselves.
15076 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
15077 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
15082 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
15083 :password "secret")))
15086 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
15090 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
15091 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
15094 :password "secret")))
15098 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
15099 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
15100 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
15101 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
15102 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
15103 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
15107 @node Mail Back End Variables
15108 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
15110 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
15114 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
15115 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
15116 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
15117 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
15119 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
15120 @item nnmail-split-hook
15121 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
15122 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
15123 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
15124 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
15125 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
15126 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
15127 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
15128 in the buffer will show up in any files.
15129 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
15132 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15133 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15134 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15135 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15136 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
15137 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
15138 starting to handle the new mail) and
15139 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
15140 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
15141 default file modes the new mail files get:
15144 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15145 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
15147 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15148 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
15151 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
15152 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
15153 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
15154 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
15155 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
15156 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
15157 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
15159 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
15160 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
15161 @findex delete-file
15162 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
15164 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15165 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15166 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
15167 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
15168 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
15170 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
15171 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
15172 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
15173 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
15174 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
15176 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
15177 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
15178 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
15183 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
15184 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
15185 @cindex mail splitting
15186 @cindex fancy mail splitting
15188 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
15189 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
15190 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
15191 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
15192 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
15193 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
15195 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
15198 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
15199 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
15200 ;; @r{from real errors.}
15201 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
15203 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
15204 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
15205 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
15206 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
15207 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
15208 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
15209 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
15210 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
15211 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
15212 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
15213 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
15214 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
15215 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
15216 (any "mypackage@@somewhere" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
15217 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
15218 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
15219 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
15223 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
15224 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
15225 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
15230 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
15231 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
15233 @c Don't fold this line.
15234 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split} [@var{invert-partial}])
15235 The split can be a list containing at least three elements. If the
15236 first element @var{field} (a regexp matching a header) contains
15237 @var{value} (also a regexp) then store the message as specified by
15240 If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
15241 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
15242 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
15243 @var{split} is processed.
15245 The last element @var{invert-partial} is optional. If it is
15246 non-@code{nil}, the match-partial-words behavior controlled by the
15247 variable @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} (see below) is
15248 be inverted. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15250 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
15251 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
15252 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
15253 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
15254 stored in one or more groups.
15256 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
15257 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
15258 process all @var{split}s in the list.
15261 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
15262 this message. Use with extreme caution.
15264 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
15265 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
15266 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
15267 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
15270 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
15271 body of the messages:
15274 (defun split-on-body ()
15278 (goto-char (point-min))
15279 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
15283 The buffer is narrowed to the header of the message in question when
15284 @var{function} is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called
15285 after @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
15286 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
15287 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
15288 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
15289 (@pxref{Client-Side IMAP Splitting}).
15291 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
15292 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
15293 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
15294 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
15295 should return a split.
15298 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
15302 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
15304 Normally, @var{value} in these splits must match a complete @emph{word}
15305 according to the fundamental mode syntax table. In other words, all
15306 @var{value}'s will be implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers,
15307 which are word delimiters. Therefore, if you use the following split,
15311 (any "joe" "joemail")
15315 messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will normally not be filed
15316 in @samp{joemail}. If you want to alter this behavior, you can use any
15317 of the following three ways:
15321 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
15322 You can set the @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} variable
15323 to non-@code{nil} in order to ignore word boundaries and instead the
15324 match becomes more like a grep. This variable controls whether partial
15325 words are matched during fancy splitting. The default value is
15328 Note that it influences all @var{value}'s in your split rules.
15331 @var{value} beginning with @code{.*} ignores word boundaries in front of
15332 a word. Similarly, if @var{value} ends with @code{.*}, word boundaries
15333 in the rear of a word will be ignored. For example, the @var{value}
15334 @code{"@@example\\.com"} does not match @samp{foo@@example.com} but
15335 @code{".*@@example\\.com"} does.
15338 You can set the @var{invert-partial} flag in your split rules of the
15339 @samp{(@var{field} @var{value} @dots{})} types, aforementioned in this
15340 section. If the flag is set, word boundaries on both sides of a word
15341 are ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15342 @code{nil}. Contrarily, if the flag is set, word boundaries are not
15343 ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15344 non-@code{nil}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15347 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
15348 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
15349 they are expanded as specified by the variable
15350 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
15351 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
15352 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
15353 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
15357 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
15359 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
15360 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
15362 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
15365 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
15366 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
15367 when all this splitting is performed.
15369 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
15370 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
15371 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
15374 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
15377 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
15378 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
15380 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
15381 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
15382 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
15383 groupings 1 through 9.
15385 @vindex nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded
15386 Where @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether the
15387 lowercase of the matched string should be used for the substitution.
15388 Setting it as non-@code{nil} is useful to avoid the creation of multiple
15389 groups when users send to an address using different case
15390 (i.e. mailing-list@@domain vs Mailing-List@@Domain). The default value
15393 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
15394 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
15395 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
15396 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
15397 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
15398 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
15399 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
15400 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
15401 it once per thread.
15403 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
15404 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
15405 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
15406 using the colon feature, like so:
15408 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
15409 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
15411 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
15412 ;; @r{other splits go here}
15416 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
15417 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
15418 in the file specified by the variable
15419 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
15420 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
15421 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
15422 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
15423 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
15424 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
15425 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
15426 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
15427 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
15428 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
15429 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
15430 300 kBytes in size.)
15431 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15432 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
15433 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
15434 messages goes into the new group.
15436 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
15437 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
15438 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
15439 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
15440 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
15441 ``outgoing'' group.
15444 @node Group Mail Splitting
15445 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
15446 @cindex mail splitting
15447 @cindex group mail splitting
15449 @findex gnus-group-split
15450 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
15451 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
15452 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
15453 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
15454 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
15455 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
15456 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
15457 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
15459 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
15460 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
15461 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
15462 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
15464 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
15465 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
15466 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
15467 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
15468 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
15469 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
15470 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
15472 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
15473 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
15474 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
15475 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
15476 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
15477 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
15478 @code{gnus-group-split}.
15480 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
15481 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
15482 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
15483 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
15484 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
15485 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
15486 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
15487 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
15488 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
15489 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
15490 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
15491 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
15492 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
15494 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
15499 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
15500 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
15502 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
15503 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
15504 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
15505 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
15507 ((split-spec . catch-all))
15510 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
15511 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
15512 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
15515 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
15516 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
15517 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
15521 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
15522 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
15523 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15527 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
15530 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
15531 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
15532 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
15533 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
15534 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
15535 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
15536 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
15537 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
15538 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
15540 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
15541 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
15542 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
15543 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
15544 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
15545 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
15546 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
15547 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
15548 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
15550 @findex gnus-group-split-update
15551 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
15552 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
15553 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
15554 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
15555 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
15558 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
15561 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
15562 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
15563 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
15564 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
15565 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
15568 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
15569 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
15570 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
15571 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
15573 @node Incorporating Old Mail
15574 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
15575 @cindex incorporating old mail
15576 @cindex import old mail
15578 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
15579 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
15580 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
15583 Doing so can be quite easy.
15585 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
15586 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
15587 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
15588 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
15589 your @code{nnml} groups.
15595 Go to the group buffer.
15598 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
15599 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15602 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
15605 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
15606 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15609 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
15610 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
15613 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
15614 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
15615 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
15616 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
15617 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
15619 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
15620 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
15621 using the new mail back end.
15624 @node Expiring Mail
15625 @subsection Expiring Mail
15626 @cindex article expiry
15627 @cindex expiring mail
15629 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
15630 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
15631 different approach to mail reading.
15633 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
15634 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
15635 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
15636 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
15637 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
15638 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
15641 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
15642 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
15643 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
15644 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
15645 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
15646 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
15647 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
15648 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
15649 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
15651 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
15652 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
15653 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
15654 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
15655 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
15656 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
15657 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
15660 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
15661 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
15662 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
15663 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
15664 into its own group.)
15666 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
15667 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
15668 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
15669 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
15670 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
15671 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
15672 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
15673 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
15676 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15677 Groups that match the regular expression
15678 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
15679 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
15680 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
15682 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
15683 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
15684 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
15685 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
15686 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15688 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
15690 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
15691 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
15692 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
15695 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
15696 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
15697 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
15698 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
15699 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
15701 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
15702 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
15705 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15706 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
15709 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
15710 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
15712 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
15713 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
15714 don't really mix very well.
15716 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
15717 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
15718 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
15719 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
15722 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
15723 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
15724 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
15725 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
15728 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15730 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15732 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
15734 ((string= group "mail.junk")
15736 ((string= group "important")
15742 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
15743 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
15745 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
15746 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
15747 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
15750 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
15751 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
15753 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
15754 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
15755 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
15756 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
15757 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
15758 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
15759 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
15760 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
15761 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
15762 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
15763 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
15764 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
15765 name or @code{delete}.
15767 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
15769 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
15772 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15773 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15774 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
15775 expire mail to groups according to the variable
15776 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
15779 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15780 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15781 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
15782 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
15783 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
15786 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
15787 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
15788 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
15789 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
15790 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
15791 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
15793 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
15794 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
15795 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
15796 easier for procmail users.
15798 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
15799 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
15800 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
15801 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
15802 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
15803 caution. Even more dangerous is the
15804 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
15805 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
15806 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
15807 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
15808 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
15809 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
15810 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
15813 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
15815 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
15816 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
15817 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
15818 auto-expire turned on.
15820 @vindex gnus-mark-copied-or-moved-articles-as-expirable
15821 The expirable marks of articles will be removed when copying or moving
15822 them to a group in which auto-expire is not turned on. This is for
15823 preventing articles from being expired unintentionally. On the other
15824 hand, to a group that has turned auto-expire on, the expirable marks of
15825 articles that are copied or moved will not be changed by default. I.e.,
15826 when copying or moving to such a group, articles that were expirable
15827 will be left expirable and ones that were not expirable will not be
15828 marked as expirable. So, even though in auto-expire groups, some
15829 articles will never get expired (unless you read them again). If you
15830 don't side with that behavior that unexpirable articles may be mixed
15831 into auto-expire groups, you can set
15832 @code{gnus-mark-copied-or-moved-articles-as-expirable} to a
15833 non-@code{nil} value. In that case, articles that have been read will
15834 be marked as expirable automatically when being copied or moved to a
15835 group that has auto-expire turned on. The default value is @code{nil}.
15839 @subsection Washing Mail
15840 @cindex mail washing
15841 @cindex list server brain damage
15842 @cindex incoming mail treatment
15844 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
15845 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
15846 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
15847 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
15848 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
15849 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
15851 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
15852 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
15853 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
15856 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
15857 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
15858 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
15859 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
15862 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15863 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15864 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
15865 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
15866 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
15869 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15870 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15871 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
15872 Emacs running on MS machines.
15876 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15877 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15878 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
15879 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
15882 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15883 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15884 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
15885 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
15887 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
15888 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
15889 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
15890 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
15891 into a feature by documenting it.)
15893 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15894 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15895 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
15896 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
15897 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
15898 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
15899 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
15902 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
15903 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
15906 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
15907 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
15910 This can also be done non-destructively with
15911 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
15913 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
15914 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
15915 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
15917 @item nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15918 @findex nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15919 @c @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
15922 Some mail user agents (e.g. Eudora and Pegasus) produce broken
15923 @code{References} headers, but correct @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This
15924 function will get rid of the @code{References} header if the headers
15925 contain a line matching the regular expression
15926 @code{nnmail-broken-references-mailers}.
15930 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15931 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15932 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
15936 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
15937 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
15938 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
15945 @subsection Duplicates
15947 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
15948 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
15949 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
15950 @cindex duplicate mails
15951 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
15952 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
15953 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
15954 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
15955 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
15956 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
15957 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
15958 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
15959 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
15960 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
15961 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
15962 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
15963 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
15965 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
15966 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
15967 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
15968 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
15970 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
15973 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
15974 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
15978 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
15979 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
15980 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
15981 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
15982 (any mail "mail.misc")
15983 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15989 (setq nnmail-split-methods
15990 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
15991 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15995 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
15996 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
15997 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
15998 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
15999 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
16002 @node Not Reading Mail
16003 @subsection Not Reading Mail
16005 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
16006 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
16007 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
16009 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
16010 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
16011 mail, which should help.
16013 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16014 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
16015 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
16016 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
16017 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16018 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
16019 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old (pre-Emacs
16020 23) Rmail file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
16021 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
16022 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
16023 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
16025 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
16026 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
16030 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
16031 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
16033 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
16034 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
16035 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
16037 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
16038 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
16039 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
16043 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
16044 * Babyl:: Babyl was used by older versions of Rmail.
16045 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
16046 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
16047 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
16048 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
16049 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
16054 @node Unix Mail Box
16055 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
16057 @cindex unix mail box
16059 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
16060 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
16061 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
16062 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
16063 which group it belongs in.
16065 Virtual server settings:
16068 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
16069 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
16070 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
16073 @item nnmbox-active-file
16074 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
16075 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
16076 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
16078 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
16079 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
16080 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
16081 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
16086 @subsubsection Babyl
16089 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
16090 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
16091 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box to store mail.
16092 @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail article to say which
16093 group it belongs in.
16095 Virtual server settings:
16098 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
16099 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
16100 The name of the Babyl file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
16102 @item nnbabyl-active-file
16103 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
16104 The name of the active file for the Babyl file. The default is
16105 @file{~/.rmail-active}
16107 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16108 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16109 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
16115 @subsubsection Mail Spool
16117 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
16119 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
16120 format. It should be used with some caution.
16122 @vindex nnml-directory
16123 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
16124 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
16125 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
16126 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
16128 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
16131 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
16132 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
16133 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
16134 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
16135 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
16136 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
16137 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
16138 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
16140 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
16141 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
16142 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
16143 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
16145 @cindex self contained nnml servers
16147 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
16148 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
16149 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
16150 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
16151 for a group are usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
16152 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
16153 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
16154 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
16157 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
16158 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
16159 them next time it starts.
16161 Virtual server settings:
16164 @item nnml-directory
16165 @vindex nnml-directory
16166 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
16167 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
16170 @item nnml-active-file
16171 @vindex nnml-active-file
16172 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
16173 @file{~/Mail/active}.
16175 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
16176 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
16177 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16178 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
16180 @item nnml-get-new-mail
16181 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
16182 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
16185 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
16186 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
16187 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16188 default is @code{nil}.
16190 @item nnml-nov-file-name
16191 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
16192 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
16194 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
16195 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
16196 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
16198 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
16199 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
16200 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
16201 default is @code{nil}.
16203 @item nnml-marks-file-name
16204 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
16205 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
16207 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
16208 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
16209 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
16210 files. This requires @code{auto-compression-mode} to be enabled
16211 (@pxref{Compressed Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
16212 If the value of @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is a string, it is used
16213 as the file extension specifying the compression program. You can set it
16214 to @samp{.bz2} if your Emacs supports it. A value of @code{t} is
16215 equivalent to @samp{.gz}.
16217 @item nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
16218 @vindex nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
16219 Default size threshold for compressed message files. Message files with
16220 bodies larger than that many characters will be automatically compressed
16221 if @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil}.
16225 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
16226 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
16227 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
16228 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
16229 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
16230 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
16231 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
16236 @subsubsection MH Spool
16238 @cindex mh-e mail spool
16240 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
16241 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
16242 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
16243 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
16246 Virtual server settings:
16249 @item nnmh-directory
16250 @vindex nnmh-directory
16251 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
16252 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
16255 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
16256 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
16257 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
16261 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
16262 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
16263 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
16264 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
16265 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
16266 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
16267 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
16272 @subsubsection Maildir
16276 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
16277 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
16278 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
16279 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
16280 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
16283 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
16284 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
16285 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
16286 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
16287 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
16288 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
16289 that appear as group in Gnus.
16291 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
16292 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
16293 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
16295 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
16296 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
16297 another, and you will keep your marks.
16299 Virtual server settings:
16303 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
16304 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
16305 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
16306 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
16307 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
16308 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
16309 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
16310 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
16311 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
16312 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
16314 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
16315 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
16316 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
16317 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
16318 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
16319 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
16320 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
16321 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
16322 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
16323 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
16326 @item target-prefix
16327 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
16328 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
16329 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
16332 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
16333 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
16334 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
16335 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
16336 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
16337 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
16338 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
16339 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
16340 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
16342 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
16343 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
16344 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
16345 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
16346 symlinks pointing to them will be).
16348 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
16349 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
16350 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
16351 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
16352 @code{force} argument.
16354 @item directory-files
16355 This should be a function with the same interface as
16356 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
16357 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
16358 parameter is optional; the default is
16359 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
16360 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
16361 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
16362 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
16363 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
16364 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
16367 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
16368 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
16369 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
16370 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
16371 value is @code{nil}.
16373 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
16374 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
16375 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
16376 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
16377 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
16380 @subsubsection Group parameters
16382 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
16383 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
16384 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
16385 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
16386 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
16387 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
16390 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
16391 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
16392 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
16393 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
16394 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
16395 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
16396 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
16397 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
16398 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
16402 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
16403 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
16404 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
16405 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
16406 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (the
16407 @code{expiry-wait} group parameter overrides @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}
16408 and makes @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} ineffective). If you
16409 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
16410 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
16411 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
16412 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
16413 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
16414 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
16417 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
16419 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
16421 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
16422 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
16423 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
16424 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
16425 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
16426 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
16427 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
16428 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
16429 article. So that form can refer to
16430 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
16431 article. @emph{Even if this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir}
16432 does not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
16433 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
16436 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
16437 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
16438 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
16439 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
16440 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
16441 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
16442 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
16443 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
16444 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
16445 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
16446 contain extra copies of the articles.
16448 @item directory-files
16449 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
16450 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
16451 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
16452 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
16454 @item distrust-Lines:
16455 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
16456 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
16457 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
16460 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
16461 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16462 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
16463 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
16464 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
16465 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16468 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
16469 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16470 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
16471 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
16472 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
16473 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
16474 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16476 @item nov-cache-size
16477 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
16478 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
16479 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
16480 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
16481 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
16482 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
16483 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
16484 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
16485 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
16486 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
16487 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
16490 @subsubsection Article identification
16491 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
16492 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
16493 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
16494 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
16495 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
16496 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
16497 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
16498 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
16499 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
16500 request the article in the summary buffer.
16502 @subsubsection NOV data
16503 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
16504 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
16505 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
16506 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
16507 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
16508 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
16509 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
16510 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
16511 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
16512 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
16513 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
16515 @subsubsection Article marks
16516 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
16517 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
16518 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16519 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
16520 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16521 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
16522 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
16523 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
16525 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
16526 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
16527 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
16528 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
16529 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
16530 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
16531 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
16532 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
16533 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
16537 @subsubsection Mail Folders
16539 @cindex mbox folders
16540 @cindex mail folders
16542 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
16543 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
16544 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
16545 numbers and arrival dates.
16547 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
16549 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
16550 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
16551 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
16552 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
16553 Marks for a group are usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
16554 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
16555 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
16556 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
16557 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
16558 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
16560 Virtual server settings:
16563 @item nnfolder-directory
16564 @vindex nnfolder-directory
16565 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
16566 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
16567 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
16569 @item nnfolder-active-file
16570 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
16571 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
16573 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16574 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16575 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16576 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
16578 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
16579 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16580 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
16581 default is @code{t}
16583 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16584 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16585 @cindex backup files
16586 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
16587 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
16588 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
16589 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
16592 (defun turn-off-backup ()
16593 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
16595 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
16598 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16599 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16600 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
16601 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
16602 extract some information from it before removing it.
16604 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16605 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16606 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16607 default is @code{nil}.
16609 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16610 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16611 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
16613 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
16614 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
16615 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
16616 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16618 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16619 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16620 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
16621 default is @code{nil}.
16623 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16624 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16625 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
16627 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
16628 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
16629 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
16630 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16635 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
16636 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
16637 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
16638 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
16639 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
16640 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
16643 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
16644 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
16646 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
16647 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
16648 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
16649 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
16650 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
16652 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
16653 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
16654 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
16655 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
16656 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
16657 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
16658 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
16659 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
16662 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
16663 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
16664 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
16665 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
16670 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
16671 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
16672 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
16673 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
16674 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
16675 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
16676 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
16677 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
16678 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
16679 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
16680 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
16681 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
16682 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
16687 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
16688 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
16689 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
16690 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
16691 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
16692 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
16693 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
16694 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
16695 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
16696 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
16697 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
16698 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
16699 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
16700 course, and is still maintained within Emacs. Since Emacs 23, it
16701 uses standard mbox format rather than Babyl.
16703 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
16704 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
16709 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
16710 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
16711 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
16712 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
16713 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
16714 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
16715 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
16716 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
16717 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
16718 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
16719 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
16720 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
16721 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
16722 provided by the active file and overviews.
16724 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
16725 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
16726 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
16727 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
16728 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
16731 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
16732 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
16737 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
16738 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
16739 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
16740 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
16741 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
16742 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
16743 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
16747 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
16748 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
16749 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
16750 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
16751 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
16752 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
16753 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
16754 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
16755 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
16757 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
16758 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
16759 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
16760 friendly mail back end all over.
16764 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
16765 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
16768 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
16769 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
16770 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
16771 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
16772 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}.
16773 (Use @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this
16774 slows you down or takes up very much space, a non-block-structured
16777 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
16778 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
16779 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
16780 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
16781 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
16782 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
16783 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
16784 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
16785 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
16786 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
16787 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
16789 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
16790 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
16791 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
16792 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
16793 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
16796 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
16797 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
16798 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
16799 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
16800 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
16801 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
16802 removed in the future.
16804 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
16805 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
16806 on your file system.
16808 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
16809 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
16814 @node Browsing the Web
16815 @section Browsing the Web
16817 @cindex browsing the web
16821 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
16822 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
16823 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
16824 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
16825 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
16826 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
16827 even know what a news group is.
16829 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
16830 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
16831 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
16832 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
16833 you mad in the end.
16835 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
16838 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
16839 interfaces to these sources.
16843 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
16844 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
16845 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
16848 All the web sources require Emacs/W3 and the url library or those
16849 alternatives to work.
16851 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
16852 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
16853 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
16854 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
16855 though, you should be ok.
16857 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
16858 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
16859 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
16860 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
16861 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
16863 @node Archiving Mail
16864 @subsection Archiving Mail
16865 @cindex archiving mail
16866 @cindex backup of mail
16868 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
16869 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
16870 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
16871 marks is fairly simple.
16873 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
16874 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
16877 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
16878 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
16879 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
16880 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
16881 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
16882 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
16883 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
16884 before you restore the data.
16886 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
16887 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
16888 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
16889 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
16890 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
16891 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
16892 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
16893 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
16894 is unnecessary in that case.
16897 @subsection Web Searches
16902 @cindex Usenet searches
16903 @cindex searching the Usenet
16905 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
16906 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
16907 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
16908 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
16909 searches without having to use a browser.
16911 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
16912 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
16913 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
16914 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
16915 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
16917 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
16918 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
16919 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
16920 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
16921 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
16922 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
16923 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
16924 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
16925 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
16926 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
16929 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
16930 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
16931 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
16932 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
16933 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
16934 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
16936 You must have the @code{url} and @code{W3} package or those alternatives
16937 (try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{mm-url} variable group)
16938 installed to be able to use @code{nnweb}.
16940 Virtual server variables:
16945 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
16946 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
16947 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
16950 @vindex nnweb-search
16951 The search string to feed to the search engine.
16953 @item nnweb-max-hits
16954 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
16955 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
16958 @item nnweb-type-definition
16959 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
16960 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
16961 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
16966 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
16970 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
16973 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
16976 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
16980 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
16991 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
16992 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
16993 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
16994 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
16995 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
16997 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
16998 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
17000 Note: you had better use Emacs which supports the @code{utf-8} coding
17001 system because @acronym{RSS} uses UTF-8 for encoding non-@acronym{ASCII}
17002 text by default. It is also used by default for non-@acronym{ASCII}
17005 @kindex G R (Group)
17006 Use @kbd{G R} from the group buffer to subscribe to a feed---you will be
17007 prompted for the location, the title and the description of the feed.
17008 The title, which allows any characters, will be used for the group name
17009 and the name of the group data file. The description can be omitted.
17011 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
17012 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
17013 subscribe to groups.
17015 The @code{nnrss} back end saves the group data file in
17016 @code{nnrss-directory} (see below) for each @code{nnrss} group. File
17017 names containing non-@acronym{ASCII} characters will be encoded by the
17018 coding system specified with the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}
17019 variable or other. Also @xref{Non-ASCII Group Names}, for more
17022 The @code{nnrss} back end generates @samp{multipart/alternative}
17023 @acronym{MIME} articles in which each contains a @samp{text/plain} part
17024 and a @samp{text/html} part.
17027 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
17028 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
17031 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
17032 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
17036 @defun nnrss-opml-export
17037 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
17038 @acronym{OPML} format.
17041 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
17044 @item nnrss-directory
17045 @vindex nnrss-directory
17046 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
17047 @file{~/News/rss/}.
17049 @item nnrss-file-coding-system
17050 @vindex nnrss-file-coding-system
17051 The coding system used when reading and writing the @code{nnrss} groups
17052 data files. The default is the value of
17053 @code{mm-universal-coding-system} (which defaults to @code{emacs-mule}
17054 in Emacs or @code{escape-quoted} in XEmacs).
17056 @item nnrss-ignore-article-fields
17057 @vindex nnrss-ignore-article-fields
17058 Some feeds update constantly article fields during their publications,
17059 e.g. to indicate the number of comments. However, if there is
17060 a difference between the local article and the distant one, the latter
17061 is considered to be new. To avoid this and discard some fields, set this
17062 variable to the list of fields to be ignored. The default is
17063 @code{'(slash:comments)}.
17065 @item nnrss-use-local
17066 @vindex nnrss-use-local
17067 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
17068 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
17069 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
17070 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
17071 download script using @command{wget}.
17074 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
17075 the summary buffer.
17078 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
17079 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
17081 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
17083 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
17084 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
17087 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
17091 (require 'browse-url)
17093 (defun browse-nnrss-url (arg)
17095 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
17098 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
17099 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
17102 (browse-url (cdr url))
17103 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
17104 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
17106 (eval-after-load "gnus"
17107 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
17108 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
17109 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
17112 Even if you have added @samp{text/html} to the
17113 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} variable (@pxref{Display
17114 Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
17115 Manual}) since you don't want to see @acronym{HTML} parts, it might be
17116 more useful especially in @code{nnrss} groups to display
17117 @samp{text/html} parts. Here's an example of setting
17118 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} as a group parameter (@pxref{Group
17119 Parameters}) in order to display @samp{text/html} parts only in
17120 @code{nnrss} groups:
17123 ;; @r{Set the default value of @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}.}
17124 (eval-after-load "gnus-sum"
17126 'gnus-newsgroup-variables
17127 '(mm-discouraged-alternatives
17128 . '("text/html" "image/.*"))))
17130 ;; @r{Display @samp{text/html} parts in @code{nnrss} groups.}
17133 '("\\`nnrss:" (mm-discouraged-alternatives nil)))
17137 @node Customizing W3
17138 @subsection Customizing W3
17144 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/W3 (or those
17145 alternatives) to display web pages. Emacs/W3 is documented in its own
17146 manual, but there are some things that may be more relevant for Gnus
17149 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/W3 follow links
17150 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
17151 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
17154 (eval-after-load "w3"
17156 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
17157 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
17158 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
17159 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
17161 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
17164 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in W3-rendered
17165 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
17169 @node Other Sources
17170 @section Other Sources
17172 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
17173 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
17177 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
17178 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
17179 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
17180 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
17181 * The Empty Backend:: The backend that never has any news.
17185 @node Directory Groups
17186 @subsection Directory Groups
17188 @cindex directory groups
17190 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
17191 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
17194 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
17195 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
17196 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
17197 back end to read directories. Big deal.
17199 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
17200 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
17201 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
17202 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
17203 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
17205 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
17207 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
17208 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
17209 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
17210 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
17213 @node Anything Groups
17214 @subsection Anything Groups
17217 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
17218 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
17219 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
17222 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
17223 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
17224 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
17225 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
17226 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
17227 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
17228 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
17229 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
17230 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
17231 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
17234 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
17235 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
17236 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
17237 in the article buffer, just as usual.
17239 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
17240 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
17241 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
17242 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
17244 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
17245 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
17246 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
17247 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
17248 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
17249 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
17250 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
17251 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
17256 @item nneething-map-file-directory
17257 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
17258 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
17259 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
17261 @item nneething-exclude-files
17262 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
17263 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
17264 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
17266 @item nneething-include-files
17267 @vindex nneething-include-files
17268 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
17269 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
17271 @item nneething-map-file
17272 @vindex nneething-map-file
17273 Name of the map files.
17277 @node Document Groups
17278 @subsection Document Groups
17280 @cindex documentation group
17283 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
17284 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
17294 The standard Unix mbox file.
17296 @cindex MMDF mail box
17298 The MMDF mail box format.
17301 Several news articles appended into a file.
17303 @cindex rnews batch files
17305 The rnews batch transport format.
17308 Netscape mail boxes.
17311 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
17313 @item standard-digest
17314 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
17317 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
17319 @item lanl-gov-announce
17320 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
17322 @cindex git commit messages
17324 @code{git} commit messages.
17326 @cindex forwarded messages
17327 @item rfc822-forward
17328 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
17331 The Outlook mail box.
17334 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
17337 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
17340 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
17343 An RFC934-forwarded message.
17349 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
17352 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
17358 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
17359 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
17360 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
17363 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
17364 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
17365 group. And that's it.
17367 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
17368 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
17369 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
17370 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
17371 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
17372 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
17373 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
17374 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
17375 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
17376 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
17378 Virtual server variables:
17381 @item nndoc-article-type
17382 @vindex nndoc-article-type
17383 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
17384 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
17385 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
17386 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
17387 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
17389 @item nndoc-post-type
17390 @vindex nndoc-post-type
17391 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
17392 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
17397 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
17401 @node Document Server Internals
17402 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
17404 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
17405 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
17406 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
17407 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
17409 First, here's an example document type definition:
17413 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
17414 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
17417 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
17418 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
17419 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
17420 types can be defined with very few settings:
17423 @item first-article
17424 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
17425 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
17428 @item article-begin
17429 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
17430 says what the beginning of each article looks like. To do more
17431 complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you can
17432 use @code{article-begin-function} instead of this.
17434 @item article-begin-function
17435 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the beginning
17436 of each article. This setting overrides @code{article-begin}.
17439 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
17440 article. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a
17441 simple regexp, you can use @code{head-begin-function} instead of this.
17443 @item head-begin-function
17444 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
17445 the article. This setting overrides @code{head-begin}.
17448 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
17449 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
17452 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
17453 to @samp{^\n}. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with
17454 a simple regexp, you can use @code{body-begin-function} instead of this.
17456 @item body-begin-function
17457 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
17458 of the article. This setting overrides @code{body-begin}.
17461 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. To do
17462 more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you
17463 can use @code{body-end-function} instead of this.
17465 @item body-end-function
17466 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
17467 the article. This setting overrides @code{body-end}.
17470 If present, this should match the beginning of the file. All text
17471 before this regexp will be totally ignored.
17474 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
17475 regexp will be totally ignored.
17479 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
17480 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
17481 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
17482 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
17483 something that's palatable for Gnus:
17486 @item prepare-body-function
17487 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
17488 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
17489 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
17491 @item article-transform-function
17492 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
17493 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
17494 body of the article.
17496 @item generate-head-function
17497 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
17498 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
17499 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
17500 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
17502 @item generate-article-function
17503 If present, this function is called to generate an entire article that
17504 Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a
17505 parameter when requesting all articles.
17507 @item dissection-function
17508 If present, this function is called to dissect a document by itself,
17509 overriding @code{first-article}, @code{article-begin},
17510 @code{article-begin-function}, @code{head-begin},
17511 @code{head-begin-function}, @code{head-end}, @code{body-begin},
17512 @code{body-begin-function}, @code{body-end}, @code{body-end-function},
17513 @code{file-begin}, and @code{file-end}.
17517 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
17522 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
17523 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
17524 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
17525 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
17526 (head-end . "^ ?$")
17527 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
17528 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
17529 (subtype digest guess))
17532 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
17533 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
17534 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
17535 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
17536 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
17538 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
17539 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
17540 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
17541 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
17542 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
17543 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
17544 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
17545 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
17546 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
17547 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
17548 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
17549 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
17552 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
17553 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
17554 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
17557 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
17558 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
17559 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
17561 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
17567 @item nngateway-address
17568 @vindex nngateway-address
17569 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17571 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17572 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17573 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17574 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17575 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17576 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17577 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17580 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17581 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17582 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17585 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17588 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17591 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17594 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17596 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17599 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17600 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17601 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17603 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17605 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17606 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17607 @code{nngateway-address}.
17615 (setq gnus-post-method
17617 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17618 (nngateway-header-transformation
17619 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17622 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17625 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17629 @node The Empty Backend
17630 @subsection The Empty Backend
17633 @code{nnnil} is a backend that can be used as a placeholder if you
17634 have to specify a backend somewhere, but don't really want to. The
17635 classical example is if you don't want to have a primary select
17636 methods, but want to only use secondary ones:
17639 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnnil ""))
17640 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
17646 @node Combined Groups
17647 @section Combined Groups
17649 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17653 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17657 @node Virtual Groups
17658 @subsection Virtual Groups
17660 @cindex virtual groups
17661 @cindex merging groups
17663 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17666 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17667 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17668 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17670 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17671 regexp to match component groups.
17673 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17674 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17675 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17676 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17677 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17678 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17679 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17680 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17682 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17683 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17686 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17689 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17690 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17692 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17693 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17694 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17695 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17698 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17701 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17702 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17703 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17705 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17706 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17707 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17708 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17709 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17711 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17712 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17713 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17715 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17716 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} variable is non-@code{nil} (which
17717 is the default), @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread
17718 articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil}
17719 and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has
17720 been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up
17721 when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you
17722 have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If
17723 that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}. Or you can
17724 just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before you enter
17725 it---it'll have much the same effect.
17727 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17728 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17729 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17730 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17731 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17732 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17733 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17735 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17736 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17738 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17739 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17743 @node Email Based Diary
17744 @section Email Based Diary
17746 @cindex email based diary
17749 This section describes a special mail back end called @code{nndiary},
17750 and its companion library @code{gnus-diary}. It is ``special'' in the
17751 sense that it is not meant to be one of the standard alternatives for
17752 reading mail with Gnus. See @ref{Choosing a Mail Back End} for that.
17753 Instead, it is used to treat @emph{some} of your mails in a special way,
17754 namely, as event reminders.
17756 Here is a typical scenario:
17760 You've got a date with Andy Mc Dowell or Bruce Willis (select according
17761 to your sexual preference) in one month. You don't want to forget it.
17763 So you send a ``reminder'' message (actually, a diary one) to yourself.
17765 You forget all about it and keep on getting and reading new mail, as usual.
17767 From time to time, as you type `g' in the group buffer and as the date
17768 is getting closer, the message will pop up again to remind you of your
17769 appointment, just as if it were new and unread.
17771 Read your ``new'' messages, this one included, and start dreaming again
17772 of the night you're gonna have.
17774 Once the date is over (you actually fell asleep just after dinner), the
17775 message will be automatically deleted if it is marked as expirable.
17778 The Gnus Diary back end has the ability to handle regular appointments
17779 (that wouldn't ever be deleted) as well as punctual ones, operates as a
17780 real mail back end and is configurable in many ways. All of this is
17781 explained in the sections below.
17784 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
17785 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
17786 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
17790 @node The NNDiary Back End
17791 @subsection The NNDiary Back End
17793 @cindex the nndiary back end
17795 @code{nndiary} is a back end very similar to @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
17796 Spool}). Actually, it could appear as a mix of @code{nnml} and
17797 @code{nndraft}. If you know @code{nnml}, you're already familiar with
17798 the message storing scheme of @code{nndiary}: one file per message, one
17799 directory per group.
17801 Before anything, there is one requirement to be able to run
17802 @code{nndiary} properly: you @emph{must} use the group timestamp feature
17803 of Gnus. This adds a timestamp to each group's parameters. @ref{Group
17804 Timestamp} to see how it's done.
17807 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
17808 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
17809 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
17812 @node Diary Messages
17813 @subsubsection Diary Messages
17814 @cindex nndiary messages
17815 @cindex nndiary mails
17817 @code{nndiary} messages are just normal ones, except for the mandatory
17818 presence of 7 special headers. These headers are of the form
17819 @code{X-Diary-<something>}, @code{<something>} being one of
17820 @code{Minute}, @code{Hour}, @code{Dom}, @code{Month}, @code{Year},
17821 @code{Time-Zone} and @code{Dow}. @code{Dom} means ``Day of Month'', and
17822 @code{dow} means ``Day of Week''. These headers actually behave like
17823 crontab specifications and define the event date(s):
17827 For all headers except the @code{Time-Zone} one, a header value is
17828 either a star (meaning all possible values), or a list of fields
17829 (separated by a comma).
17831 A field is either an integer, or a range.
17833 A range is two integers separated by a dash.
17835 Possible integer values are 0--59 for @code{Minute}, 0--23 for
17836 @code{Hour}, 1--31 for @code{Dom}, 1--12 for @code{Month}, above 1971
17837 for @code{Year} and 0--6 for @code{Dow} (0 meaning Sunday).
17839 As a special case, a star in either @code{Dom} or @code{Dow} doesn't
17840 mean ``all possible values'', but ``use only the other field''. Note
17841 that if both are star'ed, the use of either one gives the same result.
17843 The @code{Time-Zone} header is special in that it can only have one
17844 value (@code{GMT}, for instance). A star doesn't mean ``all possible
17845 values'' (because it makes no sense), but ``the current local time
17846 zone''. Most of the time, you'll be using a star here. However, for a
17847 list of available time zone values, see the variable
17848 @code{nndiary-headers}.
17851 As a concrete example, here are the diary headers to add to your message
17852 for specifying ``Each Monday and each 1st of month, at 12:00, 20:00,
17853 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 24:00, from 1999 to 2010'' (I'll let you find
17858 X-Diary-Hour: 12, 20-24
17861 X-Diary-Year: 1999-2010
17863 X-Diary-Time-Zone: *
17866 @node Running NNDiary
17867 @subsubsection Running NNDiary
17868 @cindex running nndiary
17869 @cindex nndiary operation modes
17871 @code{nndiary} has two modes of operation: ``traditional'' (the default)
17872 and ``autonomous''. In traditional mode, @code{nndiary} does not get new
17873 mail by itself. You have to move (@kbd{B m}) or copy (@kbd{B c}) mails
17874 from your primary mail back end to nndiary groups in order to handle them
17875 as diary messages. In autonomous mode, @code{nndiary} retrieves its own
17876 mail and handles it independently from your primary mail back end.
17878 One should note that Gnus is not inherently designed to allow several
17879 ``master'' mail back ends at the same time. However, this does make
17880 sense with @code{nndiary}: you really want to send and receive diary
17881 messages to your diary groups directly. So, @code{nndiary} supports
17882 being sort of a ``second primary mail back end'' (to my knowledge, it is
17883 the only back end offering this feature). However, there is a limitation
17884 (which I hope to fix some day): respooling doesn't work in autonomous
17887 In order to use @code{nndiary} in autonomous mode, you have several
17892 Allow @code{nndiary} to retrieve new mail by itself. Put the following
17893 line in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
17896 (setq nndiary-get-new-mail t)
17899 You must arrange for diary messages (those containing @code{X-Diary-*}
17900 headers) to be split in a private folder @emph{before} Gnus treat them.
17901 Again, this is needed because Gnus cannot (yet ?) properly handle
17902 multiple primary mail back ends. Getting those messages from a separate
17903 source will compensate this misfeature to some extent.
17905 As an example, here's my procmailrc entry to store diary files in
17906 @file{~/.nndiary} (the default @code{nndiary} mail source file):
17915 Once this is done, you might want to customize the following two options
17916 that affect the diary mail retrieval and splitting processes:
17918 @defvar nndiary-mail-sources
17919 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
17920 @code{mail-sources} variable. It obeys the same syntax, and defaults to
17921 @code{(file :path "~/.nndiary")}.
17924 @defvar nndiary-split-methods
17925 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
17926 @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable. It obeys the same syntax.
17929 Finally, you may add a permanent @code{nndiary} virtual server
17930 (something like @code{(nndiary "diary")} should do) to your
17931 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}.
17933 Hopefully, almost everything (see the TODO section in
17934 @file{nndiary.el}) will work as expected when you restart Gnus: in
17935 autonomous mode, typing @kbd{g} and @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer, will
17936 also get your new diary mails and split them according to your
17937 diary-specific rules, @kbd{F} will find your new diary groups etc.
17939 @node Customizing NNDiary
17940 @subsubsection Customizing NNDiary
17941 @cindex customizing nndiary
17942 @cindex nndiary customization
17944 Now that @code{nndiary} is up and running, it's time to customize it.
17945 The custom group is called @code{nndiary} (no, really ?!). You should
17946 browse it to figure out which options you'd like to tweak. The following
17947 two variables are probably the only ones you will want to change:
17949 @defvar nndiary-reminders
17950 This is the list of times when you want to be reminded of your
17951 appointments (e.g. 3 weeks before, then 2 days before, then 1 hour
17952 before and that's it). Remember that ``being reminded'' means that the
17953 diary message will pop up as brand new and unread again when you get new
17957 @defvar nndiary-week-starts-on-monday
17958 Rather self-explanatory. Otherwise, Sunday is assumed (this is the
17963 @node The Gnus Diary Library
17964 @subsection The Gnus Diary Library
17966 @cindex the gnus diary library
17968 Using @code{nndiary} manually (I mean, writing the headers by hand and
17969 so on) would be rather boring. Fortunately, there is a library called
17970 @code{gnus-diary} written on top of @code{nndiary}, that does many
17971 useful things for you.
17973 In order to use it, add the following line to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
17976 (require 'gnus-diary)
17979 Also, you shouldn't use any @code{gnus-user-format-function-[d|D]}
17980 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} provides both of these
17981 (sorry if you used them before).
17985 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
17986 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
17987 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
17988 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
17991 @node Diary Summary Line Format
17992 @subsubsection Diary Summary Line Format
17993 @cindex diary summary buffer line
17994 @cindex diary summary line format
17996 Displaying diary messages in standard summary line format (usually
17997 something like @samp{From Joe: Subject}) is pretty useless. Most of
17998 the time, you're the one who wrote the message, and you mostly want to
17999 see the event's date.
18001 @code{gnus-diary} provides two supplemental user formats to be used in
18002 summary line formats. @code{D} corresponds to a formatted time string
18003 for the next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00''),
18004 while @code{d} corresponds to an approximative remaining time until the
18005 next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``in 6 months, 1 week'').
18007 For example, here's how Joe's birthday is displayed in my
18008 @code{nndiary+diary:birthdays} summary buffer (note that the message is
18009 expirable, but will never be deleted, as it specifies a periodic event):
18012 E Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00: Joe's birthday (in 6 months, 1 week)
18015 In order to get something like the above, you would normally add the
18016 following line to your diary groups'parameters:
18019 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z %uD: %(%s%) (%ud)\n")
18022 However, @code{gnus-diary} does it automatically (@pxref{Diary Group
18023 Parameters}). You can however customize the provided summary line format
18024 with the following user options:
18026 @defvar gnus-diary-summary-line-format
18027 Defines the summary line format used for diary groups (@pxref{Summary
18028 Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} uses it to automatically update the
18029 diary groups'parameters.
18032 @defvar gnus-diary-time-format
18033 Defines the format to display dates in diary summary buffers. This is
18034 used by the @code{D} user format. See the docstring for details.
18037 @defvar gnus-diary-delay-format-function
18038 Defines the format function to use for displaying delays (remaining
18039 times) in diary summary buffers. This is used by the @code{d} user
18040 format. There are currently built-in functions for English and French;
18041 you can also define your own. See the docstring for details.
18044 @node Diary Articles Sorting
18045 @subsubsection Diary Articles Sorting
18046 @cindex diary articles sorting
18047 @cindex diary summary lines sorting
18048 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule
18049 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule
18050 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-schedule
18052 @code{gnus-diary} provides new sorting functions (@pxref{Sorting the
18053 Summary Buffer} ) called @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule},
18054 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule} and
18055 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-schedule}. These functions let you organize
18056 your diary summary buffers from the closest event to the farthest one.
18058 @code{gnus-diary} automatically installs
18059 @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule} as a menu item in the summary
18060 buffer's ``sort'' menu, and the two others as the primary (hence
18061 default) sorting functions in the group parameters (@pxref{Diary Group
18064 @node Diary Headers Generation
18065 @subsubsection Diary Headers Generation
18066 @cindex diary headers generation
18067 @findex gnus-diary-check-message
18069 @code{gnus-diary} provides a function called
18070 @code{gnus-diary-check-message} to help you handle the @code{X-Diary-*}
18071 headers. This function ensures that the current message contains all the
18072 required diary headers, and prompts you for values or corrections if
18075 This function is hooked into the @code{nndiary} back end, so that
18076 moving or copying an article to a diary group will trigger it
18077 automatically. It is also bound to @kbd{C-c C-f d} in
18078 @code{message-mode} and @code{article-edit-mode} in order to ease the
18079 process of converting a usual mail to a diary one.
18081 This function takes a prefix argument which will force prompting of
18082 all diary headers, regardless of their presence or validity. That way,
18083 you can very easily reschedule an already valid diary message, for
18086 @node Diary Group Parameters
18087 @subsubsection Diary Group Parameters
18088 @cindex diary group parameters
18090 When you create a new diary group, or visit one, @code{gnus-diary}
18091 automatically checks your group parameters and if needed, sets the
18092 summary line format to the diary-specific value, installs the
18093 diary-specific sorting functions, and also adds the different
18094 @code{X-Diary-*} headers to the group's posting-style. It is then easier
18095 to send a diary message, because if you use @kbd{C-u a} or @kbd{C-u m}
18096 on a diary group to prepare a message, these headers will be inserted
18097 automatically (although not filled with proper values yet).
18099 @node Sending or Not Sending
18100 @subsection Sending or Not Sending
18102 Well, assuming you've read all of the above, here are two final notes on
18103 mail sending with @code{nndiary}:
18107 @code{nndiary} is a @emph{real} mail back end. You really send real diary
18108 messsages for real. This means for instance that you can give
18109 appointments to anybody (provided they use Gnus and @code{nndiary}) by
18110 sending the diary message to them as well.
18112 However, since @code{nndiary} also has a @code{request-post} method, you
18113 can also use @kbd{C-u a} instead of @kbd{C-u m} on a diary group and the
18114 message won't actually be sent; just stored locally in the group. This
18115 comes in very handy for private appointments.
18118 @node Gnus Unplugged
18119 @section Gnus Unplugged
18124 @cindex Gnus unplugged
18126 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
18127 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
18128 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
18129 read news. Believe it or not.
18131 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
18132 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
18133 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
18134 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
18135 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
18137 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
18138 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
18139 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
18140 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
18141 reading news on a machine.
18143 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
18144 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
18145 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
18147 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
18150 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
18151 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
18152 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
18153 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
18154 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
18155 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
18156 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
18157 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
18158 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
18159 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
18160 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
18161 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
18162 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
18163 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
18168 @subsection Agent Basics
18170 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
18172 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
18173 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
18174 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
18175 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
18177 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
18178 connected to the net continuously.
18180 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
18181 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
18183 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
18184 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
18185 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
18186 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
18187 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
18189 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
18190 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
18191 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
18192 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
18193 they're kinda like plugged always).
18195 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
18196 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
18197 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
18200 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
18201 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
18202 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
18203 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
18204 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
18206 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
18211 @findex gnus-unplugged
18212 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
18213 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
18214 already fetched while in this mode.
18217 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
18218 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
18219 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
18220 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
18221 Source Specifiers}).
18224 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
18225 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
18226 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
18227 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
18228 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
18231 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
18232 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
18233 then you read the news offline.
18236 And then you go to step 2.
18239 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
18245 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
18246 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
18247 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
18248 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
18249 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
18250 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
18251 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
18252 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
18255 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
18256 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
18257 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
18258 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
18260 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
18261 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
18262 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
18263 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
18264 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
18265 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
18269 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
18273 @node Agent Categories
18274 @subsection Agent Categories
18276 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
18277 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
18278 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
18279 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
18280 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
18281 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
18282 you're interested in the articles anyway.
18284 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
18285 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
18286 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
18287 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
18288 buffer for creating and managing categories.
18290 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
18291 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
18292 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
18293 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
18294 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
18297 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
18298 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
18299 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
18300 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
18301 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
18302 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
18306 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
18307 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
18308 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
18312 @node Category Syntax
18313 @subsubsection Category Syntax
18315 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
18316 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
18317 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
18320 @cindex Agent Parameters
18323 The list of groups that are in this category.
18325 @item agent-predicate
18326 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
18327 are eligible for downloading; and
18330 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
18331 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
18332 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
18334 @item agent-enable-expiration
18335 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
18336 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
18337 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
18338 only groups that should not be expired.
18340 @item agent-days-until-old
18341 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
18342 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
18344 @item agent-low-score
18345 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
18347 @item agent-high-score
18348 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
18350 @item agent-short-article
18351 an integer that overrides the value of
18352 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
18354 @item agent-long-article
18355 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
18357 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
18358 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
18359 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
18360 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
18361 undownloaded faces.
18364 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
18367 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
18368 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
18369 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
18372 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
18373 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
18374 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
18375 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
18377 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
18378 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
18379 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
18381 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
18382 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
18383 operators sprinkled in between.
18385 Perhaps some examples are in order.
18387 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
18388 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
18394 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
18395 short (for some value of ``short'').
18397 Here's a more complex predicate:
18406 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
18407 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
18410 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
18411 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
18412 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
18414 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
18415 you want to do, you can write your own.
18417 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
18418 bound to the value determined by calling
18419 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
18420 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
18421 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
18422 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
18423 predicate to individual groups.
18427 True if the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
18428 lines; default 100.
18431 True if the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
18432 lines; default 200.
18435 True if the article has a download score less than
18436 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
18439 True if the article has a download score greater than
18440 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
18443 True if the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
18444 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
18445 checksum and sees whether articles match.
18454 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
18455 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
18456 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
18459 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
18460 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
18461 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
18462 something along the lines of the following:
18465 (defun my-article-old-p ()
18466 "Say whether an article is old."
18467 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
18468 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
18471 with the predicate then defined as:
18474 (not my-article-old-p)
18477 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
18478 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
18482 (require 'gnus-agent)
18483 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
18484 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
18485 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
18488 and simply specify your predicate as:
18494 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
18495 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
18496 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
18497 just don't give a damn.
18499 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
18500 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
18501 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
18502 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
18503 parameters like so:
18506 (agent-predicate . short)
18509 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
18510 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
18511 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
18513 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
18516 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
18519 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
18520 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
18521 predicate is assumed to be a list.
18524 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
18525 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
18526 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
18527 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
18528 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
18529 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
18531 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
18532 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
18533 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
18534 if it's to be specific to that group.
18536 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
18543 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
18544 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
18550 Category specification
18554 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
18560 Group/Topic Parameter specification
18563 (agent-score ("from"
18564 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
18569 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
18575 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
18576 keywords stated above.
18582 Category specification
18585 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
18591 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
18595 Group Parameter specification
18598 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
18601 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
18606 Use @code{normal} score files
18608 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
18609 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
18610 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
18611 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
18613 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
18614 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
18615 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
18616 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
18620 Category Specification
18627 Group Parameter specification
18630 (agent-score . file)
18635 @node Category Buffer
18636 @subsubsection Category Buffer
18638 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
18639 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
18640 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
18642 The following commands are available in this buffer:
18646 @kindex q (Category)
18647 @findex gnus-category-exit
18648 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
18651 @kindex e (Category)
18652 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
18653 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
18654 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
18657 @kindex k (Category)
18658 @findex gnus-category-kill
18659 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
18662 @kindex c (Category)
18663 @findex gnus-category-copy
18664 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
18667 @kindex a (Category)
18668 @findex gnus-category-add
18669 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
18672 @kindex p (Category)
18673 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
18674 Edit the predicate of the current category
18675 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
18678 @kindex g (Category)
18679 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
18680 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
18681 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
18684 @kindex s (Category)
18685 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
18686 Edit the download score rule of the current category
18687 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
18690 @kindex l (Category)
18691 @findex gnus-category-list
18692 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
18696 @node Category Variables
18697 @subsubsection Category Variables
18700 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
18701 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
18702 Hook run in category buffers.
18704 @item gnus-category-line-format
18705 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
18706 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
18707 Variables}). Valid elements are:
18711 The name of the category.
18714 The number of groups in the category.
18717 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
18718 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
18719 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
18721 @item gnus-agent-short-article
18722 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
18723 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
18725 @item gnus-agent-long-article
18726 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
18727 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
18729 @item gnus-agent-low-score
18730 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
18731 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
18734 @item gnus-agent-high-score
18735 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
18736 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
18739 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
18740 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18741 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
18742 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
18743 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
18744 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
18745 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
18746 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
18750 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18751 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18752 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
18753 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
18754 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
18755 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
18756 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
18761 @node Agent Commands
18762 @subsection Agent Commands
18763 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
18764 @kindex J j (Agent)
18766 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
18767 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
18768 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
18772 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
18773 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
18774 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
18780 @node Group Agent Commands
18781 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
18785 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
18786 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
18787 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
18788 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
18791 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
18792 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
18793 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
18796 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
18797 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
18798 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
18799 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
18802 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
18803 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
18804 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
18805 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
18808 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
18809 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
18810 Add the current group to an Agent category
18811 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
18812 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18815 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
18816 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
18817 Remove the current group from its category, if any
18818 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
18819 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18822 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
18823 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18824 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
18830 @node Summary Agent Commands
18831 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
18835 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
18836 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
18837 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
18840 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
18841 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
18842 Remove the downloading mark from the article
18843 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
18847 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
18848 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
18849 Toggle whether to download the article
18850 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
18854 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
18855 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
18856 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
18859 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
18860 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
18861 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
18862 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
18865 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
18866 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series
18867 Download all processable articles in this group.
18868 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series}).
18871 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
18872 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
18873 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
18874 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
18879 @node Server Agent Commands
18880 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
18884 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
18885 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
18886 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
18887 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
18890 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
18891 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
18892 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
18893 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
18898 @node Agent Visuals
18899 @subsection Agent Visuals
18901 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
18902 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
18903 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
18904 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
18905 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
18906 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
18907 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
18908 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
18909 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
18910 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
18912 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
18913 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
18914 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
18915 way, ``If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
18916 less than satisfying unplugged session''. For this reason, the Agent
18917 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
18918 the download status of each article so that you always know which
18919 articles will be available when unplugged.
18921 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
18922 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
18923 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
18924 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
18925 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
18926 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
18927 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
18928 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
18930 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
18931 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
18932 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
18933 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
18934 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
18935 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
18936 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
18937 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
18938 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
18940 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
18941 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
18942 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
18943 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
18944 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
18945 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
18946 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
18947 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
18948 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
18949 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
18951 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
18952 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
18953 group parameter to @code{t}. This parameter, like all other agent
18954 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}),
18955 a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an individual group
18956 (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
18958 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
18959 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
18960 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
18961 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
18962 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
18963 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
18964 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
18965 expiring'' articles.
18967 @node Agent as Cache
18968 @subsection Agent as Cache
18970 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
18971 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
18972 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
18973 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
18974 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
18975 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
18976 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
18977 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
18978 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
18980 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
18981 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
18982 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
18983 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
18984 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
18987 @subsection Agent Expiry
18989 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18990 @findex gnus-agent-expire
18991 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
18992 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
18993 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
18994 @cindex agent expiry
18995 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
18996 @cindex expiry, in Gnus agent
18998 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
18999 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
19000 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
19001 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
19002 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
19003 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
19004 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
19005 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
19007 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
19008 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
19009 synchronized with the group.
19011 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
19012 prevent expiration in selected groups.
19014 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
19015 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
19016 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
19017 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
19018 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
19019 be kept indefinitely.
19021 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
19022 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
19023 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
19024 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
19026 @node Agent Regeneration
19027 @subsection Agent Regeneration
19029 @cindex agent regeneration
19030 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
19031 @cindex regeneration
19033 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
19034 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
19035 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
19036 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
19037 internal inconsistencies.
19039 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
19040 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
19041 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
19042 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
19043 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
19044 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
19046 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
19047 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
19048 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
19049 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
19050 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
19051 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
19053 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19054 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19055 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
19056 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
19057 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
19058 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
19061 @node Agent and flags
19062 @subsection Agent and flags
19064 The Agent works with any Gnus back end including those, such as
19065 nnimap, that store flags (read, ticked, etc) on the server. Sadly,
19066 the Agent does not actually know which backends keep their flags in
19067 the backend server rather than in @file{.newsrc}. This means that the
19068 Agent, while unplugged or disconnected, will always record all changes
19069 to the flags in its own files.
19071 When you plug back in, Gnus will then check to see if you have any
19072 changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the
19073 server. This behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
19075 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19076 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19077 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19078 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19079 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19080 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19082 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
19083 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
19084 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
19085 in the group buffer.
19087 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
19088 all local flags to the server, but rather by incrementally updated the
19089 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
19090 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group then
19091 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
19092 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
19093 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
19094 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
19096 @node Agent and IMAP
19097 @subsection Agent and IMAP
19099 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
19100 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
19101 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
19102 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
19104 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
19105 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
19110 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
19113 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
19117 @node Outgoing Messages
19118 @subsection Outgoing Messages
19120 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
19121 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
19122 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
19124 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
19125 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
19126 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
19128 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
19129 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
19130 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
19131 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
19134 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
19135 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
19136 ask you to confirm your action (see
19137 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
19139 @node Agent Variables
19140 @subsection Agent Variables
19145 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
19146 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
19147 automatically mark some back ends as agentized. You may change which
19148 back ends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
19150 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
19151 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
19154 @item gnus-agent-directory
19155 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
19156 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
19157 @file{~/News/agent/}.
19159 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
19160 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
19161 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
19162 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
19163 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
19166 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
19167 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
19168 Hook run when connecting to the network.
19170 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
19171 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
19172 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
19174 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
19175 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
19176 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
19178 @item gnus-agent-cache
19179 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
19180 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
19181 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
19182 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
19184 @item gnus-agent-go-online
19185 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
19186 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
19187 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
19188 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
19189 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
19190 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
19193 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
19194 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
19195 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
19196 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
19197 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
19198 read. The default is @code{t}.
19200 @item gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19201 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19202 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19203 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19204 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19205 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19206 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19208 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
19209 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
19210 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
19211 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
19212 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
19213 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
19214 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
19215 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
19216 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
19217 over and over again.
19219 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
19220 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
19221 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
19222 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
19223 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
19224 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
19225 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
19226 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
19227 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
19228 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
19229 However, all articles parsed prior to losing the connection will be
19230 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
19233 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
19234 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
19235 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
19236 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
19237 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
19238 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
19239 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
19240 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
19241 is only valid if the Agent is used.
19243 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
19244 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
19245 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
19246 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
19247 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
19248 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
19250 The valid values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
19251 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
19252 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
19253 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
19254 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
19256 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
19257 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
19258 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
19259 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
19260 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
19261 mail. The default is @code{t}.
19263 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
19264 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
19265 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
19266 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
19267 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
19269 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
19270 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
19271 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
19272 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
19273 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
19274 which back ends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
19275 to agentize remote back ends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
19276 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
19277 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
19278 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
19279 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
19284 @node Example Setup
19285 @subsection Example Setup
19287 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
19288 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
19289 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
19292 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
19293 ;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
19294 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
19296 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
19297 ;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
19298 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
19300 ;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
19301 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
19303 ;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
19304 ;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
19305 ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
19308 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
19309 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
19312 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
19313 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
19314 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
19315 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
19316 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
19319 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
19320 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
19321 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
19322 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
19323 back all the killed groups.)
19325 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
19326 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
19327 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
19330 @node Batching Agents
19331 @subsection Batching Agents
19332 @findex gnus-agent-batch
19334 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
19335 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
19336 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
19338 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
19339 following incantation:
19343 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
19347 @node Agent Caveats
19348 @subsection Agent Caveats
19350 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
19351 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
19355 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
19357 @strong{No}. If you want this behavior, add
19358 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
19359 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
19361 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
19362 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
19364 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
19368 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
19369 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
19370 locally stored articles.
19377 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
19378 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
19379 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
19382 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
19383 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
19384 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
19385 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
19386 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
19388 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
19389 before generating the summary buffer.
19391 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
19392 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
19393 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
19395 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
19396 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
19397 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
19398 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
19401 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
19402 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
19403 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
19404 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
19405 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
19406 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
19407 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
19408 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
19409 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
19410 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
19411 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
19412 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
19413 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
19414 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
19415 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
19416 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
19420 @node Summary Score Commands
19421 @section Summary Score Commands
19422 @cindex score commands
19424 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
19425 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
19426 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
19427 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
19428 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
19430 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
19431 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
19432 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
19433 score file the current one.
19435 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
19440 @kindex V s (Summary)
19441 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
19442 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
19445 @kindex V S (Summary)
19446 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
19447 Display the score of the current article
19448 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
19451 @kindex V t (Summary)
19452 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
19453 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
19454 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
19455 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
19456 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
19457 score file and edit it.
19460 @kindex V w (Summary)
19461 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
19462 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
19465 @kindex V R (Summary)
19466 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
19467 Run the current summary through the scoring process
19468 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
19469 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
19470 effect you're having.
19473 @kindex V c (Summary)
19474 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
19475 Make a different score file the current
19476 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
19479 @kindex V e (Summary)
19480 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
19481 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
19482 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
19486 @kindex V f (Summary)
19487 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
19488 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
19489 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
19492 @kindex V F (Summary)
19493 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19494 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
19495 after editing score files.
19498 @kindex V C (Summary)
19499 @findex gnus-score-customize
19500 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
19501 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
19505 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
19510 @kindex V m (Summary)
19511 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
19512 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
19513 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
19516 @kindex V x (Summary)
19517 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
19518 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
19519 expunge all articles below this score
19520 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
19523 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
19524 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
19527 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
19528 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
19532 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
19533 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
19535 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
19536 keys are available:
19540 Score on the author name.
19543 Score on the subject line.
19546 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
19549 Score on the @code{References} line.
19555 Score on the number of lines.
19558 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
19561 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
19562 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
19565 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
19566 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
19567 @file{ADAPT} files.)
19576 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
19582 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
19583 what headers you are scoring on.
19595 Substring matching.
19598 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
19627 Greater than number.
19632 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
19633 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
19634 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
19639 Temporary score entry.
19642 Permanent score entry.
19645 Immediately scoring.
19649 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
19650 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
19651 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
19655 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
19656 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
19657 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
19658 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
19660 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
19661 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
19662 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
19663 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
19664 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
19666 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
19667 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
19668 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
19669 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
19670 current score file.
19672 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
19673 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
19674 pretend they are keymaps or not.
19677 @node Group Score Commands
19678 @section Group Score Commands
19679 @cindex group score commands
19681 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
19686 @kindex W e (Group)
19687 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
19688 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
19689 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
19692 @kindex W f (Group)
19693 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19694 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
19695 all the time. This command will flush the cache
19696 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
19700 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
19702 @findex gnus-batch-score
19703 @cindex batch scoring
19705 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
19709 @node Score Variables
19710 @section Score Variables
19711 @cindex score variables
19715 @item gnus-use-scoring
19716 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
19717 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
19718 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
19720 @item gnus-kill-killed
19721 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
19722 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
19723 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
19724 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
19725 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
19726 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
19727 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
19729 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
19730 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
19731 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
19732 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
19733 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
19735 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
19736 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
19737 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
19738 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
19740 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19741 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19742 @cindex score cache
19743 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
19744 score files. However, this might make your Emacs grow big and
19745 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
19746 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
19747 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
19748 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
19749 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
19752 @item gnus-save-score
19753 @vindex gnus-save-score
19754 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
19755 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
19756 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
19758 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
19759 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
19760 across group visits.
19762 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19763 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19764 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
19765 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
19766 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
19767 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
19768 manually entered data.
19770 @item gnus-summary-default-score
19771 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
19772 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
19774 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
19775 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
19776 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
19777 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
19778 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
19779 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
19781 @item gnus-score-over-mark
19782 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
19783 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
19784 default. Default is @samp{+}.
19786 @item gnus-score-below-mark
19787 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
19788 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
19789 default. Default is @samp{-}.
19791 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19792 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19793 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
19794 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
19796 Predefined functions available are:
19799 @item gnus-score-find-single
19800 @findex gnus-score-find-single
19801 Only apply the group's own score file.
19803 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
19804 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
19805 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
19806 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
19807 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
19808 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
19809 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
19810 then a regexp match is done.
19812 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
19813 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
19815 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
19816 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
19817 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
19818 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
19820 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19821 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19822 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
19823 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
19824 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
19828 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
19829 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
19830 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
19831 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
19832 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
19833 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
19834 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
19837 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
19838 overall score file, you could use the value
19840 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
19841 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
19844 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
19845 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
19846 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
19847 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
19848 are expired. It's 7 by default.
19850 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19851 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19852 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
19853 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
19854 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
19855 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
19856 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
19857 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
19859 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19860 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19861 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
19863 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
19864 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
19865 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
19866 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
19867 threading---according to the current value of
19868 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
19869 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
19870 simplified in this manner.
19875 @node Score File Format
19876 @section Score File Format
19877 @cindex score file format
19879 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
19880 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
19881 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
19883 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
19887 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
19889 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
19891 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
19893 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
19898 (mark-and-expunge -10)
19902 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
19903 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
19904 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
19905 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
19909 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
19910 Scoring}, for a different approach.
19912 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
19913 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
19914 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
19916 Six keys are supported by this alist:
19921 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
19922 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
19923 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
19924 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
19925 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
19926 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
19927 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
19928 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
19929 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
19930 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
19931 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
19932 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
19933 to articles that matches these score entries.
19935 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
19936 score entry has one to four elements.
19940 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
19941 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
19945 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
19946 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
19947 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
19948 is successful. If this element is not present, the
19949 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
19950 instead. This is 1000 by default.
19953 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
19954 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
19955 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
19956 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
19957 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
19960 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
19961 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
19962 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
19963 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
19966 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
19967 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
19968 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
19969 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
19970 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
19971 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
19972 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
19973 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
19974 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
19975 instead, if you feel like.
19978 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
19979 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
19980 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
19981 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
19982 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
19983 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
19987 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
19988 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
19992 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
19993 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
19995 These predicates are true if
19998 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
20001 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
20002 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
20009 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
20010 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
20011 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
20012 it's not. I think.)
20014 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
20015 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
20016 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
20017 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
20020 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
20021 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
20022 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
20023 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
20024 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
20025 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
20026 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
20030 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
20031 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
20032 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
20033 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
20034 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
20035 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
20036 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
20037 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
20040 @item Head, Body, All
20041 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
20045 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
20046 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
20047 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
20048 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
20049 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
20050 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
20051 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
20055 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
20056 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
20057 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
20058 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
20059 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
20060 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
20061 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
20062 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
20063 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
20064 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
20065 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
20069 @cindex score file atoms
20071 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20072 lower than this number will be marked as read.
20075 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20076 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
20078 @item mark-and-expunge
20079 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20080 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
20083 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
20084 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
20085 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
20086 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
20087 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
20090 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
20091 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
20094 @item exclude-files
20095 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
20096 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
20100 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}ed. This element will be
20101 ignored when handling global score files.
20104 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
20105 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
20106 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
20107 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
20110 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
20111 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
20112 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
20113 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
20115 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
20119 (mark-and-expunge -100)
20122 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
20123 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
20124 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{c y}) the
20125 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
20126 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
20128 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
20129 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
20130 scoring rules exist.
20133 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
20134 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
20135 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
20136 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
20137 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
20138 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
20139 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
20140 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
20141 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
20142 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
20143 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
20147 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
20148 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
20149 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
20150 file for a number of groups.
20153 @cindex local variables
20154 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
20155 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
20156 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
20157 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
20158 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
20163 @node Score File Editing
20164 @section Score File Editing
20166 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
20167 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
20168 with a mode for that.
20170 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
20171 additional commands:
20176 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
20177 @findex gnus-score-edit-exit
20178 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
20179 (@code{gnus-score-edit-exit}).
20182 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
20183 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
20184 Insert the current date in numerical format
20185 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
20186 you were wondering.
20189 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
20190 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
20191 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
20192 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
20193 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
20198 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
20200 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
20201 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
20203 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
20204 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
20207 @node Adaptive Scoring
20208 @section Adaptive Scoring
20209 @cindex adaptive scoring
20211 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
20212 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
20213 stupidity, to be precise.
20215 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
20216 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
20217 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
20218 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
20219 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
20220 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
20221 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
20222 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
20223 variable to @code{(word line)}.
20225 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
20226 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
20227 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
20228 might look something like this:
20231 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
20232 '((gnus-unread-mark)
20233 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
20234 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
20235 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
20236 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
20237 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
20238 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
20239 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
20240 (gnus-ancient-mark)
20241 (gnus-low-score-mark)
20242 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
20245 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
20246 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
20247 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
20248 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
20249 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
20250 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
20253 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
20254 will be applied to each article.
20256 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
20257 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
20258 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
20259 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
20261 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
20262 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
20263 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
20264 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
20266 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
20267 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
20268 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
20269 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
20271 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
20272 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
20273 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
20274 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
20275 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
20276 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
20278 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
20279 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
20280 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
20282 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
20283 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
20284 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
20286 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
20287 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
20288 let you use different rules in different groups.
20290 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
20291 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
20292 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
20295 @vindex gnus-adaptive-pretty-print
20296 Adaptive score files can get huge and are not meant to be edited by
20297 human hands. If @code{gnus-adaptive-pretty-print} is @code{nil} (the
20298 default) those files will not be written in a human readable way.
20300 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
20301 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
20302 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
20303 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
20304 the length of the match is less than
20305 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
20306 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
20309 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
20310 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
20311 headers. If you adapt on words, the
20312 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
20313 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
20316 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
20317 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
20318 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
20319 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
20320 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
20323 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
20324 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
20325 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
20326 score with 30 points.
20328 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
20329 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
20330 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
20331 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
20332 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
20334 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
20335 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
20336 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
20337 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
20338 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
20340 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
20341 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
20342 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
20343 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
20345 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
20346 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
20347 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
20348 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
20350 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
20351 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
20352 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
20353 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
20354 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
20356 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
20357 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
20358 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
20360 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
20361 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
20362 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
20363 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
20366 @node Home Score File
20367 @section Home Score File
20369 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
20370 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
20371 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
20372 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
20374 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
20375 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
20376 could perhaps use the same home score file.
20378 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
20379 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
20384 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
20388 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
20389 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
20393 A list. The elements in this list can be:
20397 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
20398 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
20401 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
20402 be used as the home score file. The function will be called with the
20403 name of the group as the parameter.
20406 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
20409 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
20414 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
20417 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20418 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
20421 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
20422 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
20424 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
20426 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20427 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
20430 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
20431 Other functions include
20434 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
20435 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
20436 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
20437 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
20441 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
20442 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
20443 their own home score files:
20446 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20447 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
20448 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
20449 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
20450 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
20453 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
20454 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
20455 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
20456 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
20457 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
20459 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
20460 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
20461 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
20462 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
20463 precedence over this variable.
20466 @node Followups To Yourself
20467 @section Followups To Yourself
20469 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
20470 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
20471 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
20472 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
20473 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
20474 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
20478 @item gnus-score-followup-article
20479 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
20480 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
20483 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
20484 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
20485 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
20489 @vindex message-sent-hook
20490 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
20491 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
20493 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
20497 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
20498 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
20502 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
20503 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
20506 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
20507 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
20512 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
20516 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
20517 is system-dependent.
20520 @node Scoring On Other Headers
20521 @section Scoring On Other Headers
20522 @cindex scoring on other headers
20524 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
20525 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
20526 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
20527 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
20528 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
20530 @vindex gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring
20531 You can inhibit this slow scoring on headers or body by setting the
20532 variable @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring}. If
20533 @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring} is regexp, slow scoring is inhibited if
20534 the group matches the regexp. If it is t, slow scoring on it is
20535 inhibited for all groups.
20537 Now, there's not much you can do about the slowness for news groups, but for
20538 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
20539 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
20540 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
20541 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
20543 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
20546 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
20547 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
20550 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
20551 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
20552 time if you have much mail.
20554 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
20555 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
20561 @section Scoring Tips
20562 @cindex scoring tips
20568 @cindex scoring crossposts
20569 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
20570 the @code{Xref} header.
20572 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
20575 @item Multiple crossposts
20576 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
20577 more than, say, 3 groups:
20580 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
20584 @item Matching on the body
20585 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
20586 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
20587 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
20588 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
20589 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
20590 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
20591 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
20594 @item Marking as read
20595 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
20596 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
20597 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
20601 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
20603 @item Negated character classes
20604 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
20605 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
20606 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
20610 @node Reverse Scoring
20611 @section Reverse Scoring
20612 @cindex reverse scoring
20614 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
20615 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
20616 like this in your score file:
20620 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
20625 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
20626 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
20629 @node Global Score Files
20630 @section Global Score Files
20631 @cindex global score files
20633 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
20634 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
20635 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
20637 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
20638 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
20639 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
20641 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
20642 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
20643 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
20644 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
20645 files are applicable to which group.
20647 To use the score file
20648 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
20649 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
20653 (setq gnus-global-score-files
20654 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
20655 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
20658 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
20660 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
20661 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
20662 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
20663 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
20665 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
20666 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
20668 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
20669 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
20670 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
20671 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
20672 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
20673 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
20675 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
20681 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
20683 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
20685 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
20687 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
20688 lowered out of existence.
20690 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
20691 articles completely.
20694 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
20695 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
20696 old articles for a long time.
20699 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
20700 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
20701 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
20702 holding our breath yet?
20706 @section Kill Files
20709 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
20710 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
20711 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
20713 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
20714 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
20715 files into score files.
20717 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
20718 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
20719 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
20720 that isn't a very good idea.
20722 Normal kill files look like this:
20725 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20726 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
20730 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
20731 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
20733 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
20734 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
20737 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
20742 @kindex M-k (Summary)
20743 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
20744 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
20747 @kindex M-K (Summary)
20748 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
20749 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
20752 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
20757 @kindex M-k (Group)
20758 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
20759 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
20762 @kindex M-K (Group)
20763 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
20764 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
20767 Kill file variables:
20770 @item gnus-kill-file-name
20771 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
20772 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
20773 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
20774 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
20775 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
20776 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
20778 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20779 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20780 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
20781 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
20784 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
20785 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
20786 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
20787 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
20788 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
20789 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
20790 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
20791 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
20792 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
20794 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20795 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20796 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
20801 @node Converting Kill Files
20802 @section Converting Kill Files
20804 @cindex converting kill files
20806 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
20807 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
20808 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
20811 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Emacs by default.
20812 You can fetch it from the contrib directory of the Gnus distribution or
20814 @uref{http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
20816 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
20817 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
20818 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
20822 @node Advanced Scoring
20823 @section Advanced Scoring
20825 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
20826 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
20827 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
20828 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
20829 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
20831 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
20835 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
20836 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
20837 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
20841 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
20842 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
20844 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
20845 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
20846 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
20847 non-@code{nil} value.
20849 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
20850 operator, and various match operators.
20857 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20858 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
20859 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
20864 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20865 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
20866 then this operator will return @code{false}.
20871 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
20872 logical negation of the value of its argument.
20876 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
20877 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
20878 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
20879 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
20880 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
20881 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
20882 the ancestry you want to go.
20884 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
20885 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
20886 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
20887 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
20888 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
20891 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
20892 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
20894 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
20895 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
20898 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
20899 when he's talking about Gnus:
20904 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20905 ("subject" "Gnus"))
20912 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
20916 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20923 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
20924 really don't want to read what he's written:
20928 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20929 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigil Logge")))
20933 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
20934 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
20935 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
20942 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
20943 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20944 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20945 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20949 Suppose you're reading a high volume group and you're only interested
20950 in replies. The plan is to score down all articles that don't have
20951 subject that begin with "Re:", "Fw:" or "Fwd:" and then score up all
20952 parents of articles that have subjects that begin with reply marks.
20955 ((! ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
20957 ((1- ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
20961 The possibilities are endless.
20963 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20964 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20966 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20967 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20968 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20969 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20970 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20971 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20972 @samp{subject}) first.
20974 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20975 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20986 Then that means ``score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20987 current article''. An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20993 ("subject" "Gnus")))
21000 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
21001 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
21006 @section Score Decays
21007 @cindex score decays
21010 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
21011 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
21012 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
21013 use them in any sensible way.
21015 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
21016 @findex gnus-decay-score
21017 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
21018 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
21019 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
21020 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
21021 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
21022 If @code{gnus-decay-scores} is a regexp, only score files matching this
21023 regexp are treated. E.g. you may set it to @samp{\\.ADAPT\\'} if only
21024 @emph{adaptive} score files should be decayed. The decay itself if
21025 performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function} function, which is
21026 @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the definition of that
21030 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
21031 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
21032 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
21034 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
21036 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
21038 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
21039 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
21040 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
21041 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
21042 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
21044 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
21048 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
21049 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
21050 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
21051 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
21055 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
21058 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
21061 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
21065 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
21066 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
21067 the new score, which should be an integer.
21069 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
21070 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
21076 FIXME: Add a brief overview of Gnus search capabilities. A brief
21077 comparison of nnir, nnmairix, contrib/gnus-namazu would be nice
21080 This chapter describes tools for searching groups and servers for
21081 articles matching a query and then retrieving those articles. Gnus
21082 provides a simpler mechanism for searching through articles in a summary buffer
21083 to find those matching a pattern. @xref{Searching for Articles}.
21086 * nnir:: Searching with various engines.
21087 * nnmairix:: Searching with Mairix.
21094 This section describes how to use @code{nnir} to search for articles
21098 * What is nnir?:: What does @code{nnir} do?
21099 * Basic Usage:: How to perform simple searches.
21100 * Setting up nnir:: How to set up @code{nnir}.
21103 @node What is nnir?
21104 @subsection What is nnir?
21106 @code{nnir} is a Gnus interface to a number of tools for searching
21107 through mail and news repositories. Different backends (like
21108 @code{nnimap} and @code{nntp}) work with different tools (called
21109 @dfn{engines} in @code{nnir} lingo), but all use the same basic search
21112 The @code{nnimap} and @code{gmane} search engines should work with no
21113 configuration. Other engines require a local index that needs to be
21114 created and maintained outside of Gnus.
21118 @subsection Basic Usage
21120 In the group buffer typing @kbd{G G} will search the group on the
21121 current line by calling @code{gnus-group-make-nnir-group}. This prompts
21122 for a query string, creates an ephemeral @code{nnir} group containing
21123 the articles that match this query, and takes you to a summary buffer
21124 showing these articles. Articles may then be read, moved and deleted
21125 using the usual commands.
21127 The @code{nnir} group made in this way is an @code{ephemeral} group, and
21128 some changes are not permanent: aside from reading, moving, and
21129 deleting, you can't act on the original article. But there is an
21130 alternative: you can @emph{warp} to the original group for the article
21131 on the current line with @kbd{A W}, aka
21132 @code{gnus-warp-to-article}. Even better, the function
21133 @code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}, bound by default in summary buffers to
21134 @kbd{A T}, will first warp to the original group before it works its
21135 magic and includes all the articles in the thread. From here you can
21136 read, move and delete articles, but also copy them, alter article marks,
21139 You say you want to search more than just the group on the current line?
21140 No problem: just process-mark the groups you want to search. You want
21141 even more? Calling for an nnir search with the cursor on a topic heading
21142 will search all the groups under that heading.
21144 Still not enough? OK, in the server buffer
21145 @code{gnus-group-make-nnir-group} (now bound to @kbd{G}) will search all
21146 groups from the server on the current line. Too much? Want to ignore
21147 certain groups when searching, like spam groups? Just customize
21148 @code{nnir-ignored-newsgroups}.
21150 One more thing: individual search engines may have special search
21151 features. You can access these special features by giving a prefix-arg
21152 to @code{gnus-group-make-nnir-group}. If you are searching multiple
21153 groups with different search engines you will be prompted for the
21154 special search features for each engine separately.
21157 @node Setting up nnir
21158 @subsection Setting up nnir
21160 To set up nnir you may need to do some prep work. Firstly, you may need
21161 to configure the search engines you plan to use. Some of them, like
21162 @code{imap} and @code{gmane}, need no special configuration. Others,
21163 like @code{namazu} and @code{swish}, require configuration as described
21164 below. Secondly, you need to associate a search engine with a server or
21167 If you just want to use the @code{imap} engine to search @code{nnimap}
21168 servers, and the @code{gmane} engine to search @code{gmane} then you
21169 don't have to do anything. But you might want to read the details of the
21170 query language anyway.
21173 * Associating Engines:: How to associate engines.
21174 * The imap Engine:: Imap configuration and usage.
21175 * The gmane Engine:: Gmane configuration and usage.
21176 * The swish++ Engine:: Swish++ configuration and usage.
21177 * The swish-e Engine:: Swish-e configuration and usage.
21178 * The namazu Engine:: Namazu configuration and usage.
21179 * The hyrex Engine:: Hyrex configuration and usage.
21180 * Customizations:: User customizable settings.
21183 @node Associating Engines
21184 @subsubsection Associating Engines
21187 When searching a group, @code{nnir} needs to know which search engine to
21188 use. You can configure a given server to use a particular engine by
21189 setting the server variable @code{nnir-search-engine} to the engine
21190 name. For example to use the @code{namazu} engine to search the server
21191 named @code{home} you can use
21194 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
21196 (nnimap-address "localhost")
21197 (nnir-search-engine namazu))))
21200 Alternatively you might want to use a particular engine for all servers
21201 with a given backend. For example, you might want to use the @code{imap}
21202 engine for all servers using the @code{nnimap} backend. In this case you
21203 can customize the variable @code{nnir-method-default-engines}. This is
21204 an alist of pairs of the form @code{(backend . engine)}. By default this
21205 variable is set to use the @code{imap} engine for all servers using the
21206 @code{nnimap} backend, and the @code{gmane} backend for @code{nntp}
21207 servers. (Don't worry, the @code{gmane} search engine won't actually try
21208 to search non-gmane @code{nntp} servers.) But if you wanted to use
21209 @code{namazu} for all your servers with an @code{nnimap} backend you
21210 could change this to
21213 '((nnimap . namazu)
21217 @node The imap Engine
21218 @subsubsection The imap Engine
21220 The @code{imap} engine requires no configuration.
21222 Queries using the @code{imap} engine follow a simple query language.
21223 The search is always case-insensitive and supports the following
21224 features (inspired by the Google search input language):
21228 @item Boolean query operators
21229 AND, OR, and NOT are supported, and parentheses can be used to control
21230 operator precedence, e.g. (emacs OR xemacs) AND linux. Note that
21231 operators must be written with all capital letters to be
21232 recognised. Also preceding a term with a - sign is equivalent to NOT
21235 @item Automatic AND queries
21236 If you specify multiple words then they will be treated as an AND
21237 expression intended to match all components.
21239 @item Phrase searches
21240 If you wrap your query in double-quotes then it will be treated as a
21245 By default the whole message will be searched. The query can be limited
21246 to a specific part of a message by using a prefix-arg. After inputting
21247 the query this will prompt (with completion) for a message part.
21248 Choices include ``Whole message'', ``Subject'', ``From'', and
21249 ``To''. Any unrecognized input is interpreted as a header name. For
21250 example, typing @kbd{Message-ID} in response to this prompt will limit
21251 the query to the Message-ID header.
21253 Finally selecting ``Imap'' will interpret the query as a raw
21254 @acronym{IMAP} search query. The format of such queries can be found in
21257 If you don't like the default of searching whole messages you can
21258 customize @code{nnir-imap-default-search-key}. For example to use
21259 @acronym{IMAP} queries by default
21262 (setq nnir-imap-default-search-key "Imap")
21265 @node The gmane Engine
21266 @subsubsection The gmane Engine
21268 The @code{gmane} engine requires no configuration.
21270 Gmane queries follow a simple query language:
21273 @item Boolean query operators
21274 AND, OR, NOT (or AND NOT), and XOR are supported, and brackets can be
21275 used to control operator precedence, e.g. (emacs OR xemacs) AND linux.
21276 Note that operators must be written with all capital letters to be
21279 @item Required and excluded terms
21280 + and - can be used to require or exclude terms, e.g. football -american
21282 @item Unicode handling
21283 The search engine converts all text to utf-8, so searching should work
21287 Common English words (like 'the' and 'a') are ignored by default. You
21288 can override this by prefixing such words with a + (e.g. +the) or
21289 enclosing the word in quotes (e.g. "the").
21293 The query can be limited to articles by a specific author using a
21294 prefix-arg. After inputting the query this will prompt for an author
21295 name (or part of a name) to match.
21297 @node The swish++ Engine
21298 @subsubsection The swish++ Engine
21300 FIXEM: Say something more here.
21302 Documentation for swish++ may be found at the swish++ sourceforge page:
21303 @uref{http://swishplusplus.sourceforge.net}
21307 @item nnir-swish++-program
21308 The name of the swish++ executable. Defaults to @code{search}
21310 @item nnir-swish++-additional-switches
21311 A list of strings to be given as additional arguments to
21312 swish++. @code{nil} by default.
21314 @item nnir-swish++-remove-prefix
21315 The prefix to remove from each file name returned by swish++ in order
21316 to get a group name. By default this is @code{$HOME/Mail}.
21320 @node The swish-e Engine
21321 @subsubsection The swish-e Engine
21323 FIXEM: Say something more here.
21325 Documentation for swish-e may be found at the swish-e homepage
21326 @uref{http://swish-e.org}
21330 @item nnir-swish-e-program
21331 The name of the swish-e search program. Defaults to @code{swish-e}.
21333 @item nnir-swish-e-additional-switches
21334 A list of strings to be given as additional arguments to
21335 swish-e. @code{nil} by default.
21337 @item nnir-swish-e-remove-prefix
21338 The prefix to remove from each file name returned by swish-e in order
21339 to get a group name. By default this is @code{$HOME/Mail}.
21343 @node The namazu Engine
21344 @subsubsection The namazu Engine
21346 Using the namazu engine requires creating and maintaining index files.
21347 One directory should contain all the index files, and nnir must be told
21348 where to find them by setting the @code{nnir-namazu-index-directory}
21351 To work correctly the @code{nnir-namazu-remove-prefix} variable must
21352 also be correct. This is the prefix to remove from each file name
21353 returned by Namazu in order to get a proper group name (albeit with `/'
21356 For example, suppose that Namazu returns file names such as
21357 @samp{/home/john/Mail/mail/misc/42}. For this example, use the
21358 following setting: @code{(setq nnir-namazu-remove-prefix
21359 "/home/john/Mail/")} Note the trailing slash. Removing this prefix from
21360 the directory gives @samp{mail/misc/42}. @code{nnir} knows to remove
21361 the @samp{/42} and to replace @samp{/} with @samp{.} to arrive at the
21362 correct group name @samp{mail.misc}.
21364 Extra switches may be passed to the namazu search command by setting the
21365 variable @code{nnir-namazu-additional-switches}. It is particularly
21366 important not to pass any any switches to namazu that will change the
21367 output format. Good switches to use include `--sort', `--ascending',
21368 `--early' and `--late'. Refer to the Namazu documentation for further
21369 information on valid switches.
21371 Mail must first be indexed with the `mknmz' program. Read the documentation
21372 for namazu to create a configuration file. Here is an example:
21376 package conf; # Don't remove this line!
21378 # Paths which will not be indexed. Don't use `^' or `$' anchors.
21379 $EXCLUDE_PATH = "spam|sent";
21381 # Header fields which should be searchable. case-insensitive
21382 $REMAIN_HEADER = "from|date|message-id|subject";
21384 # Searchable fields. case-insensitive
21385 $SEARCH_FIELD = "from|date|message-id|subject";
21387 # The max length of a word.
21388 $WORD_LENG_MAX = 128;
21390 # The max length of a field.
21391 $MAX_FIELD_LENGTH = 256;
21395 For this example, mail is stored in the directories @samp{~/Mail/mail/},
21396 @samp{~/Mail/lists/} and @samp{~/Mail/archive/}, so to index them go to
21397 the index directory set in @code{nnir-namazu-index-directory} and issue
21398 the following command:
21401 mknmz --mailnews ~/Mail/archive/ ~/Mail/mail/ ~/Mail/lists/
21404 For maximum searching efficiency you might want to have a cron job run
21405 this command periodically, say every four hours.
21407 @node The hyrex Engine
21408 @subsubsection The hyrex Engine
21409 This engine is obsolete.
21411 @node Customizations
21412 @subsubsection Custimozations
21416 @item nnir-method-default-engines
21417 Alist of server backend - search engine pairs. The default associations
21424 @item nnir-ignored-newsgroups
21425 A regexp to match newsgroups in the active file that should be skipped
21426 when searching all groups on a server.
21428 @item nnir-summary-line-format
21429 The format specification to be used for lines in an nnir summary buffer.
21430 All the items from `gnus-summary-line-format' are available, along with
21431 three items unique to nnir summary buffers:
21434 %Z Search retrieval score value (integer)
21435 %G Article original full group name (string)
21436 %g Article original short group name (string)
21439 If nil (the default) this will use @code{gnus-summary-line-format}.
21441 @item nnir-retrieve-headers-override-function
21442 If non-nil, a function that retrieves article headers rather than using
21443 the gnus built-in function. This function takes an article list and
21444 group as arguments and populates the `nntp-server-buffer' with the
21445 retrieved headers. It should then return either 'nov or 'headers
21446 indicating the retrieved header format. Failure to retrieve headers
21447 should return @code{nil}
21449 If this variable is nil, or if the provided function returns nil for a
21450 search result, @code{gnus-retrieve-headers} will be called instead."
21461 This paragraph describes how to set up mairix and the back end
21462 @code{nnmairix} for indexing and searching your mail from within
21463 Gnus. Additionally, you can create permanent ``smart'' groups which are
21464 bound to mairix searches and are automatically updated.
21467 * About mairix:: About the mairix mail search engine
21468 * nnmairix requirements:: What you will need for using nnmairix
21469 * What nnmairix does:: What does nnmairix actually do?
21470 * Setting up mairix:: Set up your mairix installation
21471 * Configuring nnmairix:: Set up the nnmairix back end
21472 * nnmairix keyboard shortcuts:: List of available keyboard shortcuts
21473 * Propagating marks:: How to propagate marks from nnmairix groups
21474 * nnmairix tips and tricks:: Some tips, tricks and examples
21475 * nnmairix caveats:: Some more stuff you might want to know
21478 @c FIXME: The markup in this section might need improvement.
21479 @c E.g. adding @samp, @var, @file, @command, etc.
21480 @c Cf. (info "(texinfo)Indicating")
21483 @subsection About mairix
21485 Mairix is a tool for indexing and searching words in locally stored
21486 mail. It was written by Richard Curnow and is licensed under the
21487 GPL. Mairix comes with most popular GNU/Linux distributions, but it also
21488 runs under Windows (with cygwin), Mac OS X and Solaris. The homepage can
21490 @uref{http://www.rpcurnow.force9.co.uk/mairix/index.html}
21492 Though mairix might not be as flexible as other search tools like
21493 swish++ or namazu, which you can use via the @code{nnir} back end, it
21494 has the prime advantage of being incredibly fast. On current systems, it
21495 can easily search through headers and message bodies of thousands and
21496 thousands of mails in well under a second. Building the database
21497 necessary for searching might take a minute or two, but only has to be
21498 done once fully. Afterwards, the updates are done incrementally and
21499 therefore are really fast, too. Additionally, mairix is very easy to set
21502 For maximum speed though, mairix should be used with mails stored in
21503 @code{Maildir} or @code{MH} format (this includes the @code{nnml} back
21504 end), although it also works with mbox. Mairix presents the search
21505 results by populating a @emph{virtual} maildir/MH folder with symlinks
21506 which point to the ``real'' message files (if mbox is used, copies are
21507 made). Since mairix already presents search results in such a virtual
21508 mail folder, it is very well suited for using it as an external program
21509 for creating @emph{smart} mail folders, which represent certain mail
21512 @node nnmairix requirements
21513 @subsection nnmairix requirements
21515 Mairix searches local mail---that means, mairix absolutely must have
21516 direct access to your mail folders. If your mail resides on another
21517 server (e.g. an @acronym{IMAP} server) and you happen to have shell
21518 access, @code{nnmairix} supports running mairix remotely, e.g. via ssh.
21520 Additionally, @code{nnmairix} only supports the following Gnus back
21521 ends: @code{nnml}, @code{nnmaildir}, and @code{nnimap}. You must use
21522 one of these back ends for using @code{nnmairix}. Other back ends, like
21523 @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnfolder} or @code{nnmh}, won't work.
21525 If you absolutely must use mbox and still want to use @code{nnmairix},
21526 you can set up a local @acronym{IMAP} server, which you then access via
21527 @code{nnimap}. This is a rather massive setup for accessing some mbox
21528 files, so just change to MH or Maildir already... However, if you're
21529 really, really passionate about using mbox, you might want to look into
21530 the package @file{mairix.el}, which comes with Emacs 23.
21532 @node What nnmairix does
21533 @subsection What nnmairix does
21535 The back end @code{nnmairix} enables you to call mairix from within Gnus,
21536 either to query mairix with a search term or to update the
21537 database. While visiting a message in the summary buffer, you can use
21538 several pre-defined shortcuts for calling mairix, e.g. to quickly
21539 search for all mails from the sender of the current message or to
21540 display the whole thread associated with the message, even if the
21541 mails are in different folders.
21543 Additionally, you can create permanent @code{nnmairix} groups which are bound
21544 to certain mairix searches. This way, you can easily create a group
21545 containing mails from a certain sender, with a certain subject line or
21546 even for one specific thread based on the Message-ID. If you check for
21547 new mail in these folders (e.g. by pressing @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g}), they
21548 automatically update themselves by calling mairix.
21550 You might ask why you need @code{nnmairix} at all, since mairix already
21551 creates the group, populates it with links to the mails so that you can
21552 then access it with Gnus, right? Well, this @emph{might} work, but often
21553 does not---at least not without problems. Most probably you will get
21554 strange article counts, and sometimes you might see mails which Gnus
21555 claims have already been canceled and are inaccessible. This is due to
21556 the fact that Gnus isn't really amused when things are happening behind
21557 its back. Another problem can be the mail back end itself, e.g. if you
21558 use mairix with an @acronym{IMAP} server (I had Dovecot complaining
21559 about corrupt index files when mairix changed the contents of the search
21560 group). Using @code{nnmairix} should circumvent these problems.
21562 @code{nnmairix} is not really a mail back end---it's actually more like
21563 a wrapper, sitting between a ``real'' mail back end where mairix stores
21564 the searches and the Gnus front end. You can choose between three
21565 different mail back ends for the mairix folders: @code{nnml},
21566 @code{nnmaildir} or @code{nnimap}. @code{nnmairix} will call the mairix
21567 binary so that the search results are stored in folders named
21568 @code{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>} on this mail back end, but it will
21569 present these folders in the Gnus front end only with @code{<NAME>}.
21570 You can use an existing mail back end where you already store your mail,
21571 but if you're uncomfortable with @code{nnmairix} creating new mail
21572 groups alongside your other mail, you can also create e.g. a new
21573 @code{nnmaildir} or @code{nnml} server exclusively for mairix, but then
21574 make sure those servers do not accidentally receive your new mail
21575 (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}). A special case exists if you want to use
21576 mairix remotely on an IMAP server with @code{nnimap}---here the mairix
21577 folders and your other mail must be on the same @code{nnimap} back end.
21579 @node Setting up mairix
21580 @subsection Setting up mairix
21582 First: create a backup of your mail folders (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}).
21584 Setting up mairix is easy: simply create a @file{.mairixrc} file with
21585 (at least) the following entries:
21588 # Your Maildir/MH base folder
21592 This is the base folder for your mails. All the following directories
21593 are relative to this base folder. If you want to use @code{nnmairix}
21594 with @code{nnimap}, this base directory has to point to the mail
21595 directory where the @acronym{IMAP} server stores the mail folders!
21598 maildir= ... your maildir folders which should be indexed ...
21599 mh= ... your nnml/mh folders which should be indexed ...
21600 mbox = ... your mbox files which should be indexed ...
21603 This specifies all your mail folders and mbox files (relative to the
21604 base directory!) you want to index with mairix. Note that the
21605 @code{nnml} back end saves mails in MH format, so you have to put those
21606 directories in the @code{mh} line. See the example at the end of this
21607 section and mairixrc's man-page for further details.
21613 @vindex nnmairix-group-prefix
21614 This should make sure that you don't accidentally index the mairix
21615 search results. You can change the prefix of these folders with the
21616 variable @code{nnmairix-group-prefix}.
21619 mformat= ... 'maildir' or 'mh' ...
21620 database= ... location of database file ...
21623 The @code{format} setting specifies the output format for the mairix
21624 search folder. Set this to @code{mh} if you want to access search results
21625 with @code{nnml}. Otherwise choose @code{maildir}.
21627 To summarize, here is my shortened @file{.mairixrc} file as an example:
21631 maildir=.personal:.work:.logcheck:.sent
21632 mh=../Mail/nnml/*...
21633 mbox=../mboxmail/mailarchive_year*
21636 database=~/.mairixdatabase
21639 In this case, the base directory is @file{~/Maildir}, where all my Maildir
21640 folders are stored. As you can see, the folders are separated by
21641 colons. If you wonder why every folder begins with a dot: this is
21642 because I use Dovecot as @acronym{IMAP} server, which again uses
21643 @code{Maildir++} folders. For testing nnmairix, I also have some
21644 @code{nnml} mail, which is saved in @file{~/Mail/nnml}. Since this has
21645 to be specified relative to the @code{base} directory, the @code{../Mail}
21646 notation is needed. Note that the line ends in @code{*...}, which means
21647 to recursively scan all files under this directory. Without the three
21648 dots, the wildcard @code{*} will not work recursively. I also have some
21649 old mbox files with archived mail lying around in @file{~/mboxmail}.
21650 The other lines should be obvious.
21652 See the man page for @code{mairixrc} for details and further options,
21653 especially regarding wildcard usage, which may be a little different
21654 than you are used to.
21656 Now simply call @code{mairix} to create the index for the first time.
21657 Note that this may take a few minutes, but every following index will do
21658 the updates incrementally and hence is very fast.
21660 @node Configuring nnmairix
21661 @subsection Configuring nnmairix
21663 In group mode, type @kbd{G b c}
21664 (@code{nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group}). This will ask you for all
21665 necessary information and create a @code{nnmairix} server as a foreign
21666 server. You will have to specify the following:
21671 The @strong{name} of the @code{nnmairix} server---choose whatever you
21675 The name of the @strong{back end server} where mairix should store its
21676 searches. This must be a full server name, like @code{nnml:mymail}.
21677 Just hit @kbd{TAB} to see the available servers. Currently, servers
21678 which are accessed through @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnimap} and
21679 @code{nnml} are supported. As explained above, for locally stored
21680 mails, this can be an existing server where you store your mails.
21681 However, you can also create e.g. a new @code{nnmaildir} or @code{nnml}
21682 server exclusively for @code{nnmairix} in your secondary select methods
21683 (@pxref{Finding the News}). If you use a secondary @code{nnml} server
21684 just for mairix, make sure that you explicitly set the server variable
21685 @code{nnml-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}, or you might lose mail
21686 (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}). If you want to use mairix remotely on an
21687 @acronym{IMAP} server, you have to choose the corresponding
21688 @code{nnimap} server here.
21691 @vindex nnmairix-mairix-search-options
21692 The @strong{command} to call the mairix binary. This will usually just
21693 be @code{mairix}, but you can also choose something like @code{ssh
21694 SERVER mairix} if you want to call mairix remotely, e.g. on your
21695 @acronym{IMAP} server. If you want to add some default options to
21696 mairix, you could do this here, but better use the variable
21697 @code{nnmairix-mairix-search-options} instead.
21700 The name of the @strong{default search group}. This will be the group
21701 where all temporary mairix searches are stored, i.e. all searches which
21702 are not bound to permanent @code{nnmairix} groups. Choose whatever you
21706 If the mail back end is @code{nnimap} or @code{nnmaildir}, you will be
21707 asked if you work with @strong{Maildir++}, i.e. with hidden maildir
21708 folders (=beginning with a dot). For example, you have to answer
21709 @samp{yes} here if you work with the Dovecot @acronym{IMAP}
21710 server. Otherwise, you should answer @samp{no} here.
21714 @node nnmairix keyboard shortcuts
21715 @subsection nnmairix keyboard shortcuts
21722 @kindex G b c (Group)
21723 @findex nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group
21724 Creates @code{nnmairix} server and default search group for this server
21725 (@code{nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group}). You should have done
21726 this by now (@pxref{Configuring nnmairix}).
21729 @kindex G b s (Group)
21730 @findex nnmairix-search
21731 Prompts for query which is then sent to the mairix binary. Search
21732 results are put into the default search group which is automatically
21733 displayed (@code{nnmairix-search}).
21736 @kindex G b m (Group)
21737 @findex nnmairix-widget-search
21738 Allows you to create a mairix search or a permanent group more
21739 comfortably using graphical widgets, similar to a customization
21740 group. Just try it to see how it works (@code{nnmairix-widget-search}).
21743 @kindex G b i (Group)
21744 @findex nnmairix-search-interactive
21745 Another command for creating a mairix query more comfortably, but uses
21746 only the minibuffer (@code{nnmairix-search-interactive}).
21749 @kindex G b g (Group)
21750 @findex nnmairix-create-search-group
21751 Creates a permanent group which is associated with a search query
21752 (@code{nnmairix-create-search-group}). The @code{nnmairix} back end
21753 automatically calls mairix when you update this group with @kbd{g} or
21757 @kindex G b q (Group)
21758 @findex nnmairix-group-change-query-this-group
21759 Changes the search query for the @code{nnmairix} group under cursor
21760 (@code{nnmairix-group-change-query-this-group}).
21763 @kindex G b t (Group)
21764 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-threads-this-group
21765 Toggles the 'threads' parameter for the @code{nnmairix} group under cursor,
21766 i.e. if you want see the whole threads of the found messages
21767 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-threads-this-group}).
21770 @kindex G b u (Group)
21771 @findex nnmairix-update-database
21772 @vindex nnmairix-mairix-update-options
21773 Calls mairix binary for updating the database
21774 (@code{nnmairix-update-database}). The default parameters are @code{-F}
21775 and @code{-Q} for making this as fast as possible (see variable
21776 @code{nnmairix-mairix-update-options} for defining these default
21780 @kindex G b r (Group)
21781 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-readmarks-this-group
21782 Keep articles in this @code{nnmairix} group always read or unread, or leave the
21783 marks unchanged (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-readmarks-this-group}).
21786 @kindex G b d (Group)
21787 @findex nnmairix-group-delete-recreate-this-group
21788 Recreate @code{nnmairix} group on the ``real'' mail back end
21789 (@code{nnmairix-group-delete-recreate-this-group}). You can do this if
21790 you always get wrong article counts with a @code{nnmairix} group.
21793 @kindex G b a (Group)
21794 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-allowfast-this-group
21795 Toggles the @code{allow-fast} parameters for group under cursor
21796 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-allowfast-this-group}). The default
21797 behavior of @code{nnmairix} is to do a mairix search every time you
21798 update or enter the group. With the @code{allow-fast} parameter set,
21799 mairix will only be called when you explicitly update the group, but not
21800 upon entering. This makes entering the group faster, but it may also
21801 lead to dangling symlinks if something changed between updating and
21802 entering the group which is not yet in the mairix database.
21805 @kindex G b p (Group)
21806 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group
21807 Toggle marks propagation for this group
21808 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group}). (@pxref{Propagating
21812 @kindex G b o (Group)
21813 @findex nnmairix-propagate-marks
21814 Manually propagate marks (@code{nnmairix-propagate-marks}); needed only when
21815 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close} is set to @code{nil}.
21824 @kindex $ m (Summary)
21825 @findex nnmairix-widget-search-from-this-article
21826 Allows you to create a mairix query or group based on the current
21827 message using graphical widgets (same as @code{nnmairix-widget-search})
21828 (@code{nnmairix-widget-search-from-this-article}).
21831 @kindex $ g (Summary)
21832 @findex nnmairix-create-search-group-from-message
21833 Interactively creates a new search group with query based on the current
21834 message, but uses the minibuffer instead of graphical widgets
21835 (@code{nnmairix-create-search-group-from-message}).
21838 @kindex $ t (Summary)
21839 @findex nnmairix-search-thread-this-article
21840 Searches thread for the current article
21841 (@code{nnmairix-search-thread-this-article}). This is effectively a
21842 shortcut for calling @code{nnmairix-search} with @samp{m:msgid} of the
21843 current article and enabled threads.
21846 @kindex $ f (Summary)
21847 @findex nnmairix-search-from-this-article
21848 Searches all messages from sender of the current article
21849 (@code{nnmairix-search-from-this-article}). This is a shortcut for
21850 calling @code{nnmairix-search} with @samp{f:From}.
21853 @kindex $ o (Summary)
21854 @findex nnmairix-goto-original-article
21855 (Only in @code{nnmairix} groups!) Tries determine the group this article
21856 originally came from and displays the article in this group, so that
21857 e.g. replying to this article the correct posting styles/group
21858 parameters are applied (@code{nnmairix-goto-original-article}). This
21859 function will use the registry if available, but can also parse the
21860 article file name as a fallback method.
21863 @kindex $ u (Summary)
21864 @findex nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article
21865 Remove possibly existing tick mark from original article
21866 (@code{nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article}). (@pxref{nnmairix
21871 @node Propagating marks
21872 @subsection Propagating marks
21874 First of: you really need a patched mairix binary for using the marks
21875 propagation feature efficiently. Otherwise, you would have to update
21876 the mairix database all the time. You can get the patch at
21878 @uref{http://www.randomsample.de/mairix-maildir-patch.tar}
21880 You need the mairix v0.21 source code for this patch; everything else
21881 is explained in the accompanied readme file. If you don't want to use
21882 marks propagation, you don't have to apply these patches, but they also
21883 fix some annoyances regarding changing maildir flags, so it might still
21886 With the patched mairix binary, you can use @code{nnmairix} as an
21887 alternative to mail splitting (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}). For
21888 example, instead of splitting all mails from @samp{david@@foobar.com}
21889 into a group, you can simply create a search group with the query
21890 @samp{f:david@@foobar.com}. This is actually what ``smart folders'' are
21891 all about: simply put everything in one mail folder and dynamically
21892 create searches instead of splitting. This is more flexible, since you
21893 can dynamically change your folders any time you want to. This also
21894 implies that you will usually read your mails in the @code{nnmairix}
21895 groups instead of your ``real'' mail groups.
21897 There is one problem, though: say you got a new mail from
21898 @samp{david@@foobar.com}; it will now show up in two groups, the
21899 ``real'' group (your INBOX, for example) and in the @code{nnmairix}
21900 search group (provided you have updated the mairix database). Now you
21901 enter the @code{nnmairix} group and read the mail. The mail will be
21902 marked as read, but only in the @code{nnmairix} group---in the ``real''
21903 mail group it will be still shown as unread.
21905 You could now catch up the mail group (@pxref{Group Data}), but this is
21906 tedious and error prone, since you may overlook mails you don't have
21907 created @code{nnmairix} groups for. Of course, you could first use
21908 @code{nnmairix-goto-original-article} (@pxref{nnmairix keyboard
21909 shortcuts}) and then read the mail in the original group, but that's
21910 even more cumbersome.
21912 Clearly, the easiest way would be if marks could somehow be
21913 automatically set for the original article. This is exactly what
21914 @emph{marks propagation} is about.
21916 Marks propagation is deactivated by default. You can activate it for a
21917 certain @code{nnmairix} group with
21918 @code{nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group} (bound to @kbd{G b
21919 p}). This function will warn you if you try to use it with your default
21920 search group; the reason is that the default search group is used for
21921 temporary searches, and it's easy to accidentally propagate marks from
21922 this group. However, you can ignore this warning if you really want to.
21924 With marks propagation enabled, all the marks you set in a @code{nnmairix}
21925 group should now be propagated to the original article. For example,
21926 you can now tick an article (by default with @kbd{!}) and this mark should
21927 magically be set for the original article, too.
21929 A few more remarks which you may or may not want to know:
21931 @vindex nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close
21932 Marks will not be set immediately, but only upon closing a group. This
21933 not only makes marks propagation faster, it also avoids problems with
21934 dangling symlinks when dealing with maildir files (since changing flags
21935 will change the file name). You can also control when to propagate marks
21936 via @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close} (see the doc-string for
21939 Obviously, @code{nnmairix} will have to look up the original group for every
21940 article you want to set marks for. If available, @code{nnmairix} will first use
21941 the registry for determining the original group. The registry is very
21942 fast, hence you should really, really enable the registry when using
21943 marks propagation. If you don't have to worry about RAM and disc space,
21944 set @code{gnus-registry-max-entries} to a large enough value; to be on
21945 the safe side, choose roughly the amount of mails you index with mairix.
21947 @vindex nnmairix-only-use-registry
21948 If you don't want to use the registry or the registry hasn't seen the
21949 original article yet, @code{nnmairix} will use an additional mairix
21950 search for determining the file name of the article. This, of course, is
21951 way slower than the registry---if you set hundreds or even thousands of
21952 marks this way, it might take some time. You can avoid this situation by
21953 setting @code{nnmairix-only-use-registry} to t.
21955 Maybe you also want to propagate marks the other way round, i.e. if you
21956 tick an article in a "real" mail group, you'd like to have the same
21957 article in a @code{nnmairix} group ticked, too. For several good
21958 reasons, this can only be done efficiently if you use maildir. To
21959 immediately contradict myself, let me mention that it WON'T work with
21960 @code{nnmaildir}, since @code{nnmaildir} stores the marks externally and
21961 not in the file name. Therefore, propagating marks to @code{nnmairix}
21962 groups will usually only work if you use an IMAP server which uses
21963 maildir as its file format.
21965 @vindex nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups
21966 If you work with this setup, just set
21967 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups} to @code{t} and see what
21968 happens. If you don't like what you see, just set it to @code{nil} again. One
21969 problem might be that you get a wrong number of unread articles; this
21970 usually happens when you delete or expire articles in the original
21971 groups. When this happens, you can recreate the @code{nnmairix} group on the
21972 back end using @kbd{G b d}.
21974 @node nnmairix tips and tricks
21975 @subsection nnmairix tips and tricks
21981 @findex nnmairix-update-groups
21982 I put all my important mail groups at group level 1. The mairix groups
21983 have group level 5, so they do not get checked at start up (@pxref{Group
21986 I use the following to check for mails:
21989 (defun my-check-mail-mairix-update (level)
21991 ;; if no prefix given, set level=1
21992 (gnus-group-get-new-news (or level 1))
21993 (nnmairix-update-groups "mairixsearch" t t)
21994 (gnus-group-list-groups))
21996 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map "g" 'my-check-mail-mairix-update)
21999 Instead of @samp{"mairixsearch"} use the name of your @code{nnmairix}
22000 server. See the doc string for @code{nnmairix-update-groups} for
22004 Example: search group for ticked articles
22006 For example, you can create a group for all ticked articles, where the
22007 articles always stay unread:
22009 Hit @kbd{G b g}, enter group name (e.g. @samp{important}), use
22010 @samp{F:f} as query and do not include threads.
22012 Now activate marks propagation for this group by using @kbd{G b p}. Then
22013 activate the always-unread feature by using @kbd{G b r} twice.
22015 So far so good---but how do you remove the tick marks in the @code{nnmairix}
22016 group? There are two options: You may simply use
22017 @code{nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article} (bound to @kbd{$ u}) to remove
22018 tick marks from the original article. The other possibility is to set
22019 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups} to @code{t}, but see the above
22020 comments about this option. If it works for you, the tick marks should
22021 also exist in the @code{nnmairix} group and you can remove them as usual,
22022 e.g. by marking an article as read.
22024 When you have removed a tick mark from the original article, this
22025 article should vanish from the @code{nnmairix} group after you have updated the
22026 mairix database and updated the group. Fortunately, there is a function
22027 for doing exactly that: @code{nnmairix-update-groups}. See the previous code
22028 snippet and the doc string for details.
22031 Dealing with auto-subscription of mail groups
22033 As described before, all @code{nnmairix} groups are in fact stored on
22034 the mail back end in the form @samp{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>}. You can
22035 see them when you enter the back end server in the server buffer. You
22036 should not subscribe these groups! Unfortunately, these groups will
22037 usually get @emph{auto-subscribed} when you use @code{nnmaildir} or
22038 @code{nnml}, i.e. you will suddenly see groups of the form
22039 @samp{zz_mairix*} pop up in your group buffer. If this happens to you,
22040 simply kill these groups with C-k. For avoiding this, turn off
22041 auto-subscription completely by setting the variable
22042 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups} to @code{nil} (@pxref{Filtering New
22043 Groups}), or if you like to keep this feature use the following kludge
22044 for turning it off for all groups beginning with @samp{zz_}:
22047 (setq gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
22048 "^\\(nnml\\|nnfolder\\|nnmbox\\|nnmh\\|nnbabyl\\|nnmaildir\\).*:\\([^z]\\|z$\\|\\z[^z]\\|zz$\\|zz[^_]\\|zz_$\\).*")
22053 @node nnmairix caveats
22054 @subsection nnmairix caveats
22058 You can create a secondary @code{nnml} server just for nnmairix, but then
22059 you have to explicitly set the corresponding server variable
22060 @code{nnml-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}. Otherwise, new mail might get
22061 put into this secondary server (and would never show up again). Here's
22062 an example server definition:
22065 (nnml "mairix" (nnml-directory "mairix") (nnml-get-new-mail nil))
22068 (The @code{nnmaildir} back end also has a server variabe
22069 @code{get-new-mail}, but its default value is @code{nil}, so you don't
22070 have to explicitly set it if you use a @code{nnmaildir} server just for
22074 If you use the Gnus registry: don't use the registry with
22075 @code{nnmairix} groups (put them in
22076 @code{gnus-registry-unfollowed-groups}; this is the default). Be
22077 @emph{extra careful} if you use
22078 @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent}; mails which are split
22079 into @code{nnmairix} groups are usually gone for good as soon as you
22080 check the group for new mail (yes, it has happened to me...).
22083 Therefore: @emph{Never ever} put ``real'' mails into @code{nnmairix}
22084 groups (you shouldn't be able to, anyway).
22087 If you use the Gnus agent (@pxref{Gnus Unplugged}): don't agentize
22088 @code{nnmairix} groups (though I have no idea what happens if you do).
22091 mairix does only support us-ascii characters.
22094 @code{nnmairix} uses a rather brute force method to force Gnus to
22095 completely reread the group on the mail back end after mairix was
22096 called---it simply deletes and re-creates the group on the mail
22097 back end. So far, this has worked for me without any problems, and I
22098 don't see how @code{nnmairix} could delete other mail groups than its
22099 own, but anyway: you really should have a backup of your mail
22103 All necessary information is stored in the group parameters
22104 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). This has the advantage that no active file
22105 is needed, but also implies that when you kill a @code{nnmairix} group,
22106 it is gone for good.
22109 @findex nnmairix-purge-old-groups
22110 If you create and kill a lot of @code{nnmairix} groups, the
22111 ``zz_mairix-*'' groups will accumulate on the mail back end server. To
22112 delete old groups which are no longer needed, call
22113 @code{nnmairix-purge-old-groups}. Note that this assumes that you don't
22114 save any ``real'' mail in folders of the form
22115 @code{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>}. You can change the prefix of
22116 @code{nnmairix} groups by changing the variable
22117 @code{nnmairix-group-prefix}.
22120 The following only applies if you @emph{don't} use the mentioned patch
22121 for mairix (@pxref{Propagating marks}):
22123 A problem can occur when using @code{nnmairix} with maildir folders and
22124 comes with the fact that maildir stores mail flags like @samp{Seen} or
22125 @samp{Replied} by appending chars @samp{S} and @samp{R} to the message
22126 file name, respectively. This implies that currently you would have to
22127 update the mairix database not only when new mail arrives, but also when
22128 mail flags are changing. The same applies to new mails which are indexed
22129 while they are still in the @samp{new} folder but then get moved to
22130 @samp{cur} when Gnus has seen the mail. If you don't update the database
22131 after this has happened, a mairix query can lead to symlinks pointing to
22132 non-existing files. In Gnus, these messages will usually appear with
22133 ``(none)'' entries in the header and can't be accessed. If this happens
22134 to you, using @kbd{G b u} and updating the group will usually fix this.
22141 @include message.texi
22142 @chapter Emacs MIME
22143 @include emacs-mime.texi
22145 @include sieve.texi
22157 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
22158 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
22159 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
22160 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
22161 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
22162 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
22163 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
22164 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
22165 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
22166 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
22167 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
22168 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
22169 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
22170 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
22171 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
22172 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
22173 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
22174 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
22175 * The Gnus Registry:: A package for tracking messages by Message-ID.
22176 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
22177 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
22181 @node Process/Prefix
22182 @section Process/Prefix
22183 @cindex process/prefix convention
22185 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
22186 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
22188 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
22189 command to be performed on.
22193 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
22194 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
22195 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
22196 with the current one.
22198 @vindex transient-mark-mode
22199 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
22200 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
22202 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
22203 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
22206 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
22207 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
22209 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
22212 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
22213 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
22214 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
22215 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22217 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
22218 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
22219 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
22220 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
22221 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
22222 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
22223 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
22224 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
22226 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
22227 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
22228 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
22229 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
22230 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
22234 @section Interactive
22235 @cindex interaction
22239 @item gnus-novice-user
22240 @vindex gnus-novice-user
22241 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
22242 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
22243 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
22244 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
22247 @item gnus-expert-user
22248 @vindex gnus-expert-user
22249 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
22250 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing,
22251 no matter how strange. For example, quitting Gnus, exiting a group
22252 without an update, catching up with a group, deleting expired
22253 articles, and replying by mail to a news message will not require
22256 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
22257 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
22258 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
22259 is @code{t} by default.
22261 @item gnus-interactive-exit
22262 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
22263 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22268 @node Symbolic Prefixes
22269 @section Symbolic Prefixes
22270 @cindex symbolic prefixes
22272 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
22273 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
22274 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
22275 rule of 900 to the current article.
22277 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
22278 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
22279 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
22280 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
22281 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
22282 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
22283 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
22285 @kindex M-i (Summary)
22286 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
22287 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
22288 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
22289 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
22290 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
22291 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
22292 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
22293 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
22295 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
22296 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
22297 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
22299 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
22303 @node Formatting Variables
22304 @section Formatting Variables
22305 @cindex formatting variables
22307 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
22308 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
22309 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
22310 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
22311 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
22314 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
22315 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
22316 lots of percentages everywhere.
22319 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
22320 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
22321 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
22322 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
22323 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
22324 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
22325 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
22326 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
22329 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
22330 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
22331 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
22332 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
22333 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
22334 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
22335 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
22336 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
22338 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
22339 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
22341 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
22342 @findex gnus-update-format
22343 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
22344 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
22345 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
22346 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
22350 @node Formatting Basics
22351 @subsection Formatting Basics
22353 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
22354 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
22355 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
22357 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
22358 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
22359 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
22360 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
22361 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
22364 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
22365 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
22366 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
22367 less than 4 characters wide.
22369 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
22370 @samp{%&user-date;}.
22373 @node Mode Line Formatting
22374 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
22376 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
22377 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
22378 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
22379 with the following two differences:
22384 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
22387 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
22388 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
22389 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
22390 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
22391 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
22392 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
22393 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
22398 @node Advanced Formatting
22399 @subsection Advanced Formatting
22401 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
22402 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
22403 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
22404 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
22406 These are the valid modifiers:
22411 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
22415 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
22420 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
22423 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
22428 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
22431 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
22434 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
22437 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
22443 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
22448 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
22449 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
22450 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
22451 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
22452 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
22453 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
22454 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
22456 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
22457 last operation, padding.
22459 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
22460 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
22461 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
22462 @xref{Compilation}.
22465 @node User-Defined Specs
22466 @subsection User-Defined Specs
22468 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
22469 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
22470 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
22471 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
22472 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
22473 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
22474 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
22475 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
22476 should protect against that.
22478 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
22479 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
22481 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
22482 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
22483 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
22484 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
22488 @node Formatting Fonts
22489 @subsection Formatting Fonts
22492 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22493 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
22494 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
22495 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
22496 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
22500 @vindex gnus-face-0
22501 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
22502 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
22503 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
22504 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
22505 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
22506 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
22508 @cindex %<<, %>>, guillemets
22509 @c @cindex %<<, %>>, %«, %», guillemets
22510 @vindex gnus-balloon-face-0
22511 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
22512 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
22513 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
22514 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
22515 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
22516 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
22517 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
22518 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
22519 (in Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
22520 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
22521 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
22524 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
22527 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
22528 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
22529 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
22531 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
22532 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
22533 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
22534 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
22535 ;; @r{Set the color.}
22536 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
22537 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
22539 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
22540 (setq gnus-group-line-format
22541 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
22544 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
22545 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
22547 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
22548 mode-line variables.
22550 @node Positioning Point
22551 @subsection Positioning Point
22553 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
22554 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
22555 line. You can customize this behavior in three different ways.
22557 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
22559 @findex gnus-goto-colon
22560 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
22561 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
22563 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
22564 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
22565 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
22570 @subsection Tabulation
22572 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
22573 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
22574 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
22575 about lining up the following text afterwards.
22577 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
22578 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
22580 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22581 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
22582 This is the soft tabulator.
22584 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22585 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
22586 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
22589 @node Wide Characters
22590 @subsection Wide Characters
22592 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
22593 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
22594 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
22596 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
22597 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
22598 these countries, that's not true.
22600 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
22601 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
22602 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
22603 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
22607 @node Window Layout
22608 @section Window Layout
22609 @cindex window layout
22611 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
22613 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
22614 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
22615 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
22616 @code{t} by default.
22618 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
22619 glitches. Use at your own peril.
22621 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
22622 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
22623 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
22626 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)))
22627 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22631 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
22632 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
22633 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
22634 possible names is listed below.
22636 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
22637 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
22640 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22644 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
22645 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
22646 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
22647 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
22648 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
22649 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
22650 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
22651 size spec per split.
22653 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
22654 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
22655 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
22656 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
22657 present) gets focus.
22659 Here's a more complicated example:
22662 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
22663 (summary 0.25 point)
22667 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
22668 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
22669 occupy, not a percentage.
22671 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
22672 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
22673 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
22674 be used as a split.
22676 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
22679 (article (horizontal 1.0
22683 (summary 0.25 point)
22687 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
22688 @code{horizontal} thingie?
22690 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
22691 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
22692 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
22693 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
22694 the screen is to be given to this strip.
22696 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
22697 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
22698 lines from the splits.
22700 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
22705 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
22706 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
22707 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
22708 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
22709 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
22710 size = number | frame-params
22711 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
22715 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
22716 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
22717 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
22718 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
22720 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
22721 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
22722 @cindex window height
22723 @cindex window width
22724 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
22725 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
22726 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
22727 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
22728 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
22729 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
22731 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
22732 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
22733 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
22734 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
22736 @findex gnus-configure-frame
22737 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
22738 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
22739 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
22740 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
22741 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
22742 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
22743 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
22744 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
22745 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
22746 configuration list.
22749 (gnus-configure-frame
22753 (article 0.3 point))
22761 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
22762 @code{frame} split:
22765 (gnus-configure-frame
22768 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
22770 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
22771 (user-position . t)
22772 (left . -1) (top . 1))
22777 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
22778 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
22779 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
22780 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
22781 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
22782 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
22783 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
22784 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
22786 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
22787 be found in its default value.
22789 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
22790 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
22791 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
22795 (message (horizontal 1.0
22796 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
22798 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
22803 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
22804 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
22805 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
22810 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
22811 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
22812 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
22813 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
22814 (name . "Message"))
22815 (message 1.0 point))))
22818 @findex gnus-add-configuration
22819 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
22820 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
22821 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
22822 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
22825 (gnus-add-configuration
22826 '(article (vertical 1.0
22828 (summary .25 point)
22832 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
22833 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
22834 Gnus has been loaded.
22836 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
22837 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
22838 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
22839 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
22840 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
22842 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
22843 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
22844 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
22847 @subsection Window Configuration Names
22849 Here's a list of most of the currently known window configurations,
22850 and when they're used:
22857 Entering a group and showing only the summary.
22860 Selecting an article.
22866 Browsing groups from the server buffer.
22869 Composing a (new) message.
22872 Showing only the article buffer.
22875 Editing an article.
22878 Editing group parameters and the like.
22881 Editing a server definition.
22884 Composing a news message.
22887 Replying or following up an article without yanking the text.
22890 Forwarding a message.
22893 Replying or following up an article with yanking the text.
22896 Bouncing a message.
22899 Sending an article to an external process.
22902 Sending a bug report.
22905 Displaying the score trace.
22908 Displaying the score words.
22911 Displaying the split trace.
22913 @item compose-bounce
22914 Composing a bounce message.
22917 Previewing a @acronym{MIME} part.
22922 @subsection Example Window Configurations
22926 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
22927 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
22942 (gnus-add-configuration
22945 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22947 (summary 0.16 point)
22950 (gnus-add-configuration
22953 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22954 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
22960 @node Faces and Fonts
22961 @section Faces and Fonts
22966 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
22967 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
22968 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
22973 @section Compilation
22974 @cindex compilation
22975 @cindex byte-compilation
22977 @findex gnus-compile
22979 Remember all those line format specification variables?
22980 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
22981 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
22982 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
22983 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
22984 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
22987 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
22988 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
22989 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
22990 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
22991 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
22992 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
22993 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
22997 @section Mode Lines
23000 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
23001 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
23002 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
23003 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
23004 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
23005 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
23006 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
23009 @cindex display-time
23011 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
23012 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
23013 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
23014 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
23015 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
23016 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
23017 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
23018 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
23021 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
23023 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
23024 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
23026 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
23027 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
23028 (length display-time-string)))))
23031 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
23032 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
23033 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
23034 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
23035 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
23038 @node Highlighting and Menus
23039 @section Highlighting and Menus
23041 @cindex highlighting
23044 @vindex gnus-visual
23045 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
23046 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
23047 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
23050 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
23051 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
23054 @item group-highlight
23055 Do highlights in the group buffer.
23056 @item summary-highlight
23057 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
23058 @item article-highlight
23059 Do highlights in the article buffer.
23061 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
23063 Create menus in the group buffer.
23065 Create menus in the summary buffers.
23067 Create menus in the article buffer.
23069 Create menus in the browse buffer.
23071 Create menus in the server buffer.
23073 Create menus in the score buffers.
23075 Create menus in all buffers.
23078 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
23079 buffers, you could say something like:
23082 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
23085 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
23088 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
23091 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
23092 in all Gnus buffers.
23094 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
23097 @item gnus-mouse-face
23098 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
23099 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
23100 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
23104 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
23108 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
23109 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
23110 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
23112 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
23113 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
23114 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
23116 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
23117 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
23118 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
23120 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
23121 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
23122 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
23124 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
23125 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
23126 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
23128 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
23129 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
23130 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
23140 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
23141 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
23142 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
23143 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
23144 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
23146 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
23147 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
23148 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
23150 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
23151 been idle for thirty minutes:
23154 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
23157 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
23161 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
23164 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
23165 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
23166 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
23168 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
23169 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
23170 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
23171 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
23173 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
23174 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
23175 @var{idle} minutes.
23177 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
23178 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
23181 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
23182 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
23183 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
23185 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
23186 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
23187 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
23188 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
23190 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
23191 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23193 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
23195 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
23198 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
23199 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
23200 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
23201 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
23202 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
23203 @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
23204 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
23205 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
23206 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
23207 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
23209 @findex gnus-demon-init
23210 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
23211 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
23212 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
23213 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
23214 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
23216 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
23217 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
23218 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
23226 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
23227 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
23228 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
23230 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
23231 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
23232 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
23233 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
23234 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
23235 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
23236 @code{undo} function.
23238 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
23239 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
23240 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
23241 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
23242 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
23243 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
23244 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
23245 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
23246 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
23247 never be totally undoable.
23249 @findex gnus-undo-mode
23250 @vindex gnus-use-undo
23252 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
23253 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
23254 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
23255 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
23259 @node Predicate Specifiers
23260 @section Predicate Specifiers
23261 @cindex predicate specifiers
23263 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
23264 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
23265 to type all that much.
23267 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
23272 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
23273 gnus-article-unread-p)
23276 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
23277 functions all take one parameter.
23279 @findex gnus-make-predicate
23280 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
23281 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
23282 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
23287 @section Moderation
23290 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
23291 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
23292 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
23295 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
23299 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
23302 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
23304 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
23309 You split your incoming mail by matching on
23310 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
23311 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
23314 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
23315 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
23318 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
23319 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
23323 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
23326 (setq gnus-moderated-list
23327 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
23331 @node Fetching a Group
23332 @section Fetching a Group
23333 @cindex fetching a group
23335 @findex gnus-fetch-group
23336 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
23337 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
23338 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
23339 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
23340 It takes the group name as a parameter.
23343 @node Image Enhancements
23344 @section Image Enhancements
23346 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
23347 support images, Emacs 22 does.} and up, are able to display pictures and
23348 stuff, so Gnus has taken advantage of that.
23351 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
23352 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
23353 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
23354 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
23355 * Gravatars:: Display the avatar of people you read.
23356 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
23364 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
23365 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
23366 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
23370 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
23371 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
23372 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
23380 Viewing an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
23381 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions have), or that you
23382 have suitable conversion or display programs installed. If your Emacs
23383 has image support the default action is to display the face before the
23384 @code{From} header. If there's no native @code{X-Face} support, Gnus
23385 will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using external programs
23386 from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends, see below. For XEmacs it's
23387 faster if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support. The
23388 default action under Emacs without image support is to fork off the
23389 @code{display} program.
23391 On a GNU/Linux system, the @code{display} program is included in the
23392 ImageMagick package. For external conversion programs look for packages
23393 with names like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.
23394 On Windows, you may use the packages @code{netpbm} and @code{compface}
23395 from @url{http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net}. You need to add the
23396 @code{bin} directory to your @code{PATH} environment variable.
23397 @c In fact only the following DLLs and binaries seem to be required:
23398 @c compface1.dll uncompface.exe libnetpbm10.dll icontopbm.exe
23400 The variable @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} controls which programs
23401 are used to display the @code{X-Face} header. If this variable is a
23402 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
23403 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
23404 If @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches the
23405 @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
23407 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
23415 @vindex gnus-x-face
23416 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
23417 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
23418 default colors are black and white.
23420 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
23421 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
23422 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
23423 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
23424 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
23425 XEmacs. Here are examples:
23428 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
23429 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23430 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
23431 (png . (:ascent 80))))
23433 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
23434 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23435 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
23436 (png . (:relief -2))))
23439 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
23440 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
23441 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
23442 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
23443 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
23444 @samp{libcompface} library.
23447 If you use posting styles, you can use an @code{x-face-file} entry in
23448 @code{gnus-posting-styles}, @xref{Posting Styles}. If you don't, Gnus
23449 provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow easier
23450 insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages. You also need the
23451 above mentioned ImageMagick, netpbm or other image conversion packages
23452 (depending the values of the variables below) for these functions.
23454 @findex gnus-random-x-face
23455 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
23456 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
23457 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
23458 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
23459 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
23460 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
23461 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
23462 header data as a string.
23464 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
23465 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
23466 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
23467 randomly generated data.
23469 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
23470 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
23471 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
23472 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
23473 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
23475 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
23476 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23479 (setq message-required-news-headers
23480 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23481 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
23484 Using the last function would be something like this:
23487 (setq message-required-news-headers
23488 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23489 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
23490 (gnus-x-face-from-file
23491 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
23499 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces' implementations should really be harmonized.
23501 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
23502 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
23503 represent the author of the message.
23506 @findex gnus-article-display-face
23507 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
23508 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
23511 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
23512 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
23514 Viewing a @code{Face} header requires an Emacs that is able to display
23517 @c (if (featurep 'xemacs)
23519 @c (image-type-available-p 'png))
23521 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
23522 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
23524 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
23525 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
23526 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
23528 @findex gnus-face-from-file
23529 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
23530 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
23531 converts the file to Face format by using the
23532 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
23534 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
23535 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23538 (setq message-required-news-headers
23539 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23540 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
23541 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
23546 @subsection Smileys
23551 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
23556 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
23557 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
23559 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
23560 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23563 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
23566 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
23567 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
23568 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
23569 text and maps that to file names.
23571 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
23572 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
23573 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
23574 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
23575 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
23578 The following variables customize the appearance of the smileys:
23583 @vindex smiley-style
23584 Specifies the smiley style. Predefined smiley styles include
23585 @code{low-color} (small 13x14 pixel, three-color images), @code{medium}
23586 (more colorful images, 16x16 pixel), and @code{grayscale} (grayscale
23587 images, 14x14 pixel). The default depends on the height of the default
23590 @item smiley-data-directory
23591 @vindex smiley-data-directory
23592 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files. You shouldn't set this
23593 variable anymore. Customize @code{smiley-style} instead.
23595 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
23596 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
23597 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
23611 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
23612 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
23613 over your shoulder as you read news.
23615 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
23624 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
23625 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
23626 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
23627 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
23628 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
23629 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
23630 @code{GIF} formats.
23633 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23634 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
23635 point your Web browser at
23636 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
23638 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
23639 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
23641 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
23642 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
23645 @vindex gnus-picon-style
23646 The variable @code{gnus-picon-style} controls how picons are displayed.
23647 If @code{inline}, the textual representation is replaced. If
23648 @code{right}, picons are added right to the textual representation.
23650 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
23654 @item gnus-picon-databases
23655 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23656 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
23657 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
23658 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
23659 "/usr/local/faces")}.
23661 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
23662 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
23663 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23664 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
23666 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
23667 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
23668 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
23669 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
23671 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
23672 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
23673 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23674 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
23675 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
23677 @item gnus-picon-file-types
23678 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
23679 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
23680 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
23682 @item gnus-picon-inhibit-top-level-domains
23683 @vindex gnus-picon-inhibit-top-level-domains
23684 If non-@code{nil} (which is the default), don't display picons for
23685 things like @samp{.net} and @samp{.de}, which aren't usually very
23691 @subsection Gravatars
23695 \include{gravatars}
23699 A gravatar is an image registered to an e-mail address.
23701 You can submit yours on-line at @uref{http://www.gravatar.com}.
23703 The following variables offer control over how things are displayed.
23707 @item gnus-gravatar-size
23708 @vindex gnus-gravatar-size
23709 The size in pixels of gravatars. Gravatars are always square, so one
23710 number for the size is enough.
23712 @item gnus-gravatar-properties
23713 @vindex gnus-gravatar-properties
23714 List of image properties applied to Gravatar images.
23716 @item gnus-gravatar-too-ugly
23717 @vindex gnus-gravatar-too-ugly
23718 Regexp that matches mail addresses or names of people of which avatars
23719 should not be displayed, or @code{nil}. It default to the value of
23720 @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (@pxref{X-Face}).
23724 If you want to see them in the From field, set:
23726 (setq gnus-treat-from-gravatar 'head)
23729 If you want to see them in the Cc and To fields, set:
23732 (setq gnus-treat-mail-gravatar 'head)
23737 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
23740 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23741 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23742 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
23743 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
23744 unusual directory structure.
23746 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23747 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23748 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
23753 @subsubsection Toolbar
23757 @item gnus-use-toolbar
23758 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
23759 This variable specifies the position to display the toolbar. If
23760 @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If it is non-@code{nil}, it should
23761 be one of the symbols @code{default}, @code{top}, @code{bottom},
23762 @code{right}, and @code{left}. @code{default} means to use the default
23763 toolbar, the rest mean to display the toolbar on the place which those
23764 names show. The default is @code{default}.
23766 @item gnus-toolbar-thickness
23767 @vindex gnus-toolbar-thickness
23768 Cons of the height and the width specifying the thickness of a toolbar.
23769 The height is used for the toolbar displayed on the top or the bottom,
23770 the width is used for the toolbar displayed on the right or the left.
23771 The default is that of the default toolbar.
23773 @item gnus-group-toolbar
23774 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
23775 The toolbar in the group buffer.
23777 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
23778 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
23779 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
23781 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23782 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23783 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
23794 @node Fuzzy Matching
23795 @section Fuzzy Matching
23796 @cindex fuzzy matching
23798 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
23799 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
23801 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
23802 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
23803 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
23805 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
23806 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
23807 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
23808 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
23809 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
23812 @node Thwarting Email Spam
23813 @section Thwarting Email Spam
23817 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23819 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
23820 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
23821 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
23822 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
23823 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
23824 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
23825 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
23826 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
23829 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
23830 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
23831 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
23832 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
23833 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
23834 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
23836 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
23839 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
23840 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
23841 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
23842 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
23845 @node The problem of spam
23846 @subsection The problem of spam
23848 @cindex spam filtering approaches
23849 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
23851 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23853 First, some background on spam.
23855 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
23856 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
23857 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
23858 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
23859 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
23860 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
23861 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
23862 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
23863 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
23865 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
23866 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
23867 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
23868 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
23869 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
23870 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
23871 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
23872 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
23873 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
23876 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
23877 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
23878 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
23879 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
23880 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
23881 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
23882 from Bulgarian IPs.
23884 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
23885 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
23886 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
23887 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
23889 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
23890 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
23891 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
23892 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
23894 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
23895 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
23896 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
23897 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
23898 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
23899 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
23900 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
23901 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
23902 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
23904 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
23905 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
23906 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
23907 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
23908 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
23909 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
23910 down for some time because of the incident.
23912 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
23913 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
23914 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
23915 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
23916 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
23917 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
23918 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
23919 to store the database of spam analysis. Statistical analysis on the
23920 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
23921 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
23922 the server that it has misclassified mail.
23924 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
23925 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
23926 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
23927 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
23928 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
23929 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
23930 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
23933 @node Anti-Spam Basics
23934 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
23938 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23940 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
23941 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
23943 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
23944 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
23945 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
23946 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
23947 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
23948 part of the mail address.)
23951 (setq message-default-news-headers
23952 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
23955 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23956 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23960 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
23961 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
23962 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
23967 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
23968 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
23969 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
23970 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
23972 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
23973 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
23974 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
23975 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
23976 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
23977 your fancy split rule in this way:
23982 (to "larsi" "misc")
23986 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
23987 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
23988 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
23989 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
23990 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
23992 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
23993 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
23994 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
23995 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
23997 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
24001 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
24002 @cindex SpamAssassin
24003 @cindex Vipul's Razor
24006 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
24007 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
24008 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
24009 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
24010 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
24011 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
24012 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
24014 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
24015 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
24016 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
24019 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
24020 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
24021 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
24022 Specifiers}) follow.
24026 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
24030 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
24033 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
24034 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
24035 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
24038 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
24042 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
24045 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
24046 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
24050 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
24051 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
24052 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
24053 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
24056 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
24058 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
24062 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
24063 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
24067 Note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will not be
24068 downloaded by default. You need to set
24069 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
24070 (@pxref{Client-Side IMAP Splitting}).
24072 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
24073 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
24074 spam. And here is the nifty function:
24077 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
24078 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
24080 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d" t)
24081 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
24085 @subsection Hashcash
24088 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
24089 costly and demonstrably unique for each message they send. This has
24090 the obvious drawback that you cannot rely on everyone in the world
24091 using this technique, since it is not part of the Internet standards,
24092 but it may be useful in smaller communities.
24094 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
24095 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
24096 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
24097 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
24098 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
24099 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
24100 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
24101 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
24102 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
24103 one of them separately.
24106 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
24107 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
24108 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:} header.
24109 For more details, and for the external application @code{hashcash} you
24110 need to install to use this feature, see
24111 @uref{http://www.hashcash.org/}. Even more information can be found
24112 at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
24114 If you wish to generate hashcash for each message you send, you can
24115 customize @code{message-generate-hashcash} (@pxref{Mail Headers, ,Mail
24116 Headers,message, The Message Manual}), as in:
24119 (setq message-generate-hashcash t)
24122 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
24126 @item hashcash-default-payment
24127 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
24128 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
24129 should consist of. By default this is 20. Suggested useful values
24132 @item hashcash-payment-alist
24133 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
24134 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
24135 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
24136 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
24137 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
24138 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
24139 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
24140 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
24142 @item hashcash-path
24143 @vindex hashcash-path
24144 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed. This variable should
24145 be automatically set by @code{executable-find}, but if it's @code{nil}
24146 (usually because the @code{hashcash} binary is not in your path)
24147 you'll get a warning when you check hashcash payments and an error
24148 when you generate hashcash payments.
24152 Gnus can verify hashcash cookies, although this can also be done by
24153 hand customized mail filtering scripts. To verify a hashcash cookie
24154 in a message, use the @code{mail-check-payment} function in the
24155 @code{hashcash.el} library. You can also use the @code{spam.el}
24156 package with the @code{spam-use-hashcash} back end to validate hashcash
24157 cookies in incoming mail and filter mail accordingly (@pxref{Anti-spam
24158 Hashcash Payments}).
24161 @section Spam Package
24162 @cindex spam filtering
24165 The Spam package provides Gnus with a centralized mechanism for
24166 detecting and filtering spam. It filters new mail, and processes
24167 messages according to whether they are spam or ham. (@dfn{Ham} is the
24168 name used throughout this manual to indicate non-spam messages.)
24171 * Spam Package Introduction::
24172 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
24173 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
24174 * Spam and Ham Processors::
24175 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
24177 * Extending the Spam package::
24178 * Spam Statistics Package::
24181 @node Spam Package Introduction
24182 @subsection Spam Package Introduction
24183 @cindex spam filtering
24184 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
24187 You must read this section to understand how the Spam package works.
24188 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
24190 Make sure you read the section on the @code{spam.el} sequence of
24191 events. See @xref{Extending the Spam package}.
24193 @cindex spam-initialize
24194 @vindex spam-use-stat
24195 To use the Spam package, you @strong{must} first run the function
24196 @code{spam-initialize}:
24202 This autoloads @code{spam.el} and installs the various hooks necessary
24203 to let the Spam package do its job. In order to make use of the Spam
24204 package, you have to set up certain group parameters and variables,
24205 which we will describe below. All of the variables controlling the
24206 Spam package can be found in the @samp{spam} customization group.
24208 There are two ``contact points'' between the Spam package and the rest
24209 of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and leaving a group.
24211 Checking new mail for spam is done in one of two ways: while splitting
24212 incoming mail, or when you enter a group.
24214 The first way, checking for spam while splitting incoming mail, is
24215 suited to mail back ends such as @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap}, where
24216 new mail appears in a single spool file. The Spam package processes
24217 incoming mail, and sends mail considered to be spam to a designated
24218 ``spam'' group. @xref{Filtering Incoming Mail}.
24220 The second way is suited to back ends such as @code{nntp}, which have
24221 no incoming mail spool, or back ends where the server is in charge of
24222 splitting incoming mail. In this case, when you enter a Gnus group,
24223 the unseen or unread messages in that group are checked for spam.
24224 Detected spam messages are marked as spam. @xref{Detecting Spam in
24227 @cindex spam back ends
24228 In either case, you have to tell the Spam package what method to use
24229 to detect spam messages. There are several methods, or @dfn{spam back
24230 ends} (not to be confused with Gnus back ends!) to choose from: spam
24231 ``blacklists'' and ``whitelists'', dictionary-based filters, and so
24232 forth. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24234 In the Gnus summary buffer, messages that have been identified as spam
24235 always appear with a @samp{$} symbol.
24237 The Spam package divides Gnus groups into three categories: ham
24238 groups, spam groups, and unclassified groups. You should mark each of
24239 the groups you subscribe to as either a ham group or a spam group,
24240 using the @code{spam-contents} group parameter (@pxref{Group
24241 Parameters}). Spam groups have a special property: when you enter a
24242 spam group, all unseen articles are marked as spam. Thus, mail split
24243 into a spam group is automatically marked as spam.
24245 Identifying spam messages is only half of the Spam package's job. The
24246 second half comes into play whenever you exit a group buffer. At this
24247 point, the Spam package does several things:
24249 First, it calls @dfn{spam and ham processors} to process the articles
24250 according to whether they are spam or ham. There is a pair of spam
24251 and ham processors associated with each spam back end, and what the
24252 processors do depends on the back end. At present, the main role of
24253 spam and ham processors is for dictionary-based spam filters: they add
24254 the contents of the messages in the group to the filter's dictionary,
24255 to improve its ability to detect future spam. The @code{spam-process}
24256 group parameter specifies what spam processors to use. @xref{Spam and
24259 If the spam filter failed to mark a spam message, you can mark it
24260 yourself, so that the message is processed as spam when you exit the
24268 @kindex $ (Summary)
24269 @kindex M-d (Summary)
24270 @kindex S x (Summary)
24271 @kindex M s x (Summary)
24272 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24273 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24274 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark
24275 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}).
24279 Similarly, you can unmark an article if it has been erroneously marked
24280 as spam. @xref{Setting Marks}.
24282 Normally, a ham message found in a non-ham group is not processed as
24283 ham---the rationale is that it should be moved into a ham group for
24284 further processing (see below). However, you can force these articles
24285 to be processed as ham by setting
24286 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
24287 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups}.
24289 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24290 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24291 The second thing that the Spam package does when you exit a group is
24292 to move ham articles out of spam groups, and spam articles out of ham
24293 groups. Ham in a spam group is moved to the group specified by the
24294 variable @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}, or the group parameter
24295 @code{ham-process-destination}. Spam in a ham group is moved to the
24296 group specified by the variable @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations},
24297 or the group parameter @code{spam-process-destination}. If these
24298 variables are not set, the articles are left in their current group.
24299 If an article cannot be moved (e.g., with a read-only backend such
24300 as @acronym{NNTP}), it is copied.
24302 If an article is moved to another group, it is processed again when
24303 you visit the new group. Normally, this is not a problem, but if you
24304 want each article to be processed only once, load the
24305 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and set the variable
24306 @code{spam-log-to-registry} to @code{t}. @xref{Spam Package
24307 Configuration Examples}.
24309 Normally, spam groups ignore @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations}.
24310 However, if you set @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only} to
24311 @code{nil}, spam will also be moved out of spam groups, depending on
24312 the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter.
24314 The final thing the Spam package does is to mark spam articles as
24315 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
24317 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
24318 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
24319 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
24321 @node Filtering Incoming Mail
24322 @subsection Filtering Incoming Mail
24323 @cindex spam filtering
24324 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
24327 To use the Spam package to filter incoming mail, you must first set up
24328 fancy mail splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}. The Spam package
24329 defines a special splitting function that you can add to your fancy
24330 split variable (either @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
24331 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on your mail back end):
24337 @vindex spam-split-group
24339 The @code{spam-split} function scans incoming mail according to your
24340 chosen spam back end(s), and sends messages identified as spam to a
24341 spam group. By default, the spam group is a group named @samp{spam},
24342 but you can change this by customizing @code{spam-split-group}. Make
24343 sure the contents of @code{spam-split-group} are an unqualified group
24344 name. For instance, in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server},
24345 the value @samp{spam} means @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The value
24346 @samp{nnimap+server:spam} is therefore wrong---it gives the group
24347 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam}.
24349 @code{spam-split} does not modify the contents of messages in any way.
24351 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
24352 Note for IMAP users: if you use the @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
24353 @code{spam-check-ifile}, and @code{spam-check-stat} spam back ends,
24354 you should also set the variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to
24355 @code{t}. These spam back ends are most useful when they can ``scan''
24356 the full message body. By default, the nnimap back end only retrieves
24357 the message headers; @code{nnimap-split-download-body} tells it to
24358 retrieve the message bodies as well. We don't set this by default
24359 because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and that is not an
24360 appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user. @xref{Client-Side
24363 You have to specify one or more spam back ends for @code{spam-split}
24364 to use, by setting the @code{spam-use-*} variables. @xref{Spam Back
24365 Ends}. Normally, @code{spam-split} simply uses all the spam back ends
24366 you enabled in this way. However, you can tell @code{spam-split} to
24367 use only some of them. Why this is useful? Suppose you are using the
24368 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and @code{spam-use-blackholes} spam back
24369 ends, and the following split rule:
24372 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24373 (any "ding" "ding")
24375 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24380 The problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the ding
24381 folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam detected by
24382 SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through, when it's
24383 sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to the ding
24384 list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the invocation
24385 of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
24387 The solution is to let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, and
24388 perform the other @code{spam-split} rules (including a second
24389 invocation of the regex-headers check) after the ding rule. This is
24390 done by passing a parameter to @code{spam-split}:
24395 ;; @r{spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
24396 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24397 (any "ding" "ding")
24398 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
24400 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24405 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
24406 your particular needs, and target the results of those checks to a
24407 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
24408 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
24409 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
24410 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
24411 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
24413 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24414 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24415 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24416 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24418 @c @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
24419 @c statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
24422 @node Detecting Spam in Groups
24423 @subsection Detecting Spam in Groups
24425 To detect spam when visiting a group, set the group's
24426 @code{spam-autodetect} and @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group
24427 parameters. These are accessible with @kbd{G c} or @kbd{G p}, as
24428 usual (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24430 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24431 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24432 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24433 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
24435 By default, only unseen articles are processed for spam. You can
24436 force Gnus to recheck all messages in the group by setting the
24437 variable @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages} to @code{t}.
24439 If you use the @code{spam-autodetect} method of checking for spam, you
24440 can specify different spam detection methods for different groups.
24441 For instance, the @samp{ding} group may have @code{spam-use-BBDB} as
24442 the autodetection method, while the @samp{suspect} group may have the
24443 @code{spam-use-blacklist} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods
24444 enabled. Unlike with @code{spam-split}, you don't have any control
24445 over the @emph{sequence} of checks, but this is probably unimportant.
24447 @node Spam and Ham Processors
24448 @subsection Spam and Ham Processors
24449 @cindex spam filtering
24450 @cindex spam filtering variables
24451 @cindex spam variables
24454 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
24455 Spam and ham processors specify special actions to take when you exit
24456 a group buffer. Spam processors act on spam messages, and ham
24457 processors on ham messages. At present, the main role of these
24458 processors is to update the dictionaries of dictionary-based spam back
24459 ends such as Bogofilter (@pxref{Bogofilter}) and the Spam Statistics
24460 package (@pxref{Spam Statistics Filtering}).
24462 The spam and ham processors that apply to each group are determined by
24463 the group's@code{spam-process} group parameter. If this group
24464 parameter is not defined, they are determined by the variable
24465 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups}.
24467 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24468 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
24469 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
24470 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
24471 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
24472 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
24473 by customizing the corresponding variable
24474 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
24475 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
24476 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
24477 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
24478 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
24479 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
24480 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
24483 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
24485 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
24486 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
24487 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
24488 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
24489 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
24490 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
24491 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
24492 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
24493 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
24494 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
24495 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
24496 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
24497 processor which will study them as spam samples.
24499 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
24500 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
24501 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
24502 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
24503 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
24504 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
24505 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
24506 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
24509 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24510 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
24511 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
24512 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
24513 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
24514 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
24515 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
24520 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24521 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
24522 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
24523 you really want to.
24526 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
24527 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
24528 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
24529 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
24530 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
24531 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
24534 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24535 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
24536 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
24537 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
24538 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
24539 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
24540 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
24541 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
24542 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
24543 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
24544 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
24545 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
24546 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
24547 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
24548 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
24550 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24551 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24553 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24554 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
24555 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
24557 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
24558 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
24560 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
24561 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
24562 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
24563 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
24564 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
24566 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
24567 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
24568 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
24569 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
24570 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
24573 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24574 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
24575 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
24576 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
24577 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
24578 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
24579 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
24580 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
24581 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
24582 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
24583 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
24584 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
24585 group buffer then you need it here as well.
24587 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24588 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24590 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24591 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
24594 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
24595 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
24596 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
24597 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
24598 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
24599 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
24600 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
24602 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
24603 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
24604 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
24605 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
24607 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
24608 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
24609 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
24610 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
24611 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
24612 from the mail server.
24614 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
24615 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
24616 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
24617 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
24619 @node Spam Package Configuration Examples
24620 @subsection Spam Package Configuration Examples
24621 @cindex spam filtering
24622 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
24623 @cindex spam configuration examples
24626 @subsubheading Ted's setup
24628 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
24630 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
24631 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
24632 (gnus-registry-initialize)
24636 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
24638 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
24639 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
24640 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24641 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24642 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
24643 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
24644 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
24645 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
24646 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
24647 ;; @r{for nnimap you'll probably want to set nnimap-split-methods, see the manual}
24648 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24649 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
24650 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
24651 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
24652 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24653 (any "ding" "ding")
24654 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
24656 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24659 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
24661 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
24662 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
24663 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
24664 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
24666 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24668 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
24669 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
24670 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
24671 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
24672 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24674 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
24675 ((spam-autodetect . t))
24677 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
24679 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
24680 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
24682 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
24683 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
24684 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
24686 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
24688 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
24689 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
24691 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
24692 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
24693 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
24695 (gnus-ticked-mark))
24696 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
24697 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
24698 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
24700 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
24701 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
24702 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
24706 @subsubheading Using @code{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
24707 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24709 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
24710 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
24711 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
24712 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
24713 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
24714 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
24715 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
24716 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
24717 @samp{training.spam} folders.
24719 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
24720 does most of the job for me:
24723 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
24724 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
24725 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
24726 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24727 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
24728 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
24729 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
24734 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
24736 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
24737 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
24738 bogofilter or DCC).
24740 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
24741 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
24742 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark
24743 (@code{ham-marks}, @ref{Spam and Ham Processors}). On group exit,
24744 those messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want
24745 to have the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter)
24746 and deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
24748 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
24749 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
24750 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
24751 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
24752 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
24753 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
24755 @item @b{Ham folders:}
24757 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
24758 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
24759 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
24760 @samp{training.spam}.
24763 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
24765 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24767 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
24768 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
24769 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
24773 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
24776 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
24777 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
24778 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
24779 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
24780 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
24782 @node Spam Back Ends
24783 @subsection Spam Back Ends
24784 @cindex spam back ends
24786 The spam package offers a variety of back ends for detecting spam.
24787 Each back end defines a set of methods for detecting spam
24788 (@pxref{Filtering Incoming Mail}, @pxref{Detecting Spam in Groups}),
24789 and a pair of spam and ham processors (@pxref{Spam and Ham
24793 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
24794 * BBDB Whitelists::
24795 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
24796 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
24798 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
24800 * SpamAssassin back end::
24801 * ifile spam filtering::
24802 * Spam Statistics Filtering::
24806 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
24807 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
24808 @cindex spam filtering
24809 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
24810 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
24813 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
24815 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
24816 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
24817 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
24818 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
24823 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
24825 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
24826 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
24827 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24828 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
24829 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24833 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
24835 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
24836 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24837 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
24841 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
24843 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24844 customizing the group parameters or the
24845 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24846 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24847 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
24851 Instead of the obsolete
24852 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
24853 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
24854 the same way, we promise.
24858 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
24860 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24861 customizing the group parameters or the
24862 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24863 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24864 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24869 Instead of the obsolete
24870 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
24871 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
24872 the same way, we promise.
24876 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
24877 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
24878 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
24879 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
24880 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
24882 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
24883 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
24884 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
24885 Emacs regular expression syntax.
24887 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
24888 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
24889 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
24890 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
24891 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
24892 @file{blacklist} respectively.
24894 @node BBDB Whitelists
24895 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
24896 @cindex spam filtering
24897 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
24898 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
24901 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
24903 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24904 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
24905 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
24906 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
24907 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24908 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
24909 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24913 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
24915 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
24916 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24917 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
24918 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
24919 classified as spammers.
24921 While @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} @emph{can} be used as an alias
24922 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} as far as @code{spam.el} is concerned, it is
24923 @emph{not} a separate back end. If you set
24924 @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} to t, @emph{all} your BBDB splitting
24929 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
24931 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24932 customizing the group parameters or the
24933 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24934 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24935 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24940 Instead of the obsolete
24941 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
24942 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
24943 the same way, we promise.
24947 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
24948 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
24949 @cindex spam reporting
24950 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24951 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24954 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
24956 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24957 customizing the group parameters or the
24958 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24959 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
24960 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
24963 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
24967 Instead of the obsolete
24968 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
24969 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
24970 same way, we promise.
24974 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
24976 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
24977 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
24978 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
24979 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
24980 @code{spam-report.el} will fetch the number from the article headers.
24984 @defvar spam-report-user-mail-address
24986 Mail address exposed in the User-Agent spam reports to Gmane. It allows
24987 the Gmane administrators to contact you in case of misreports. The
24988 default is @code{user-mail-address}.
24992 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24993 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24994 @cindex spam filtering
24995 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
24998 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
25000 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
25001 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
25002 instead of the sender address. Messages without a hashcash payment
25003 token will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an explicit
25004 filter, meaning that unless a hashcash token is found, the messages
25005 are not assumed to be spam or ham.
25010 @subsubsection Blackholes
25011 @cindex spam filtering
25012 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
25015 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
25017 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
25018 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
25019 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
25020 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
25021 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
25022 contains outdated servers.
25024 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
25025 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
25026 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
25027 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
25028 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
25029 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
25033 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
25035 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
25039 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
25041 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
25042 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
25046 @defvar spam-use-dig
25048 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
25049 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
25053 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
25054 ham processor for blackholes.
25056 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
25057 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
25058 @cindex spam filtering
25059 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
25062 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
25064 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
25065 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
25066 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
25067 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
25068 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
25069 message is spam or ham, respectively.
25073 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
25075 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
25076 the message, positively identify it as spam.
25080 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
25082 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
25083 the message, positively identify it as ham.
25087 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
25088 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
25091 @subsubsection Bogofilter
25092 @cindex spam filtering
25093 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
25096 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
25098 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25101 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
25102 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
25103 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
25104 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
25105 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
25106 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
25108 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
25109 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
25112 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
25113 processing will be turned off.
25115 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
25124 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
25125 Get the Bogofilter spamicity score (@code{spam-bogofilter-score}).
25128 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
25130 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25131 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
25132 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
25133 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
25134 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
25135 installation documents for details.
25137 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
25141 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
25142 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25143 customizing the group parameters or the
25144 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25145 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
25146 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
25150 Instead of the obsolete
25151 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25152 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25153 the same way, we promise.
25156 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
25157 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25158 customizing the group parameters or the
25159 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25160 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25161 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
25162 of non-spam messages.
25166 Instead of the obsolete
25167 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25168 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25169 the same way, we promise.
25172 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
25174 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
25175 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
25176 database directory.
25180 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
25181 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25182 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
25183 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
25184 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
25185 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
25187 @node SpamAssassin back end
25188 @subsubsection SpamAssassin back end
25189 @cindex spam filtering
25190 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
25193 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
25195 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
25197 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
25198 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
25199 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
25200 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
25203 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
25204 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
25205 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
25206 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
25209 You should not enable this if you use
25210 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
25214 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
25216 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
25217 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
25219 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
25223 @defvar spam-spamassassin-program
25225 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
25226 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
25227 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
25228 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
25232 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
25233 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
25234 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
25235 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
25236 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
25237 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
25238 to test this functionality.
25240 @node ifile spam filtering
25241 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
25242 @cindex spam filtering
25243 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
25246 @defvar spam-use-ifile
25248 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
25249 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
25253 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
25255 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
25256 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
25257 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
25261 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
25263 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
25264 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
25265 the default value of @samp{spam}.
25268 @defvar spam-ifile-database
25270 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
25271 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
25275 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
25276 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25277 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
25278 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
25281 @node Spam Statistics Filtering
25282 @subsubsection Spam Statistics Filtering
25283 @cindex spam filtering
25284 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
25288 This back end uses the Spam Statistics Emacs Lisp package to perform
25289 statistics-based filtering (@pxref{Spam Statistics Package}). Before
25290 using this, you may want to perform some additional steps to
25291 initialize your Spam Statistics dictionary. @xref{Creating a
25292 spam-stat dictionary}.
25294 @defvar spam-use-stat
25298 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
25299 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25300 customizing the group parameters or the
25301 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25302 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
25303 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
25307 Instead of the obsolete
25308 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25309 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25310 the same way, we promise.
25313 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
25314 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25315 customizing the group parameters or the
25316 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25317 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25318 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
25319 of non-spam messages.
25323 Instead of the obsolete
25324 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25325 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25326 the same way, we promise.
25329 This enables @code{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
25330 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
25331 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
25332 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
25333 @code{spam-split} are provided.
25336 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
25337 @cindex spam filtering
25341 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
25342 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
25343 installed separately.
25345 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
25346 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
25347 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
25348 mail as a spam mail or not.
25350 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
25351 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
25352 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
25354 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Spam Package})
25357 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
25358 To enable SpamOracle usage by @code{spam.el}, set the variable
25359 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
25360 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}. @xref{Spam
25361 Package}. In this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is
25362 filtered using SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be
25363 moved to @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham
25364 messages stay in @samp{INBOX}:
25367 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
25368 spam-split-group "Junk"
25369 ;; @r{for nnimap you'll probably want to set nnimap-split-methods, see the manual}
25370 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
25371 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
25374 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
25375 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
25379 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
25380 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
25381 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
25385 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
25386 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
25387 store its analysis. This is controlled by the variable
25388 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
25389 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
25390 database to live somewhere special, set
25391 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
25394 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
25395 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
25396 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns
25397 the characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
25398 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
25399 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary
25400 buffer and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using
25401 @file{spam.el}'s spam- and ham-processors, which is much more
25402 convenient. For a detailed description of spam- and ham-processors,
25403 @xref{Spam Package}.
25405 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
25406 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25407 customizing the group parameter or the
25408 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25409 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
25410 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
25414 Instead of the obsolete
25415 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25416 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25417 the same way, we promise.
25420 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
25421 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25422 customizing the group parameter or the
25423 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25424 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
25425 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
25430 Instead of the obsolete
25431 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25432 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25433 the same way, we promise.
25436 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
25437 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
25440 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
25441 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
25442 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
25444 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
25445 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
25446 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
25447 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
25448 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
25449 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
25451 @node Extending the Spam package
25452 @subsection Extending the Spam package
25453 @cindex spam filtering
25454 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
25455 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
25457 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
25458 incoming mail, provide the following:
25466 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
25467 "True if blackbox should be used.")
25470 Write @code{spam-check-blackbox} if Blackbox can check incoming mail.
25472 Write @code{spam-blackbox-register-routine} and
25473 @code{spam-blackbox-unregister-routine} using the bogofilter
25474 register/unregister routines as a start, or other restister/unregister
25475 routines more appropriate to Blackbox, if Blackbox can
25476 register/unregister spam and ham.
25481 The @code{spam-check-blackbox} function should return @samp{nil} or
25482 @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other conventions. See the
25483 existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can
25484 do, and stick to the template unless you fully understand the reasons
25489 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
25496 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
25497 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
25499 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
25500 variables. Instead the form @code{(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
25501 @code{(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
25502 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
25505 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
25506 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
25507 Only applicable to spam groups.")
25509 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
25510 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
25511 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
25520 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
25521 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
25523 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
25524 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
25525 variable customization.
25529 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
25531 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
25532 @code{gnus.el} if Blackbox can check incoming mail for spam contents.
25534 Finally, use the appropriate @code{spam-install-*-backend} function in
25535 @code{spam.el}. Here are the available functions.
25541 @code{spam-install-backend-alias}
25543 This function will simply install an alias for a back end that does
25544 everything like the original back end. It is currently only used to
25545 make @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} act like @code{spam-use-BBDB}.
25548 @code{spam-install-nocheck-backend}
25550 This function installs a back end that has no check function, but can
25551 register/unregister ham or spam. The @code{spam-use-gmane} back end is
25555 @code{spam-install-checkonly-backend}
25557 This function will install a back end that can only check incoming mail
25558 for spam contents. It can't register or unregister messages.
25559 @code{spam-use-blackholes} and @code{spam-use-hashcash} are such
25563 @code{spam-install-statistical-checkonly-backend}
25565 This function installs a statistical back end (one which requires the
25566 full body of a message to check it) that can only check incoming mail
25567 for contents. @code{spam-use-regex-body} is such a filter.
25570 @code{spam-install-statistical-backend}
25572 This function install a statistical back end with incoming checks and
25573 registration/unregistration routines. @code{spam-use-bogofilter} is
25577 @code{spam-install-backend}
25579 This is the most normal back end installation, where a back end that can
25580 check and register/unregister messages is set up without statistical
25581 abilities. The @code{spam-use-BBDB} is such a back end.
25584 @code{spam-install-mover-backend}
25586 Mover back ends are internal to @code{spam.el} and specifically move
25587 articles around when the summary is exited. You will very probably
25588 never install such a back end.
25593 @node Spam Statistics Package
25594 @subsection Spam Statistics Package
25595 @cindex Paul Graham
25596 @cindex Graham, Paul
25597 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
25598 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
25599 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
25601 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
25602 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
25603 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
25604 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
25605 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
25606 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
25607 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
25608 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
25609 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
25612 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
25613 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
25614 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
25615 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
25616 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
25617 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
25618 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
25619 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
25621 The Spam Statistics package adds support to Gnus for this kind of
25622 filtering. It can be used as one of the back ends of the Spam package
25623 (@pxref{Spam Package}), or by itself.
25625 Before using the Spam Statistics package, you need to set it up.
25626 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
25627 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
25628 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
25629 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
25632 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
25633 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
25634 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
25637 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25638 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25640 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
25641 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
25642 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
25643 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
25644 need several hundred emails in both collections.
25646 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
25647 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
25648 per mail. Use the following:
25650 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
25651 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
25652 is treated as one spam mail.
25655 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
25656 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
25657 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
25660 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
25661 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds to
25662 the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
25663 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
25664 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds to the group
25665 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
25667 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
25668 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
25669 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
25670 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
25671 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
25674 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
25675 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
25676 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
25677 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
25680 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
25681 reset the dictionary.
25683 @defun spam-stat-reset
25684 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
25687 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
25688 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
25689 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
25690 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
25691 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
25692 only non-spam mails.
25694 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
25695 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
25696 to update the dictionary incrementally.
25699 @defun spam-stat-save
25700 Save the dictionary.
25703 @defvar spam-stat-file
25704 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
25705 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
25708 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
25709 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
25711 This section describes how to use the Spam statistics
25712 @emph{independently} of the @xref{Spam Package}.
25714 First, add the following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25717 (require 'spam-stat)
25721 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
25724 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
25725 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
25726 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
25727 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
25729 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
25730 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
25731 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
25732 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
25735 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25736 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25740 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
25741 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
25744 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
25745 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
25746 expression are considered potential spam.
25749 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25750 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25751 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25755 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
25756 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
25757 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
25758 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
25759 mails, when creating the dictionary!
25762 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25763 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25764 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25768 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
25769 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
25770 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
25771 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
25772 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
25776 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25777 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
25778 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25779 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25784 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25785 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25787 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
25789 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
25790 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
25791 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25794 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
25795 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
25796 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25799 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
25800 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
25801 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
25802 already been processed as non-spam.
25805 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
25806 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
25807 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
25808 been processed as spam.
25811 @defun spam-stat-save
25812 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
25813 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25816 @defun spam-stat-load
25817 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
25818 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25821 @defun spam-stat-score-word
25822 Return the spam score for a word.
25825 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
25826 Return the spam score for a buffer.
25829 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
25830 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
25831 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
25834 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
25835 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25838 (require 'spam-stat)
25842 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
25845 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25846 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25847 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25848 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25849 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25850 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25851 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25852 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25853 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25854 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25855 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25856 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25857 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25858 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25861 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
25864 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25865 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25866 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25867 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
25868 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25869 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25872 @node The Gnus Registry
25873 @section The Gnus Registry
25878 The Gnus registry is a package that tracks messages by their
25879 Message-ID across all backends. This allows Gnus users to do several
25880 cool things, be the envy of the locals, get free haircuts, and be
25881 experts on world issues. Well, maybe not all of those, but the
25882 features are pretty cool.
25884 Although they will be explained in detail shortly, here's a quick list
25885 of said features in case your attention span is... never mind.
25889 Split messages to their parent
25891 This keeps discussions in the same group. You can use the subject and
25892 the sender in addition to the Message-ID. Several strategies are
25896 Refer to messages by ID
25898 Commands like @code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article} can take
25899 advantage of the registry to jump to the referred article, regardless
25900 of the group the message is in.
25903 Store custom flags and keywords
25905 The registry can store custom flags and keywords for a message. For
25906 instance, you can mark a message ``To-Do'' this way and the flag will
25907 persist whether the message is in the nnimap, nnml, nnmaildir,
25911 Store arbitrary data
25913 Through a simple ELisp API, the registry can remember any data for a
25914 message. A built-in inverse map, when activated, allows quick lookups
25915 of all messages matching a particular set of criteria.
25919 * Gnus Registry Setup::
25920 * Fancy splitting to parent::
25921 * Registry Article Refer Method::
25922 * Store custom flags and keywords::
25923 * Store arbitrary data::
25926 @node Gnus Registry Setup
25927 @subsection Gnus Registry Setup
25929 Fortunately, setting up the Gnus registry is pretty easy:
25932 (setq gnus-registry-max-entries 2500)
25934 (gnus-registry-initialize)
25937 This adds registry saves to Gnus newsrc saves (which happen on exit
25938 and when you press @kbd{s} from the @code{*Group*} buffer. It also
25939 adds registry calls to article actions in Gnus (copy, move, etc.) so
25940 it's not easy to undo the initialization. See
25941 @code{gnus-registry-initialize} for the gory details.
25943 Here are other settings used by the author of the registry (understand
25944 what they do before you copy them blindly).
25948 gnus-registry-split-strategy 'majority
25949 gnus-registry-ignored-groups '(("nntp" t)
25953 gnus-registry-max-entries 500000
25954 ;; this is the default
25955 gnus-registry-track-extra '(sender subject))
25958 They say: keep a lot of messages around, track messages by sender and
25959 subject (not just parent Message-ID), and when the registry splits
25960 incoming mail, use a majority rule to decide where messages should go
25961 if there's more than one possibility. In addition, the registry
25962 should ignore messages in groups that match ``nntp'', ``nnrss'',
25963 ``spam'', or ``train.''
25965 You are doubtless impressed by all this, but you ask: ``I am a Gnus
25966 user, I customize to live. Give me more.'' Here you go, these are
25967 the general settings.
25969 @defvar gnus-registry-unfollowed-groups
25970 The groups that will not be followed by
25971 @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent}. They will still be
25972 remembered by the registry. This is a list of regular expressions.
25973 By default any group name that ends with ``delayed'', ``drafts'',
25974 ``queue'', or ``INBOX'', belongs to the nnmairix backend, or contains
25975 the word ``archive'' is not followed.
25978 @defvar gnus-registry-max-entries
25979 The number (an integer or @code{nil} for unlimited) of entries the
25980 registry will keep.
25983 @defvar gnus-registry-max-pruned-entries
25984 The maximum number (an integer or @code{nil} for unlimited) of entries
25985 the registry will keep after pruning.
25988 @defvar gnus-registry-cache-file
25989 The file where the registry will be stored between Gnus sessions. By
25990 default the file name is @code{.gnus.registry.eioio} in the same
25991 directory as your @code{.newsrc.eld}.
25994 @node Registry Article Refer Method
25995 @subsection Fetching by @code{Message-ID} Using the Registry
25997 The registry knows how to map each @code{Message-ID} to the group it's
25998 in. This can be leveraged to enhance the ``article refer method'',
25999 the thing that tells Gnus how to look up an article given its
26000 Message-ID (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
26003 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
26005 The @code{nnregistry} refer method does exactly that. It has the
26006 advantage that an article may be found regardless of the group it's
26007 in---provided its @code{Message-ID} is known to the registry. It can
26008 be enabled by augmenting the start-up file with something along these
26012 ;; Keep enough entries to have a good hit rate when referring to an
26013 ;; article using the registry. Use long group names so that Gnus
26014 ;; knows where the article is.
26015 (setq gnus-registry-max-entries 2500)
26017 (gnus-registry-initialize)
26019 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
26022 (nnweb "gmane" (nnweb-type gmane))))
26025 The example above instructs Gnus to first look up the article in the
26026 current group, or, alternatively, using the registry, and finally, if
26027 all else fails, using Gmane.
26029 @node Fancy splitting to parent
26030 @subsection Fancy splitting to parent
26032 Simply put, this lets you put followup e-mail where it belongs.
26034 Every message has a Message-ID, which is unique, and the registry
26035 remembers it. When the message is moved or copied, the registry will
26036 notice this and offer the new group as a choice to the splitting
26039 When a followup is made, usually it mentions the original message's
26040 Message-ID in the headers. The registry knows this and uses that
26041 mention to find the group where the original message lives. You only
26042 have to put a rule like this:
26045 (setq nnimap-my-split-fancy '(|
26047 ;; split to parent: you need this
26048 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
26050 ;; other rules, as an example
26056 in your fancy split setup. In addition, you may want to customize the
26057 following variables.
26059 @defvar gnus-registry-track-extra
26060 This is a list of symbols, so it's best to change it from the
26061 Customize interface. By default it's @code{(subject sender)}, which
26062 may work for you. It can be annoying if your mail flow is large and
26063 people don't stick to the same groups.
26066 @defvar gnus-registry-split-strategy
26067 This is a symbol, so it's best to change it from the Customize
26068 interface. By default it's @code{nil}, but you may want to set it to
26069 @code{majority} or @code{first} to split by sender or subject based on
26070 the majority of matches or on the first found. I find @code{majority}
26074 @node Store custom flags and keywords
26075 @subsection Store custom flags and keywords
26077 The registry lets you set custom flags and keywords per message. You
26078 can use the Gnus->Registry Marks menu or the @kbd{M M x} keyboard
26079 shortcuts, where @code{x} is the first letter of the mark's name.
26081 @defvar gnus-registry-marks
26082 The custom marks that the registry can use. You can modify the
26083 default list, if you like. If you do, you'll have to exit Emacs
26084 before they take effect (you can also unload the registry and reload
26085 it or evaluate the specific macros you'll need, but you probably don't
26086 want to bother). Use the Customize interface to modify the list.
26088 By default this list has the @code{Important}, @code{Work},
26089 @code{Personal}, @code{To-Do}, and @code{Later} marks. They all have
26090 keyboard shortcuts like @kbd{M M i} for Important, using the first
26094 @defun gnus-registry-mark-article
26095 Call this function to mark an article with a custom registry mark. It
26096 will offer the available marks for completion.
26099 You can use @code{defalias} to install a summary line formatting
26100 function that will show the registry marks. There are two flavors of
26101 this function, either showing the marks as single characters, using
26102 their @code{:char} property, or showing the marks as full strings.
26105 ;; show the marks as single characters (see the :char property in
26106 ;; `gnus-registry-marks'):
26107 ;; (defalias 'gnus-user-format-function-M 'gnus-registry-article-marks-to-chars)
26109 ;; show the marks by name (see `gnus-registry-marks'):
26110 ;; (defalias 'gnus-user-format-function-M 'gnus-registry-article-marks-to-names)
26114 @node Store arbitrary data
26115 @subsection Store arbitrary data
26117 The registry has a simple API that uses a Message-ID as the key to
26118 store arbitrary data (as long as it can be converted to a list for
26121 @defun gnus-registry-set-id-key (id key value)
26122 Store @code{value} under @code{key} for message @code{id}.
26125 @defun gnus-registry-get-id-key (id key)
26126 Get the data under @code{key} for message @code{id}.
26129 @defvar gnus-registry-extra-entries-precious
26130 If any extra entries are precious, their presence will make the
26131 registry keep the whole entry forever, even if there are no groups for
26132 the Message-ID and if the size limit of the registry is reached. By
26133 default this is just @code{(marks)} so the custom registry marks are
26138 @section Interaction with other modes
26143 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provides some useful functions for dired
26144 buffers. It is enabled with
26146 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
26151 @findex gnus-dired-attach
26152 @cindex attachments, selection via dired
26153 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
26154 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
26157 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
26158 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
26159 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
26163 @findex gnus-dired-print
26164 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
26165 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
26168 @node Various Various
26169 @section Various Various
26175 @item gnus-home-directory
26176 @vindex gnus-home-directory
26177 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
26178 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
26180 @item gnus-directory
26181 @vindex gnus-directory
26182 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
26183 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
26184 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
26186 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
26187 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
26188 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
26189 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
26191 @item gnus-default-directory
26192 @vindex gnus-default-directory
26193 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
26194 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
26195 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
26196 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
26197 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
26198 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
26201 @vindex gnus-verbose
26202 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
26203 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
26204 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
26205 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
26206 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
26208 @item gnus-verbose-backends
26209 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
26210 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
26211 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
26213 @item gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
26214 @vindex gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
26215 This variable controls whether to add timestamps to messages that are
26216 controlled by @code{gnus-verbose} and @code{gnus-verbose-backends} and
26217 are issued. The default value is @code{nil} which means never to add
26218 timestamp. If it is @code{log}, add timestamps to only the messages
26219 that go into the @samp{*Messages*} buffer (in XEmacs, it is the
26220 @w{@samp{ *Message-Log*}} buffer). If it is neither @code{nil} nor
26221 @code{log}, add timestamps not only to log messages but also to the ones
26222 displayed in the echo area.
26224 @item nnheader-max-head-length
26225 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
26226 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
26227 as little as possible. This variable (default 8192) specifies
26228 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
26229 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
26230 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
26231 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
26232 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
26233 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
26235 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
26236 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
26237 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
26238 read when doing the operation described above.
26240 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26241 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26243 @cindex invalid characters in file names
26244 @cindex characters in file names
26245 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
26246 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
26247 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
26251 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26256 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
26257 Windows (phooey) systems.
26259 @item gnus-hidden-properties
26260 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
26261 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
26262 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
26263 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
26265 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
26266 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
26267 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
26268 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
26269 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
26271 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
26272 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
26273 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
26275 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
26276 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
26278 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
26279 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
26280 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
26281 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
26284 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
26286 @item gnus-safe-html-newsgroups
26287 @vindex gnus-safe-html-newsgroups
26288 Groups in which links in html articles are considered all safe. The
26289 value may be a regexp matching those groups, a list of group names, or
26290 @code{nil}. This overrides @code{mm-w3m-safe-url-regexp}. The default
26291 value is @code{"\\`nnrss[+:]"}. This is effective only when emacs-w3m
26292 renders html articles, i.e., in the case @code{mm-text-html-renderer} is
26293 set to @code{w3m}. @xref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization,
26294 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}.
26301 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
26302 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
26304 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
26306 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
26312 Not because of victories @*
26315 but for the common sunshine,@*
26317 the largess of the spring.
26321 but for the day's work done@*
26322 as well as I was able;@*
26323 not for a seat upon the dais@*
26324 but at the common table.@*
26329 @chapter Appendices
26332 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
26333 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
26334 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
26335 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
26336 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
26337 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
26338 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
26339 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
26340 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
26347 @cindex installing under XEmacs
26349 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
26350 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
26351 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
26352 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
26353 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{W3},
26354 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
26361 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
26362 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
26364 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
26365 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
26366 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
26367 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
26368 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
26370 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
26371 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
26372 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
26373 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
26374 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
26375 appropriate name, don't you think?)
26377 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
26378 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
26379 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
26380 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
26383 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
26384 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
26385 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
26386 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
26387 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
26388 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
26389 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
26390 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
26391 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
26395 @node Gnus Versions
26396 @subsection Gnus Versions
26398 @cindex September Gnus
26400 @cindex Quassia Gnus
26401 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
26404 @cindex Gnus versions
26406 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
26407 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
26408 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
26410 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
26411 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
26413 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
26414 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
26416 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
26417 It was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
26419 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
26420 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
26423 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun and was released as
26424 Gnus 5.10 on May 1st 2003 (24 releases).
26426 On the January 4th 2004, No Gnus was begun.
26428 On April 19, 2010 Gnus development was moved to Git. See
26429 http://git.gnus.org for details (http://www.gnus.org will be updated
26430 with the information when possible).
26432 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
26433 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
26434 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'', ``No Gnus'' -- don't panic.
26435 Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever
26436 you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach.
26437 Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
26440 @node Other Gnus Versions
26441 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
26444 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
26445 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
26446 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
26447 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
26449 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
26450 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
26451 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
26452 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
26459 What's the point of Gnus?
26461 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
26462 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
26463 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
26464 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
26465 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
26466 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
26467 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
26468 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
26469 keep track of millions of people who post?
26471 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
26472 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
26473 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
26474 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
26475 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
26476 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
26477 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
26478 every one of you to explore and invent.
26480 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
26481 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
26484 @node Compatibility
26485 @subsection Compatibility
26487 @cindex compatibility
26488 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
26489 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
26490 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
26495 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
26499 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
26502 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
26505 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
26506 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
26507 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
26508 important variables have their values copied into their global
26509 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
26510 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
26512 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
26513 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
26514 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
26515 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
26516 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
26520 @cindex highlighting
26521 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
26522 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
26523 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
26524 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
26525 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
26526 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
26529 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
26530 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
26531 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
26532 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
26534 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
26535 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
26536 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
26537 to stop doing it the old way.
26539 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
26541 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26543 @cindex reporting bugs
26545 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
26546 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
26547 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
26549 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
26550 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
26551 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
26552 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
26557 @subsection Conformity
26559 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
26560 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
26568 There are no known breaches of this standard.
26572 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
26574 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
26575 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
26576 We do have some breaches to this one.
26582 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
26583 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
26584 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
26585 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
26586 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
26591 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
26592 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
26593 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
26594 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
26596 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
26597 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
26598 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
26600 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
26601 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
26603 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
26606 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
26607 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
26608 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
26609 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
26610 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
26613 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
26614 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
26615 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RFC 1991/2440 format.
26616 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
26618 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
26619 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
26621 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
26622 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
26623 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
26624 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
26625 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
26626 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
26627 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
26628 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
26632 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
26633 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
26638 @subsection Emacsen
26644 This version of Gnus should work on:
26652 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
26656 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
26657 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
26658 Emacs versions. Particularly, Gnus 5.10.8 should also work on Emacs
26659 20.7 and XEmacs 21.1.
26661 @c No-merge comment: The paragraph added in v5-10 here must not be
26664 @node Gnus Development
26665 @subsection Gnus Development
26667 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
26668 discussion on the development mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}, where people
26669 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
26670 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
26671 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
26672 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
26673 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
26674 have names like ``Oort Gnus'' and ``No Gnus''. @xref{Gnus Versions}.
26676 After futzing around for 10-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
26677 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
26678 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.10.1'' instead. Normal people are
26679 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
26680 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup. This newgroup is mirrored to the
26681 mailing list @samp{info-gnus-english@@gnu.org} which is carried on Gmane
26682 as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.user}. These releases are finally integrated
26686 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26687 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26688 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26689 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26690 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26692 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
26693 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
26694 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
26695 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
26696 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
26697 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
26698 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
26699 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
26700 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
26701 can't be assumed to do so.
26703 So if you have problems with or questions about the alpha versions,
26704 direct those to the ding mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}. This list
26705 is also available on Gmane as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.general}.
26708 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26709 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26710 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26711 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26712 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26715 @subsection Contributors
26716 @cindex contributors
26718 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
26719 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
26720 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
26721 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
26722 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
26723 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
26724 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
26725 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
26726 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
26727 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
26729 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
26735 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
26738 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el,
26739 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
26740 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
26741 functionality and stuff.
26744 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
26745 well as numerous other things).
26748 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
26751 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
26754 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
26757 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
26760 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
26761 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
26764 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
26767 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
26770 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
26773 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
26776 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
26779 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
26782 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
26783 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
26786 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
26789 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
26792 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
26795 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
26799 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
26802 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
26805 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
26808 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
26809 well as autoconf support.
26813 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
26814 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
26816 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
26831 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
26833 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
26837 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
26847 Alexei V. Barantsev,
26862 Massimo Campostrini,
26867 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
26868 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
26872 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
26875 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
26881 Michael Welsh Duggan,
26886 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
26890 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
26898 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
26900 Michelangelo Grigni,
26904 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
26906 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
26908 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
26916 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
26917 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
26918 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
26920 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
26930 Peter Skov Knudsen,
26931 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
26933 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
26934 Thor Kristoffersen,
26937 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
26955 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
26956 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
26963 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
26968 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
26972 John McClary Prevost,
26978 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
26983 Christian von Roques,
26986 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
26993 Philippe Schnoebelen,
26995 Randal L. Schwartz,
27009 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
27014 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
27034 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
27035 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
27036 (550kB and counting).
27038 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
27041 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
27042 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
27046 @subsection New Features
27047 @cindex new features
27050 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
27051 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
27052 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
27053 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
27054 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
27055 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
27056 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
27059 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
27060 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
27061 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
27064 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
27066 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
27071 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
27072 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
27075 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
27076 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
27079 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
27082 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
27083 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
27084 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
27087 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
27088 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
27089 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
27090 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
27093 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
27094 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27097 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
27098 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
27099 (@pxref{The Active File}).
27102 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
27103 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
27106 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
27107 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
27108 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27111 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
27112 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
27113 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
27116 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
27117 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
27120 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
27121 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
27124 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
27125 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27128 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
27129 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
27132 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
27133 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27136 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
27139 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
27140 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
27143 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
27144 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
27147 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
27148 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
27151 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
27154 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
27155 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
27158 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
27162 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
27166 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
27167 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
27172 @node September Gnus
27173 @subsubsection September Gnus
27177 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
27181 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
27186 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
27187 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
27191 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
27192 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
27196 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
27200 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
27201 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
27204 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
27208 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
27211 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
27214 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
27217 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
27221 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
27222 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
27225 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
27229 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
27233 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
27237 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
27241 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
27244 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
27245 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
27248 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
27252 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
27253 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
27256 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
27259 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
27260 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
27261 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
27264 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets.
27267 The Gnus cache is much faster.
27270 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
27274 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
27275 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
27278 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
27279 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
27282 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
27283 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
27286 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
27287 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
27288 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
27291 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
27292 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
27295 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
27298 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27301 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
27304 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
27307 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
27308 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
27311 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
27315 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
27318 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
27323 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27326 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
27330 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
27333 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
27336 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
27337 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
27340 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
27341 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
27345 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
27346 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
27349 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
27353 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
27354 buffer to allow easier treatment.
27357 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
27360 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
27364 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
27368 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
27369 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
27372 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
27376 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
27377 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27380 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
27381 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27384 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
27388 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27391 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
27394 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
27400 @subsubsection Red Gnus
27402 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
27406 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
27413 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
27416 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
27417 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27420 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
27421 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
27425 Article washing status can be displayed in the
27426 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
27429 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
27432 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
27433 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
27436 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
27440 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
27441 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
27445 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
27446 Server Internals}).
27449 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
27453 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
27456 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
27457 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
27460 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
27461 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
27462 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
27465 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
27466 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27469 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
27470 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
27473 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
27477 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
27478 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27481 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
27482 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27485 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
27489 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
27492 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
27496 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
27497 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27500 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
27501 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27504 A new command for reading collections of documents
27505 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
27506 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
27509 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
27513 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
27514 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
27517 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
27518 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
27519 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
27522 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
27523 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
27527 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
27531 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
27535 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
27540 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
27544 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
27548 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
27549 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
27552 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
27558 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
27560 New features in Gnus 5.6:
27565 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
27566 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
27567 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
27570 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
27571 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
27572 group, which is created automatically.
27575 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
27579 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
27582 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
27583 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
27586 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
27590 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
27593 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
27594 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
27597 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
27600 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
27604 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
27605 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
27608 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
27609 control over simplification.
27612 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
27615 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
27619 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
27622 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
27625 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
27626 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
27627 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
27630 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
27631 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
27634 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
27638 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
27639 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
27642 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
27643 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
27646 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
27650 A history of where mails have been split is available.
27653 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
27656 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
27657 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
27660 A new function for citing in Message has been
27661 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
27664 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
27667 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
27671 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
27672 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
27675 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
27676 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
27679 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
27682 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
27686 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
27687 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
27689 New features in Gnus 5.8:
27694 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
27695 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
27697 If you used procmail like in
27700 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
27701 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
27702 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
27703 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
27706 this now has changed to
27710 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
27714 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
27717 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
27718 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
27721 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
27722 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
27725 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
27726 called to position point.
27729 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
27730 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
27733 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
27734 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
27737 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
27738 subtly different manner.
27741 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
27742 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
27743 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
27746 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
27751 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
27754 New features in Gnus 5.10:
27758 @item Installation changes
27759 @c ***********************
27763 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
27765 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
27766 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
27767 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
27768 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
27769 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
27770 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
27771 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
27772 isn't save in general.
27775 Lisp files are now installed in @file{.../site-lisp/gnus/} by default.
27776 It defaulted to @file{.../site-lisp/} formerly. In addition to this,
27777 the new installer issues a warning if other Gnus installations which
27778 will shadow the latest one are detected. You can then remove those
27779 shadows manually or remove them using @code{make
27780 remove-installed-shadows}.
27783 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
27785 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
27786 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
27787 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, if you want
27788 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
27789 the second parameter.
27791 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
27792 automatic recognition of XEmacs and Emacs, generates
27793 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
27794 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
27795 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
27796 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
27797 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
27798 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
27799 cycle used under Unix systems.
27801 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} and @file{xemacs.mak}
27802 superfluous, so they have been removed.
27805 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
27807 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
27808 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
27811 @c FIXME: `gnus-load' is mentioned in README, which is not included in
27812 @c the repository. We should find a better place for this item.
27814 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
27816 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
27817 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
27818 lisp directory into load-path.
27820 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
27821 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
27825 @item New packages and libraries within Gnus
27826 @c *****************************************
27831 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
27832 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
27835 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
27837 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
27838 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS.
27841 Improved anti-spam features.
27843 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
27844 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
27845 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
27846 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
27847 are also new. @ref{Thwarting Email Spam} and @ref{Spam Package}.
27848 @c FIXME: @xref{Spam Package}?. Should this be under Misc?
27851 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
27853 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
27854 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
27855 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
27856 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
27857 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
27861 @item Changes in group mode
27862 @c ************************
27867 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
27871 Retrieval of charters and control messages
27873 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
27874 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
27877 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
27879 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
27880 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
27881 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
27882 variable in @file{~/.gnus.el} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
27883 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
27886 (setq gnus-parameters
27888 (gnus-show-threads nil)
27889 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
27890 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
27891 (to-group . "\\1"))))
27895 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
27897 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
27898 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
27899 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
27900 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
27901 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
27902 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
27903 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
27904 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
27905 when getting new mail, remove the function.
27908 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
27910 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
27911 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
27912 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
27915 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
27916 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
27918 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
27919 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
27920 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
27922 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
27926 Old intermediate incoming mail files (@file{Incoming*}) are deleted
27927 after a couple of days, not immediately. @xref{Mail Source
27928 Customization}. (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / Emacs 22.2)
27932 @item Changes in summary and article mode
27933 @c **************************************
27938 @kbd{F} (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}) and @kbd{R}
27939 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}) only yank the text in the
27940 region if the region is active.
27943 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
27944 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
27949 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
27950 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
27951 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
27952 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
27955 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
27960 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
27961 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
27963 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
27964 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
27968 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
27969 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
27972 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
27975 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
27976 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
27979 Warn about email replies to news
27981 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
27982 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
27986 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
27987 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
27991 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
27992 opposed to old but unread messages).
27995 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
27996 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
27999 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
28000 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
28003 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
28004 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
28007 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
28009 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
28010 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
28011 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
28012 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
28015 The new command @kbd{W Y f}
28016 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}) allows deuglifying broken
28017 Outlook (Express) articles.
28020 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
28022 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
28023 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
28024 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
28025 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
28027 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
28028 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
28029 message cited below.
28032 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now displayed graphically in
28035 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.gnus.el} to
28039 Face headers handling. @xref{Face}.
28042 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
28043 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
28046 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
28049 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
28051 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
28052 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
28053 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
28054 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
28055 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
28059 Deleting of attachments.
28061 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
28062 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
28063 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
28064 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
28065 that support editing.
28068 @code{gnus-default-charset}
28070 The default value is determined from the
28071 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
28072 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
28073 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
28076 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
28078 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
28079 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
28080 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
28083 Extended format specs.
28085 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
28086 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
28087 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
28088 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
28089 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
28090 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
28093 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
28094 @c FIXME: Was this a user-visible change?
28096 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
28097 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
28098 out other articles.
28101 Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
28103 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
28104 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
28105 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
28106 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
28109 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
28113 @item Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features
28114 @c ****************************************************
28121 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
28122 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
28123 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
28126 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
28127 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
28130 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
28131 Gcc articles as read.
28134 Externalizing of attachments
28136 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
28137 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
28138 local files as external parts.
28141 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
28142 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
28145 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
28147 Earlier it was generated when the user configurable email address was
28148 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
28149 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
28150 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
28151 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
28152 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
28153 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
28154 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
28155 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
28158 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
28160 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
28161 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
28162 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
28163 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
28164 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
28165 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
28168 References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated when you
28169 start composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
28173 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers. @xref{X-Face}.
28176 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
28178 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
28179 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
28180 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
28181 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
28182 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
28183 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
28184 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
28185 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
28186 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
28187 was inserted directly.
28190 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
28192 @c FIXME should that not be 'message-user-agent?
28193 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
28194 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
28195 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
28196 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
28199 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
28201 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
28203 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
28204 'bbdb-complete-name)
28208 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
28210 Add a new format of match like
28212 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
28213 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
28215 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
28217 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
28218 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
28222 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
28224 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
28225 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
28226 need add those two headers too.
28229 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
28230 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
28231 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
28235 The option @code{mm-fill-flowed} can be used to disable treatment of
28236 ``format=flowed'' messages. Also, flowed text is disabled when sending
28237 inline PGP signed messages. @xref{Flowed text, , Flowed text,
28238 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
28239 @c This entry is also present in the node "No Gnus".
28242 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
28244 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
28247 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
28249 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
28253 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
28255 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
28256 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
28257 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
28258 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
28259 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
28260 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
28261 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
28262 The behavior can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
28265 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
28266 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
28268 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
28269 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
28270 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
28271 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
28274 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
28277 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
28278 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
28281 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to the symbol
28284 The behavior for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
28285 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
28286 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
28287 invalidate the digital signature.
28290 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
28291 decompressed when activated.
28292 @c FIXME: Does this affect article or message mode?
28295 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
28297 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
28298 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
28299 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
28300 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
28301 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
28304 @item You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
28305 See @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} and @code{mml-dnd-attach-options}.
28306 @xref{MIME, ,MIME, message, Message Manual}.
28307 @c New in 5.10.9 / 5.11 (Emacs 22.1)
28309 @item @code{auto-fill-mode} is enabled by default in Message mode.
28310 See @code{message-fill-column}. @xref{Various Message Variables, ,
28311 Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
28312 @c New in Gnus 5.10.12 / 5.11 (Emacs 22.3)
28316 @item Changes in back ends
28317 @c ***********************
28321 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
28324 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
28327 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
28329 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
28332 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
28334 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
28335 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
28336 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
28337 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
28338 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
28339 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
28340 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
28341 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
28342 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
28343 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
28344 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
28354 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
28355 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
28358 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
28359 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
28360 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
28361 message, Message Manual}).
28364 The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group, Summary and
28365 Message mode. You can also customize the tool bars: @kbd{M-x
28366 customize-apropos RET -tool-bar$} should get you started. This is a new
28367 feature in Gnus 5.10.10. (Only for Emacs, not in XEmacs.)
28369 @item The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly
28370 in the group buffer, see the variable @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}.
28371 Its default value depends on your Emacs version. This is a new feature
28376 @item Miscellaneous changes
28377 @c ************************
28384 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
28385 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
28386 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
28387 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
28388 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
28389 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
28390 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
28391 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
28392 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
28393 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
28394 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
28395 behavior of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
28396 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
28397 is not needed any more.
28400 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
28402 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
28403 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
28404 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
28409 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
28410 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
28411 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
28415 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
28418 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
28420 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
28427 @subsubsection No Gnus
28430 New features in No Gnus:
28431 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
28433 @include gnus-news.texi
28439 @section The Manual
28443 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
28444 either @code{texi2dvi}
28446 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
28447 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
28449 to get what you hold in your hands now.
28451 The following conventions have been used:
28456 This is a @samp{string}
28459 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
28462 This is a @file{file}
28465 This is a @code{symbol}
28469 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
28473 (setq flargnoze "yes")
28476 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
28479 (setq flumphel 'yes)
28482 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
28483 ever get them confused.
28487 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
28488 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
28489 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
28490 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
28491 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
28492 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
28493 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
28499 @node On Writing Manuals
28500 @section On Writing Manuals
28502 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
28503 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
28504 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
28505 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
28506 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
28507 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code go hand
28510 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
28511 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
28512 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
28515 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
28516 reference manual as source material. It would look quite different.
28521 @section Terminology
28523 @cindex terminology
28528 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
28529 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
28530 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
28531 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
28532 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
28536 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
28537 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
28538 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
28539 not posting, and replying is not following up.
28543 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
28547 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
28552 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
28553 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
28554 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
28555 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
28556 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
28557 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
28558 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
28559 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
28560 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
28563 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
28564 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
28565 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
28566 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
28567 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
28568 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
28570 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
28571 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
28572 access the articles.
28574 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
28575 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
28576 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
28581 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
28582 default, way of getting news.
28586 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
28587 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
28592 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
28593 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
28597 A message that has been posted as news.
28600 @cindex mail message
28601 A message that has been mailed.
28605 A mail message or news article
28609 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
28614 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
28619 A line from the head of an article.
28623 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
28624 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
28626 @item @acronym{NOV}
28627 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
28628 @acronym{NOV} stands for News OverView, which is a type of news server
28629 header which provide datas containing the condensed header information
28630 of articles. They are produced by the server itself; in the @code{nntp}
28631 back end Gnus uses the ones that the @acronym{NNTP} server makes, but
28632 Gnus makes them by itself for some backends (in particular, @code{nnml}).
28634 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
28635 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
28636 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
28637 normal @sc{head} format.
28639 The @acronym{NOV} data consist of one or more text lines (@pxref{Text
28640 Lines, ,Motion by Text Lines, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual})
28641 where each line has the header information of one article. The header
28642 information is a tab-separated series of the header's contents including
28643 an article number, a subject, an author, a date, a message-id,
28646 Those data enable Gnus to generate summary lines quickly. However, if
28647 the server does not support @acronym{NOV} or you disable it purposely or
28648 for some reason, Gnus will try to generate the header information by
28649 parsing each article's headers one by one. It will take time.
28650 Therefore, it is not usually a good idea to set nn*-nov-is-evil
28651 (@pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}) to a non-@code{nil} value unless you
28652 know that the server makes wrong @acronym{NOV} data.
28656 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
28657 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
28658 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
28659 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
28660 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
28661 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
28663 @item killed groups
28664 @cindex killed groups
28665 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
28666 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
28668 @item zombie groups
28669 @cindex zombie groups
28670 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
28673 @cindex active file
28674 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
28675 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
28676 is rather large, as you might surmise.
28679 @cindex bogus groups
28680 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
28681 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
28682 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
28685 @cindex activating groups
28686 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
28687 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
28688 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
28692 News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
28693 One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
28694 article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
28698 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
28700 @item select method
28701 @cindex select method
28702 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
28705 @item virtual server
28706 @cindex virtual server
28707 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
28708 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
28709 whole is a virtual server.
28713 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
28714 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
28717 @item ephemeral groups
28718 @cindex ephemeral groups
28719 @cindex temporary groups
28720 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
28721 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
28722 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
28725 @cindex solid groups
28726 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
28727 group buffer are solid groups.
28729 @item sparse articles
28730 @cindex sparse articles
28731 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
28732 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
28736 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
28737 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
28741 @cindex thread root
28742 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
28743 articles in the thread.
28747 An article that has responses.
28751 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
28755 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
28756 specified by RFC 1153.
28759 @cindex splitting, terminology
28760 @cindex mail sorting
28761 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
28762 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
28763 incorrectly called mail filtering.
28769 @node Customization
28770 @section Customization
28771 @cindex general customization
28773 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
28774 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
28775 for some quite common situations.
28778 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
28779 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
28780 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
28781 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
28785 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
28786 @subsection Slow/Expensive Connection
28788 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
28789 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
28790 Gnus has to get from the server.
28794 @item gnus-read-active-file
28795 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
28796 entire active file from the server. This file is often very large. You
28797 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28798 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
28799 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
28801 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
28802 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
28803 Usually this one must @emph{always} be @code{nil} (which is the
28804 default). If, for example, you wish to not use @acronym{NOV}
28805 (@pxref{Terminology}) with the @code{nntp} back end (@pxref{Crosspost
28806 Handling}), set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to a non-@code{nil} value
28807 instead of setting this. But you normally do not need to set
28808 @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} since Gnus by itself will detect whether the
28809 @acronym{NNTP} server supports @acronym{NOV}. Anyway, grabbing article
28810 headers from the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast if you tell
28811 Gnus not to use @acronym{NOV}.
28813 As the variables for the other back ends, there are
28814 @code{nndiary-nov-is-evil}, @code{nndir-nov-is-evil},
28815 @code{nnfolder-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnimap-nov-is-evil},
28816 @code{nnml-nov-is-evil}, and @code{nnspool-nov-is-evil}. Note that a
28817 non-@code{nil} value for @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} overrides all those
28822 @node Slow Terminal Connection
28823 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
28825 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
28826 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
28827 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
28831 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
28832 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
28833 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
28834 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
28835 horizontal and vertical recentering.
28837 @item gnus-visible-headers
28838 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
28839 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
28840 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
28841 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
28843 Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
28845 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
28846 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
28847 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
28850 @item gnus-use-full-window
28851 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
28852 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
28853 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
28854 want to read them anyway.
28856 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
28857 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
28861 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
28862 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
28863 lines, which might save some time.
28867 @node Little Disk Space
28868 @subsection Little Disk Space
28871 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
28872 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
28876 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
28877 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
28878 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28879 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28882 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
28883 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
28884 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28885 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28888 @item gnus-save-killed-list
28889 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
28890 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
28891 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
28892 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
28898 @subsection Slow Machine
28899 @cindex slow machine
28901 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
28902 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
28904 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28905 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
28907 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
28908 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
28909 summary buffer faster. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
28913 @node Troubleshooting
28914 @section Troubleshooting
28915 @cindex troubleshooting
28917 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
28925 Make sure your computer is switched on.
28928 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
28929 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
28933 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
28935 @samp{No Gnus v0.18} @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change this line!
28937 you have the right files loaded. Otherwise you have some old @file{.el}
28938 files lying around. Delete these.
28941 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
28942 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
28945 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
28946 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
28947 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
28948 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
28949 something like that.
28952 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
28955 @cindex reporting bugs
28957 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
28959 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
28960 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
28961 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
28962 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
28964 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
28965 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
28966 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
28967 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
28970 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
28971 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
28972 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
28973 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
28974 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
28975 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
28977 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
28978 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
28979 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
28983 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
28984 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
28987 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
28988 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
28989 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
28990 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
28991 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
28992 you discover some weird behavior when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
28993 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
28994 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
28995 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
28996 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
28997 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
28998 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
28999 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
29000 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
29005 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
29006 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
29007 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
29008 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
29009 helps isolating the real problem areas).
29011 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
29012 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
29013 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
29014 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
29015 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
29016 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
29017 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
29018 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
29019 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
29020 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
29021 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
29022 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
29023 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
29026 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
29027 @cindex ding mailing list
29028 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
29029 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
29030 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
29031 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
29035 @node Gnus Reference Guide
29036 @section Gnus Reference Guide
29038 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
29039 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
29040 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
29041 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
29044 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
29045 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
29046 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
29047 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
29048 and general methods of operation.
29051 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
29052 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
29053 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
29054 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
29055 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
29056 * Group Info:: The group info format.
29057 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
29058 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
29059 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
29063 @node Gnus Utility Functions
29064 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
29065 @cindex Gnus utility functions
29066 @cindex utility functions
29068 @cindex internal variables
29070 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
29071 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
29072 Below is a list of the most common ones.
29076 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
29077 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
29078 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
29080 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
29081 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
29082 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
29084 @item gnus-group-real-name
29085 @findex gnus-group-real-name
29086 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
29089 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
29090 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
29091 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
29092 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
29094 @item gnus-get-info
29095 @findex gnus-get-info
29096 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
29098 @item gnus-group-unread
29099 @findex gnus-group-unread
29100 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
29104 @findex gnus-active
29105 The active entry for @var{group}.
29107 @item gnus-set-active
29108 @findex gnus-set-active
29109 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
29111 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
29112 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
29113 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
29116 @item gnus-continuum-version
29117 @findex gnus-continuum-version
29118 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
29119 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
29122 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
29123 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
29124 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
29126 @item gnus-news-group-p
29127 @findex gnus-news-group-p
29128 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
29130 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
29131 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
29132 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
29134 @item gnus-server-to-method
29135 @findex gnus-server-to-method
29136 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
29138 @item gnus-server-equal
29139 @findex gnus-server-equal
29140 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
29142 @item gnus-group-native-p
29143 @findex gnus-group-native-p
29144 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
29146 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
29147 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
29148 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
29150 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
29151 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
29152 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
29154 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
29155 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
29156 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
29157 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
29159 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
29160 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
29161 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
29163 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
29164 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
29165 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
29167 @item gnus-check-backend-function
29168 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
29169 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
29170 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
29173 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
29177 @item gnus-read-method
29178 @findex gnus-read-method
29179 Prompts the user for a select method.
29184 @node Back End Interface
29185 @subsection Back End Interface
29187 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
29188 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
29189 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
29190 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
29191 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
29192 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
29194 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
29195 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
29196 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
29197 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
29198 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
29199 been opened, the function should fail.
29201 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
29202 name. Take this example:
29206 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
29207 (nntp-port-number 4324))
29210 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
29211 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
29213 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
29214 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
29215 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
29217 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
29218 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
29219 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
29221 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
29222 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
29223 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
29224 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
29225 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
29226 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
29229 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
29230 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
29231 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
29232 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
29235 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
29236 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
29237 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
29238 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
29239 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
29240 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
29241 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
29242 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
29243 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
29244 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
29246 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
29247 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
29248 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
29249 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
29250 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
29251 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
29252 of numbers as long as possible.
29254 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
29255 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
29256 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
29258 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
29261 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
29264 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
29265 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
29266 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
29267 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
29268 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
29269 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
29273 @node Required Back End Functions
29274 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
29278 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
29280 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
29281 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
29282 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
29283 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
29285 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
29286 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
29287 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
29288 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
29290 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
29291 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
29292 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
29293 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
29294 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
29295 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
29296 number, do maximum fetches.
29298 Here's an example HEAD:
29301 221 1056 Article retrieved.
29302 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
29303 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
29304 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
29305 Subject: Re: Something very droll
29306 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
29307 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
29309 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
29310 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
29311 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
29315 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
29316 these in the data buffer.
29318 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
29322 head = error / valid-head
29323 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
29324 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
29325 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
29326 header = <text> eol
29330 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
29332 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
29333 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
29337 nov-buffer = *nov-line
29338 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
29339 field = <text except TAB>
29342 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
29346 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
29348 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
29349 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
29351 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
29352 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
29353 server. In fact, it should do so.
29355 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
29356 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
29359 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
29361 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
29362 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
29365 There should be no data returned.
29368 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
29370 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
29371 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
29372 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
29373 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
29375 There should be no data returned.
29378 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
29380 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
29381 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
29382 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
29383 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
29385 There should be no data returned.
29388 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
29390 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
29392 There should be no data returned.
29395 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
29397 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
29398 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
29399 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
29400 it would be nice if that were possible.
29402 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
29403 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
29404 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
29405 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
29406 into its article buffer.
29408 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
29409 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
29410 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
29411 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
29412 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
29413 on successful article retrieval.
29416 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST INFO)
29418 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
29419 making @var{group} the current group.
29421 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
29424 If @var{info}, it allows the backend to update the group info
29427 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
29430 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
29433 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
29434 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
29435 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
29436 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
29437 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
29438 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
29439 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
29440 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
29441 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
29445 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
29446 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
29447 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
29451 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29453 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
29454 a no-op on most back ends.
29456 There should be no data returned.
29459 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
29461 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
29464 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
29467 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
29468 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
29471 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
29472 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
29473 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
29474 and the highest as 0.
29477 active-file = *active-line
29478 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
29480 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
29483 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
29484 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
29485 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
29488 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
29490 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
29491 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
29492 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
29493 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
29494 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
29495 clear if the posting could not be completed.
29497 There should be no result data from this function.
29502 @node Optional Back End Functions
29503 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
29507 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
29509 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
29510 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
29511 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
29513 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
29514 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
29515 former is in the same format as the data from
29516 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
29517 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
29520 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
29524 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
29526 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
29527 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
29528 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
29529 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
29530 should return a non-@code{nil} value (exceptionally,
29531 @code{nntp-request-update-info} always returns @code{nil} not to waste
29532 the network resources).
29534 There should be no result data from this function.
29537 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
29539 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
29540 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
29541 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
29542 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
29543 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
29544 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
29545 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
29546 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
29548 There should be no result data from this function.
29551 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
29553 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
29554 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
29555 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
29556 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
29557 propagate the mark information to the server.
29559 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
29562 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
29565 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
29566 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
29567 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
29568 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
29569 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
29570 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
29571 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
29572 possible, not limit itself to these.
29574 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
29575 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
29576 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
29577 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
29579 An example action list:
29582 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
29583 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
29584 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
29587 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
29588 mark on (currently not used for anything).
29590 There should be no result data from this function.
29592 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
29594 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
29595 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
29596 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
29597 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
29598 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
29600 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
29601 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
29602 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
29605 There should be no result data from this function.
29608 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
29610 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
29611 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
29612 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
29613 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
29614 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
29615 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
29616 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
29617 local if that's practical.
29619 There should be no result data from this function.
29622 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
29624 The result data from this function should be a description of
29628 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
29630 description = <text>
29633 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
29635 The result data from this function should be the description of all
29636 groups available on the server.
29639 description-buffer = *description-line
29643 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
29645 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
29646 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
29647 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
29648 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
29649 in the active buffer format.
29651 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
29652 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
29653 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
29654 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
29655 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
29656 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
29657 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
29660 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29662 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
29664 There should be no return data.
29667 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
29669 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
29670 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
29671 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
29672 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
29673 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
29676 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
29679 There should be no result data returned.
29682 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
29684 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
29685 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
29687 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
29688 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
29689 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
29690 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
29691 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
29692 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
29694 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
29695 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
29698 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29699 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29701 There should be no data returned.
29704 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
29706 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
29707 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
29708 this function in short order.
29710 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29711 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29713 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
29714 article for that group.
29716 There should be no data returned.
29719 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
29721 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
29722 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
29724 There should be no data returned.
29727 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
29729 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
29730 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
29731 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
29733 There should be no data returned.
29736 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
29738 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
29739 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
29741 There should be no data returned.
29746 @node Error Messaging
29747 @subsubsection Error Messaging
29749 @findex nnheader-report
29750 @findex nnheader-get-report
29751 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
29752 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
29753 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
29754 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
29755 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
29756 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
29759 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
29761 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
29764 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
29765 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
29766 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
29767 takes one argument---the server symbol.
29769 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
29770 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
29771 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
29774 @node Writing New Back Ends
29775 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
29777 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
29778 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
29779 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
29780 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
29781 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
29784 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
29785 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
29786 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
29788 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
29789 package called @code{nnoo}.
29791 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
29792 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
29798 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
29799 parameters. For instance:
29802 (nnoo-declare nndir
29806 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
29807 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
29810 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
29811 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
29812 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
29814 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
29815 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
29816 a function in those back ends.
29819 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29820 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29821 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29824 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
29825 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
29826 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
29828 @item nnoo-define-basics
29829 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
29833 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29837 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
29838 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
29839 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
29841 @item nnoo-map-functions
29842 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
29843 functions from the parent back ends.
29846 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29847 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29848 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
29851 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
29852 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
29853 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
29854 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
29857 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
29858 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
29859 haven't already been defined.
29865 nnmh-request-newgroups)
29869 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
29870 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
29871 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
29876 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
29879 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
29880 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
29884 (require 'nnheader)
29888 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
29890 (nnoo-declare nndir
29893 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29894 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29895 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29897 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
29898 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
29901 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
29903 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
29904 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
29905 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
29907 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
29908 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
29910 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
29912 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29914 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
29915 (setq nndir-directory
29916 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
29918 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
29919 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
29920 (push `(nndir-current-group
29921 ,(file-name-nondirectory
29922 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29924 (push `(nndir-top-directory
29925 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29927 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
29929 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29930 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29931 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29932 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
29933 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
29937 nnmh-status-message
29939 nnmh-request-newgroups))
29945 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29946 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29948 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
29949 @findex gnus-declare-backend
29950 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
29951 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
29952 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
29954 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
29955 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
29960 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
29963 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
29965 The abilities can be:
29969 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
29971 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
29973 This back end supports both mail and news.
29975 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
29978 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
29979 articles and groups.
29981 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
29982 true for almost all back ends.
29983 @item prompt-address
29984 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
29985 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
29986 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
29990 @node Mail-like Back Ends
29991 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
29993 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
29994 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
29995 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
29996 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
29999 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
30000 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
30001 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
30004 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
30005 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
30008 This function takes four parameters.
30012 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
30015 @item exit-function
30016 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
30018 @item temp-directory
30019 Where the temporary files should be stored.
30022 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
30023 performed for one group only.
30026 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
30027 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
30028 find the article number assigned to this article.
30030 The function also uses the following variables:
30031 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
30032 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
30033 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
30034 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
30038 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
30039 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
30043 @node Score File Syntax
30044 @subsection Score File Syntax
30046 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
30047 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
30048 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
30050 Here's a typical score file:
30054 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
30061 BNF definition of a score file:
30064 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
30065 element = rule / atom
30066 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
30067 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
30068 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
30069 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
30071 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
30072 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
30073 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
30074 date-header = "date"
30075 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
30076 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30077 score = "nil" / <integer>
30078 date = "nil" / <natural number>
30079 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
30080 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
30081 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
30082 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
30083 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
30084 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30085 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
30086 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
30087 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
30088 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
30089 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
30090 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
30091 exclude-files / read-only / touched
30092 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
30093 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
30094 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
30095 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
30096 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
30097 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
30098 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
30099 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
30100 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
30101 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
30102 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
30103 eval = "eval" space <form>
30104 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
30107 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
30110 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
30111 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
30112 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
30113 one looong line, then that's ok.
30115 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
30116 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
30120 @subsection Headers
30122 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
30123 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
30124 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
30125 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
30127 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
30128 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
30129 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
30130 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
30131 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
30132 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
30133 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
30135 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
30136 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
30137 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
30138 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
30139 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
30141 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
30142 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
30148 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
30149 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
30151 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
30152 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
30153 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
30154 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
30156 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
30160 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
30163 is transformed into
30166 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
30169 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
30170 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
30173 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
30176 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
30177 is slightly tricky:
30180 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
30186 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
30189 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
30195 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
30202 and is equal to the previous range.
30204 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
30205 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
30206 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
30210 range = simple-range / normal-range
30211 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
30212 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
30213 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
30214 number *[ " " contents ]
30217 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
30218 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
30219 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
30220 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
30221 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
30226 @subsection Group Info
30228 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
30229 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
30230 describes the group.
30232 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
30233 second is a more complex one:
30236 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
30238 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
30239 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
30241 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
30244 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
30245 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
30246 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
30247 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
30248 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
30249 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
30250 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
30251 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
30252 this section is about.
30254 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
30255 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
30256 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
30258 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
30261 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
30262 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
30263 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30264 group = quote <string> quote
30265 ralevel = rank / level
30266 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
30267 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
30268 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
30270 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
30271 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
30272 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
30273 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
30276 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
30277 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
30280 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
30281 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
30284 @item gnus-info-group
30285 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
30286 @findex gnus-info-group
30287 @findex gnus-info-set-group
30288 Get/set the group name.
30290 @item gnus-info-rank
30291 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
30292 @findex gnus-info-rank
30293 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
30294 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
30296 @item gnus-info-level
30297 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
30298 @findex gnus-info-level
30299 @findex gnus-info-set-level
30300 Get/set the group level.
30302 @item gnus-info-score
30303 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
30304 @findex gnus-info-score
30305 @findex gnus-info-set-score
30306 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
30308 @item gnus-info-read
30309 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
30310 @findex gnus-info-read
30311 @findex gnus-info-set-read
30312 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
30314 @item gnus-info-marks
30315 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
30316 @findex gnus-info-marks
30317 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
30318 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
30320 @item gnus-info-method
30321 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
30322 @findex gnus-info-method
30323 @findex gnus-info-set-method
30324 Get/set the group select method.
30326 @item gnus-info-params
30327 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
30328 @findex gnus-info-params
30329 @findex gnus-info-set-params
30330 Get/set the group parameters.
30333 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
30334 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
30336 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
30337 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
30338 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
30339 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
30342 @node Extended Interactive
30343 @subsection Extended Interactive
30344 @cindex interactive
30345 @findex gnus-interactive
30347 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
30348 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
30349 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
30352 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
30353 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
30358 The best thing to do would have been to implement
30359 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
30360 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
30361 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
30362 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
30363 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
30364 @code{interactive}.
30366 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
30371 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
30372 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
30376 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
30377 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
30378 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
30381 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
30385 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
30389 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
30395 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
30396 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
30400 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
30401 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
30402 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
30404 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
30405 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
30406 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
30407 Gnus, that's very useful.
30409 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
30410 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
30411 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
30412 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
30413 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
30414 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
30415 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
30416 following function:
30419 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
30423 (,function ,@@args))
30427 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
30428 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
30429 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
30432 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
30433 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
30434 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
30436 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
30437 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
30438 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
30441 @node Various File Formats
30442 @subsection Various File Formats
30445 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
30446 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
30450 @node Active File Format
30451 @subsubsection Active File Format
30453 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
30454 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
30457 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
30460 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
30461 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
30462 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
30463 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
30464 no.general 1000 900 y
30467 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
30470 active = *group-line
30471 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
30472 group = <non-white-space string>
30474 high-number = <non-negative integer>
30475 low-number = <positive integer>
30476 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
30479 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
30480 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
30483 @node Newsgroups File Format
30484 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
30486 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
30487 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
30488 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
30491 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
30492 Here's the definition:
30496 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
30497 group = <non-white-space string>
30499 description = <string>
30504 @node Emacs for Heathens
30505 @section Emacs for Heathens
30507 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
30508 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
30509 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
30510 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
30511 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
30512 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
30513 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
30517 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
30518 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
30523 @subsection Keystrokes
30527 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
30530 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
30533 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
30534 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
30535 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
30536 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
30537 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
30538 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
30540 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
30541 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
30542 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
30543 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
30544 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
30545 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
30546 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
30548 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
30549 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
30550 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
30551 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
30552 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
30553 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
30554 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
30556 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
30557 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
30558 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
30559 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
30560 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
30566 @subsection Emacs Lisp
30568 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
30569 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
30570 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
30571 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
30573 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
30574 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
30575 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
30576 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
30577 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
30578 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
30579 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
30580 file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
30581 in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
30582 @file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
30584 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
30585 write the following:
30588 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
30591 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
30592 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
30593 you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
30594 change how Gnus works.
30596 If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
30597 read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
30598 start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
30599 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
30600 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
30602 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
30603 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
30604 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
30608 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
30612 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
30615 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server-file} to
30616 @samp{/etc/nntpserver}'', that means:
30619 (setq gnus-nntp-server-file "/etc/nntpserver")
30622 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
30623 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
30626 @include gnus-faq.texi
30628 @node GNU Free Documentation License
30629 @chapter GNU Free Documentation License
30630 @include doclicense.texi
30648 @c Local Variables:
30650 @c coding: iso-8859-1