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10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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268 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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277 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
278 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
281 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
282 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
283 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
284 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
285 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
286 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
287 License'' in the Emacs manual.
289 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
290 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
291 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
293 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
294 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
295 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
296 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
304 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
306 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
308 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
309 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
310 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
311 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
312 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
313 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
314 License'' in the Emacs manual.
316 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
317 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
318 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
320 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
321 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
322 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
323 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
331 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
334 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
335 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
337 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
338 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
339 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
340 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
341 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
342 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
343 License'' in the Emacs manual.
345 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
346 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
347 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
349 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
350 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
351 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
352 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
361 @top The Gnus Newsreader
365 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
366 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
367 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
370 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v.
381 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
382 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
384 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
385 being accused of plagiarism:
387 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
388 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
389 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
390 can even read news with it!
392 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
393 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
394 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
395 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
396 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
402 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
403 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
404 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
405 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
406 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
407 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
408 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
409 * Various:: General purpose settings.
410 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
411 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
412 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
413 * Key Index:: Key Index.
416 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
420 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
421 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
422 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
423 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
424 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
425 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
426 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
427 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
428 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
429 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
430 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
434 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
435 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
436 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
440 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
441 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
442 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
443 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
444 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
445 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
446 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
447 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
448 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
449 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
450 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
451 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
452 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
453 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
454 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
455 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
456 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
460 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
461 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
462 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
466 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
467 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
468 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
469 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
470 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
474 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
475 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
476 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
477 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
481 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
482 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
483 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
484 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
485 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
486 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
487 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
488 * Threading:: How threads are made.
489 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
490 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
491 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
492 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
493 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
494 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
495 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
496 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
497 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
498 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
499 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
500 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
501 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
502 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
503 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
504 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
505 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
506 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
507 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
508 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
509 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
510 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
512 Summary Buffer Format
514 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
515 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
516 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
517 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
521 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
522 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
524 Reply, Followup and Post
526 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
527 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
528 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
529 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
533 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
534 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
535 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
536 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
537 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
538 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
542 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
543 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
545 Customizing Threading
547 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
548 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
549 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
550 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
554 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
555 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
556 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
557 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
558 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
559 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
563 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
564 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
565 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
569 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
570 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
571 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
572 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
573 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
574 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
575 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
576 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
578 Alternative Approaches
580 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
581 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
583 Various Summary Stuff
585 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
586 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
587 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
588 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
592 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
593 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
594 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
595 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
596 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
600 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
601 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
602 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
603 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
604 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
605 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
606 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
607 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
611 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
612 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
613 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
614 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
615 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
616 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
617 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
621 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
622 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
623 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
624 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
625 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
626 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
627 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
631 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
632 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
636 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
637 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
638 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
639 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
640 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
641 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
642 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
643 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
644 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
645 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
646 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
647 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
648 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
652 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
653 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
654 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
656 Choosing a Mail Backend
658 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
659 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
660 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
661 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
662 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
663 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
667 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
668 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
669 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
670 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
671 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
672 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
676 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
677 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
678 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
679 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
680 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
681 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
685 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
689 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
690 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
691 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
695 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
696 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
697 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
701 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
702 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
706 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
707 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
708 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
709 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
710 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
711 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
712 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
713 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
714 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
715 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
719 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
720 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
721 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
725 * Group Agent Commands::
726 * Summary Agent Commands::
727 * Server Agent Commands::
731 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
732 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
733 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
734 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
735 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
736 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
737 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
738 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
739 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
740 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
741 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
742 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
743 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
744 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
745 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
746 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
750 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
751 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
752 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
753 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
757 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
758 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
759 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
763 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
764 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
765 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
766 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
767 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
768 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
769 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
770 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
771 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
772 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
773 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
774 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
775 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
776 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
777 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
778 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
779 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
780 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
784 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
785 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
786 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
787 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
788 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
792 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
793 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
794 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
795 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
799 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
800 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
801 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
802 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
803 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
807 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
808 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
809 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
810 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
811 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
812 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
813 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
814 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
818 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
819 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
820 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
821 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
822 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
823 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
824 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
825 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
826 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
830 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
831 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
832 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
833 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
834 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
838 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
839 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
840 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
841 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
845 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
846 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
847 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
848 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
849 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
850 * Group Info:: The group info format.
851 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
852 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
853 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
857 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
858 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
859 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
860 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
861 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
862 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
866 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
867 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
871 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
872 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
878 @chapter Starting Gnus
883 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
884 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
887 @findex gnus-other-frame
888 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
889 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
890 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
892 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
893 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
894 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
896 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
897 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
900 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
901 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
902 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
903 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
904 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
905 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
906 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
907 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
908 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
909 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
910 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
914 @node Finding the News
915 @section Finding the News
918 @vindex gnus-select-method
920 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
921 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
922 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
923 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
926 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
927 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
930 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
933 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
936 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
939 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
940 certainly be much faster.
942 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
944 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
945 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
946 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
947 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
948 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
949 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
951 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
952 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
953 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
954 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
956 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
957 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
958 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
959 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
960 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
961 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
962 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
963 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
964 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
967 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
969 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
970 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
971 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
972 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
973 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
974 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
976 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
978 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
979 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
980 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
981 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
982 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
983 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
986 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
987 would typically set this variable to
990 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
995 @section The First Time
996 @cindex first time usage
998 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
999 be subscribed by default.
1001 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1002 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1003 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1004 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1007 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1008 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1009 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1011 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1012 help you with most common problems.
1014 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1015 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1019 @node The Server is Down
1020 @section The Server is Down
1021 @cindex server errors
1023 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1024 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1025 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1027 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1028 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1029 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1030 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1031 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1032 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1033 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1035 @findex gnus-no-server
1036 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1038 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1039 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1040 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1041 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1042 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1043 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1044 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1048 @section Slave Gnusae
1051 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1052 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1053 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1054 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1056 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1057 @code{.newsrc} file.
1059 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1060 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1061 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1062 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1063 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1064 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1065 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1067 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1068 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1069 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1070 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1071 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1072 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1073 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1074 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1076 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1077 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1080 @node Fetching a Group
1081 @section Fetching a Group
1082 @cindex fetching a group
1084 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1085 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1086 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1087 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1088 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1089 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1095 @cindex subscription
1097 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1098 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1099 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1100 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1101 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1102 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1103 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1104 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1105 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1108 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1109 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1110 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1114 @node Checking New Groups
1115 @subsection Checking New Groups
1117 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1118 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1119 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1120 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1121 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1122 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1123 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1124 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1125 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1126 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1128 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1129 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1130 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1131 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1132 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1133 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1134 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1135 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1136 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1137 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1138 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1140 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1141 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1142 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1143 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1144 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1145 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1148 @node Subscription Methods
1149 @subsection Subscription Methods
1151 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1152 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1153 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1155 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1156 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1158 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1162 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1163 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1164 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1165 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1166 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1168 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1169 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1170 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1171 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1173 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1174 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1175 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1177 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1178 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1179 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1180 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1181 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1182 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1183 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1184 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1185 up. Or something like that.
1187 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1188 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1189 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1190 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1191 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1193 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1194 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1195 Kill all new groups.
1197 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1198 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1199 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1200 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1201 topic parameter that looks like
1207 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1210 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1215 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1216 A closely related variable is
1217 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1218 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1219 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1220 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1223 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1224 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1225 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1226 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1229 @node Filtering New Groups
1230 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1232 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1233 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1234 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1237 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1240 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1241 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1242 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1243 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1244 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1245 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1246 subscribing these groups.
1247 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1248 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1250 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1251 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1252 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1253 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1254 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1255 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1256 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1257 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1259 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1260 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1261 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1262 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1263 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1264 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1265 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1266 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1267 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1268 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1270 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1271 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1274 @node Changing Servers
1275 @section Changing Servers
1276 @cindex changing servers
1278 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1279 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1280 very flaky and you want to use another.
1282 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1283 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1287 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1288 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1289 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1290 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1293 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1294 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1295 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1296 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1298 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1299 @findex gnus-change-server
1300 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1301 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1302 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1303 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1304 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1306 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1307 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1308 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1309 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1310 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1312 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1313 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1314 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1315 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1316 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1317 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1319 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1320 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1321 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1325 @section Startup Files
1326 @cindex startup files
1331 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1332 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1334 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1335 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1336 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1337 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1338 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1339 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1340 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1342 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1343 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1344 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1345 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1346 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1347 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1349 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1350 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1351 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1352 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1353 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1354 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1355 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1356 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1357 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1358 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1360 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1361 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1362 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1363 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1364 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1365 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1366 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1367 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1368 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1369 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1370 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1371 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1373 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1374 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1375 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1376 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1378 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1379 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1380 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1381 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1382 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1383 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1384 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1385 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1386 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1387 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1390 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1391 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1393 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1394 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1397 @vindex gnus-init-file
1398 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1399 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1400 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1401 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1402 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1403 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1404 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1405 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1406 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1412 @cindex dribble file
1415 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1416 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1417 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1418 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1419 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1422 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1423 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1426 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1427 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1428 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1430 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1431 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1432 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1433 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1434 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1435 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1437 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1438 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1439 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1442 @node The Active File
1443 @section The Active File
1445 @cindex ignored groups
1447 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1448 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1449 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1451 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1452 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1453 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1454 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1455 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1456 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1457 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1460 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1461 @c if you set it to anything else.
1463 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1465 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1466 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1467 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1469 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1470 you actually subscribe to.
1472 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1473 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1474 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1475 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1477 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1478 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1479 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1480 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1481 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1482 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1484 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1485 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1486 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1489 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1490 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1491 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1492 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1493 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1494 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1496 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1497 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1499 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1500 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1502 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1503 secondary select methods.
1506 @node Startup Variables
1507 @section Startup Variables
1511 @item gnus-load-hook
1512 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1513 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1514 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1515 times you start Gnus.
1517 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1518 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1519 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1521 @item gnus-startup-hook
1522 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1523 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1525 @item gnus-started-hook
1526 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1527 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1530 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1531 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1532 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1533 generating the group buffer.
1535 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1536 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1537 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1538 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1539 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1540 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1541 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1542 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1544 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1545 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1546 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1547 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1548 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1549 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1551 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1552 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1553 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1555 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1556 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1557 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1559 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1560 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1561 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1562 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1568 @chapter Group Buffer
1569 @cindex group buffer
1571 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1572 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1573 long as Gnus is active.
1577 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1578 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1579 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1580 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1581 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1582 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1583 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1584 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1590 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1591 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1592 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1593 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1594 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1595 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1596 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1597 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1598 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1599 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1600 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1601 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1602 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1603 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1604 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1605 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1606 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1610 @node Group Buffer Format
1611 @section Group Buffer Format
1614 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1615 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1616 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1620 @node Group Line Specification
1621 @subsection Group Line Specification
1622 @cindex group buffer format
1624 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1625 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1627 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1630 25: news.announce.newusers
1631 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1636 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1637 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1638 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1639 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1641 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1642 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1643 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1644 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1645 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1646 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1648 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1650 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1651 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1652 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1653 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1656 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1657 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1658 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1660 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1665 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1668 Whether the group is subscribed.
1671 Level of subscribedness.
1674 Number of unread articles.
1677 Number of dormant articles.
1680 Number of ticked articles.
1683 Number of read articles.
1686 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1687 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1689 Gnus uses this estimation because the NNTP protocol provides efficient
1690 access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting the true
1691 unread message count is not possible efficiently. For hysterical
1692 raisins, even the mail backends, where the true number of unread
1693 messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1694 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the
1695 backend interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1696 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1699 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1702 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1711 Newsgroup description.
1714 @samp{m} if moderated.
1717 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1726 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1730 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1733 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1734 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1735 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1736 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1737 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1740 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1742 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1746 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1749 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1753 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1754 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1755 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1756 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1757 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1758 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1763 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1764 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1765 group, or a bogus native group.
1768 @node Group Modeline Specification
1769 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1770 @cindex group modeline
1772 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1773 The mode line can be changed by setting
1774 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1775 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1779 The native news server.
1781 The native select method.
1785 @node Group Highlighting
1786 @subsection Group Highlighting
1787 @cindex highlighting
1788 @cindex group highlighting
1790 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1791 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1792 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1793 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1794 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1796 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1800 (cond (window-system
1801 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1802 (defface my-group-face-1
1803 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1804 (defface my-group-face-2
1805 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1806 (defface my-group-face-3
1807 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1808 (defface my-group-face-4
1809 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1810 (defface my-group-face-5
1811 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1813 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1814 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1815 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1816 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1817 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1818 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1821 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1823 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1830 The number of unread articles in the group.
1834 Whether the group is a mail group.
1836 The level of the group.
1838 The score of the group.
1840 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1842 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1843 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1845 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1846 topic being inserted.
1849 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1850 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1851 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1853 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1854 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1855 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1856 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1857 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1860 @node Group Maneuvering
1861 @section Group Maneuvering
1862 @cindex group movement
1864 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1865 expected, hopefully.
1871 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1872 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1873 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1879 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1880 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1881 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1885 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1886 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1890 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1891 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1895 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1896 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1897 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1901 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1902 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1903 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1906 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1912 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1913 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1914 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1919 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1920 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1921 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1925 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1926 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1927 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1930 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1931 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1932 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1933 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1937 @node Selecting a Group
1938 @section Selecting a Group
1939 @cindex group selection
1944 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1945 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1946 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1947 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1948 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1949 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1950 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1951 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1952 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1953 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1955 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
1956 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
1957 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
1959 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
1960 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
1965 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1966 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1967 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1968 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1969 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1973 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1974 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1975 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1976 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1977 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1978 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1979 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1980 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1981 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1982 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1985 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1986 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1987 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1988 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1989 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1992 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1993 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1994 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1995 doing any processing of its contents
1996 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1997 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1998 manner will have no permanent effects.
2002 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2003 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2004 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2005 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2006 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2007 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2008 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2009 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2012 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2013 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2014 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2015 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2020 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2021 full summary buffer.
2024 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2027 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2032 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2033 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2034 Useful functions include:
2037 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2038 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2039 don't select the article.
2041 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2042 Select the first unread article.
2044 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2045 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2049 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2050 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2051 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2055 @node Subscription Commands
2056 @section Subscription Commands
2057 @cindex subscription
2065 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2066 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2067 Toggle subscription to the current group
2068 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2074 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2075 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2076 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2077 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2083 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2084 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2085 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2091 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2092 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2095 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2096 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2097 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2098 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2099 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2105 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2106 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2110 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2111 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2114 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2115 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2116 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2117 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2118 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2119 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2120 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2121 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2122 @file{.newsrc} file.
2126 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2136 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2137 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2138 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2139 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2140 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2141 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2146 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2147 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2148 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2152 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2153 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2154 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2156 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2157 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2158 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2159 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2160 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2161 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2168 @section Group Levels
2172 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2173 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2174 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2175 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2176 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2178 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2184 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2185 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2186 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2187 prompted for a level.
2190 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2191 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2192 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2193 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2194 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2195 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2196 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2197 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2198 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2199 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2200 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2201 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2202 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2203 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2204 reasons of efficiency.
2206 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2207 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2209 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2210 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2211 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2212 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2213 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2214 groups are hidden, in a way.
2216 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2217 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2218 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2219 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2220 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2221 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2223 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2224 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2225 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2226 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2227 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2228 list of killed groups.)
2230 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2231 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2232 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2234 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2235 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2236 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2237 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2238 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2239 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2240 relevant valid ranges.
2242 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2243 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2244 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2245 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2246 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2247 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2250 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2251 one with the best level.
2253 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2254 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2255 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2258 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2259 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2260 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2261 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2264 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2265 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2266 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2267 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2269 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2270 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2271 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2272 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2273 to 5. The default is 6.
2277 @section Group Score
2282 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2283 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2284 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2287 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2288 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2289 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2290 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2291 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2292 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2293 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2294 least significant part.))
2296 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2297 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2298 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2299 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2300 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2301 action after each summary exit, you can add
2302 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2303 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2304 slow things down somewhat.
2307 @node Marking Groups
2308 @section Marking Groups
2309 @cindex marking groups
2311 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2312 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2313 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2314 bidding on those groups.
2316 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2317 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2318 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2326 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2327 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2333 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2334 Remove the mark from the current group
2335 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2339 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2340 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2344 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2345 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2349 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2350 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2354 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2355 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2356 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2359 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2361 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2362 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2363 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2364 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2365 the command to be executed.
2368 @node Foreign Groups
2369 @section Foreign Groups
2370 @cindex foreign groups
2372 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2373 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2374 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2375 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2382 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2383 @cindex making groups
2384 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2385 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2386 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2390 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2391 @cindex renaming groups
2392 Rename the current group to something else
2393 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2394 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2400 @findex gnus-group-customize
2401 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2405 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2406 @cindex renaming groups
2407 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2408 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2412 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2413 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2414 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2418 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2419 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2420 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2424 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2426 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2427 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2432 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2433 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2437 @cindex (ding) archive
2438 @cindex archive group
2439 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2440 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2441 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2442 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2443 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2444 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2445 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2449 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2451 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2452 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2453 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2454 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2458 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2460 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2461 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2462 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2466 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2467 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2469 Make a group based on some file or other
2470 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2471 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2472 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2473 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2474 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2475 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2476 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2480 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2481 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2482 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2483 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2487 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2492 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2493 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2494 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2495 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2496 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2497 @xref{Web Searches}.
2499 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2500 to a particular group by using a match string like
2501 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2504 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2505 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2506 This function will delete the current group
2507 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2508 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2509 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2510 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2511 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2515 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2516 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2517 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2521 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2522 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2523 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2526 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2529 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2530 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2531 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2532 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2533 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2534 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2538 @node Group Parameters
2539 @section Group Parameters
2540 @cindex group parameters
2542 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2543 Here's an example group parameter list:
2546 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2550 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2551 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2552 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2553 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2555 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2556 is an alist of regexps and values.
2558 The following group parameters can be used:
2563 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2566 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2569 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2570 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2571 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2572 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2573 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2575 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2576 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2577 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2578 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2579 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2580 list address instead.
2582 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2586 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2589 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2592 It is totally ignored
2593 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2594 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2596 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2597 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2598 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2599 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2600 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2602 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2603 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2604 sending the message.
2606 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2607 @cindex Mail List Groups
2608 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2609 entering summary buffer.
2611 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2615 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2616 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2617 of whether it has any unread articles.
2619 @item broken-reply-to
2620 @cindex broken-reply-to
2621 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2622 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2623 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2624 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2625 broken behavior. So there!
2629 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2630 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2634 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2635 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2636 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2641 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2642 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2643 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2644 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2645 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2646 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2647 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2651 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2652 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2653 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2655 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2658 @cindex total-expire
2659 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2660 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2661 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2662 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2665 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2669 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2670 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2671 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2672 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2673 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2674 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2677 @cindex score file group parameter
2678 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2679 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2680 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2683 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2684 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2685 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2686 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2689 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2690 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2691 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2692 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2695 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2696 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2700 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2703 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2707 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2709 Here are some examples:
2713 Display only unread articles.
2716 Display everything except expirable articles.
2718 @item [and (not reply) (not expirable)]
2719 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2723 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2724 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2725 @code{unread}, @code{read}, @code{dormant}, @code{}, @code{}, @code{},
2726 @code{expire}, @code{reply}, @code{killed}, @code{bookmark},
2727 @code{score}, @code{save}, @code{cache}, @code{forward}, and
2734 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2735 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2736 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2740 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2741 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2742 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2744 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2746 @item ignored-charsets
2747 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-known iso-8859-1)}
2748 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2749 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2751 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2754 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2755 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2756 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2757 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2758 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2760 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2761 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2762 like this in the group parameters:
2767 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2772 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2773 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2776 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2777 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2778 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2779 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2780 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2782 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2783 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2784 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2785 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2786 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2787 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2788 @code{eval}ed there.
2790 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2791 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2792 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2793 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2794 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2798 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2799 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2800 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2801 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2802 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2804 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2805 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2809 (setq gnus-parameters
2811 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2812 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2813 (gnus-summary-line-format
2814 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2818 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2822 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2826 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2829 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2830 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2833 @node Listing Groups
2834 @section Listing Groups
2835 @cindex group listing
2837 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2845 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2846 List all groups that have unread articles
2847 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2848 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2849 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2850 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2857 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2858 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2859 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2860 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2861 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2862 unsubscribed groups).
2866 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2867 List all unread groups on a specific level
2868 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2869 with no unread articles.
2873 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2874 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2875 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2876 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2881 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2882 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2886 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2887 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2888 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2892 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2893 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2897 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2898 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2899 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2900 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2901 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2902 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2903 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2904 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2908 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2909 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2910 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2914 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2915 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2916 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2920 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2921 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2925 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2926 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2930 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
2931 List groups limited within the current selection
2932 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
2936 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
2937 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
2941 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
2942 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
2946 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2947 @cindex visible group parameter
2948 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2949 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2950 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2951 get the same effect.
2953 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2954 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2955 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2956 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2957 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2960 @node Sorting Groups
2961 @section Sorting Groups
2962 @cindex sorting groups
2964 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2965 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2966 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2967 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2968 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2969 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2974 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2975 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2976 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2978 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2979 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2980 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2982 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2983 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2984 Sort by group level.
2986 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2987 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2988 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2990 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2991 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2992 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2993 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2995 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2996 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2997 Sort by number of unread articles.
2999 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3000 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3001 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3003 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3004 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3005 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3010 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3011 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3015 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3016 some sorting criteria:
3020 @kindex G S a (Group)
3021 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3022 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3023 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3026 @kindex G S u (Group)
3027 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3028 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3029 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3032 @kindex G S l (Group)
3033 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3034 Sort the group buffer by group level
3035 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3038 @kindex G S v (Group)
3039 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3040 Sort the group buffer by group score
3041 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3044 @kindex G S r (Group)
3045 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3046 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3047 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3050 @kindex G S m (Group)
3051 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3052 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
3053 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3057 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3058 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3060 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3061 commands will sort in reverse order.
3063 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3067 @kindex G P a (Group)
3068 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3069 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3070 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3073 @kindex G P u (Group)
3074 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3075 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3076 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3079 @kindex G P l (Group)
3080 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3081 Sort the groups by group level
3082 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3085 @kindex G P v (Group)
3086 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3087 Sort the groups by group score
3088 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3091 @kindex G P r (Group)
3092 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3093 Sort the groups by group rank
3094 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3097 @kindex G P m (Group)
3098 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3099 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
3100 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3104 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3108 @node Group Maintenance
3109 @section Group Maintenance
3110 @cindex bogus groups
3115 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3116 Find bogus groups and delete them
3117 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3121 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3122 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3123 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3124 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3125 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3129 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3130 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3131 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3132 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3133 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3134 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3137 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
3138 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3139 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3140 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3145 @node Browse Foreign Server
3146 @section Browse Foreign Server
3147 @cindex foreign servers
3148 @cindex browsing servers
3153 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3154 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3155 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3156 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3159 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3160 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3161 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3162 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3164 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3169 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3170 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3174 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3175 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3178 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3179 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3180 Enter the current group and display the first article
3181 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3184 @kindex RET (Browse)
3185 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3186 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3190 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3191 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3192 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3198 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3199 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3203 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3204 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3205 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3210 @section Exiting Gnus
3211 @cindex exiting Gnus
3213 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3218 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3219 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3220 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3221 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3225 @findex gnus-group-exit
3226 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3227 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3231 @findex gnus-group-quit
3232 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3233 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3236 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3237 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3238 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3239 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3240 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3245 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3246 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3247 trying to customize meta-variables.
3252 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3253 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3254 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3260 @section Group Topics
3263 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3264 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3265 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3266 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3267 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3268 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3272 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3273 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3284 2: alt.religion.emacs
3287 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3289 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3290 13: comp.sources.unix
3293 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3295 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3296 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3297 is a toggling command.)
3299 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3300 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3301 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3302 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3305 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3306 the hook for the group mode:
3309 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3313 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3314 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3315 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3316 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3317 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3321 @node Topic Variables
3322 @subsection Topic Variables
3323 @cindex topic variables
3325 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3326 really neat, I think.
3328 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3329 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3330 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3343 Number of groups in the topic.
3345 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3347 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3350 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3351 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3352 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3355 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3356 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3358 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3359 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3360 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3363 @node Topic Commands
3364 @subsection Topic Commands
3365 @cindex topic commands
3367 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3368 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3369 definitions slightly.
3375 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3376 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3377 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3381 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3382 Move the current group to some other topic
3383 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3384 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3388 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3389 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3393 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3394 Copy the current group to some other topic
3395 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3396 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3400 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3401 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3402 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3406 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3407 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3408 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3412 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3413 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3414 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3415 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3416 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3417 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3418 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3421 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3422 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3426 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3427 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3428 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3432 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3433 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3434 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3438 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3439 Toggle hiding empty topics
3440 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3444 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3445 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3446 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3449 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3450 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3451 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3452 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3456 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3458 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3459 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3460 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3461 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3464 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3465 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3466 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3467 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3471 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3473 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3474 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3475 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3476 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3477 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3478 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3481 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3482 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3483 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3484 expiry process (if any)
3485 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3489 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3490 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3491 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3495 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3496 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3497 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3502 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3503 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3506 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3507 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3508 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3512 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3513 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3514 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3518 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3519 @cindex group parameters
3520 @cindex topic parameters
3522 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3523 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3529 @subsection Topic Sorting
3530 @cindex topic sorting
3532 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3538 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3539 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3540 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3541 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3544 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3545 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3546 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3547 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3550 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3551 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3552 Sort the current topic by group level
3553 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3556 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3557 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3558 Sort the current topic by group score
3559 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3562 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3563 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3564 Sort the current topic by group rank
3565 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3568 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3569 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3570 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3571 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3575 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3578 @node Topic Topology
3579 @subsection Topic Topology
3580 @cindex topic topology
3583 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3589 2: alt.religion.emacs
3592 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3594 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3595 13: comp.sources.unix
3598 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3599 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3600 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3605 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3606 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3610 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3611 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3612 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3613 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3614 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3615 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3617 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3618 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3619 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3622 @node Topic Parameters
3623 @subsection Topic Parameters
3624 @cindex topic parameters
3626 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3627 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3628 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3630 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3635 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3636 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3637 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3642 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3643 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3644 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3645 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3651 2: alt.religion.emacs
3655 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3657 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3658 13: comp.sources.unix
3662 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3663 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3664 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3665 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3666 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3667 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3669 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3670 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3671 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3672 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3673 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3675 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3676 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3677 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3678 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3679 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3680 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3681 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3682 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3685 @node Misc Group Stuff
3686 @section Misc Group Stuff
3689 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3690 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3691 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3692 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3699 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3700 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3701 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3705 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3706 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3707 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3711 @findex gnus-group-mail
3712 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3716 Variables for the group buffer:
3720 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3721 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3722 is called after the group buffer has been
3725 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3726 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3727 is called after the group buffer is
3728 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3731 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3732 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3733 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3734 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3736 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3737 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3738 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3739 whether they are empty or not.
3741 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3742 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3743 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3744 non-ASCII group names.
3748 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3749 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3752 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3753 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3754 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3755 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3759 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3760 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3765 @node Scanning New Messages
3766 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3767 @cindex new messages
3768 @cindex scanning new news
3774 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3775 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3776 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3777 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3778 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3779 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3784 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3785 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3786 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3787 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3788 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3789 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3790 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3792 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3793 @cindex activating groups
3795 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3796 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3801 @findex gnus-group-restart
3802 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3803 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3804 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3808 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3809 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3811 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3812 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3816 @node Group Information
3817 @subsection Group Information
3818 @cindex group information
3819 @cindex information on groups
3826 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3827 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3830 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3831 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3832 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3833 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3834 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3835 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3836 for fetching the file.
3838 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3839 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3843 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3845 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3846 @cindex describing groups
3847 @cindex group description
3848 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3849 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3850 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3854 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3855 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3856 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3863 @findex gnus-version
3864 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3868 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3869 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3872 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3875 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3876 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3880 @node Group Timestamp
3881 @subsection Group Timestamp
3883 @cindex group timestamps
3885 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3886 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3887 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3890 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3893 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3895 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3896 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3899 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3900 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3903 This will result in lines looking like:
3906 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3907 0: custom 19961002T012713
3910 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3911 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3915 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3916 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3921 @subsection File Commands
3922 @cindex file commands
3928 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3929 @vindex gnus-init-file
3930 @cindex reading init file
3931 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3932 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3936 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3937 @cindex saving .newsrc
3938 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3939 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3940 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3943 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3944 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3945 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3950 @node Summary Buffer
3951 @chapter Summary Buffer
3952 @cindex summary buffer
3954 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3955 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3957 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3958 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3960 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3963 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3964 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3965 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3966 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3967 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3968 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3969 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3970 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3971 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3972 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3973 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3974 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3975 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3976 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3977 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3978 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3979 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3980 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3981 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3982 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3983 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3984 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3985 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3986 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3987 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3988 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
3989 or reselecting the current group.
3990 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3991 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3992 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
3993 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
3997 @node Summary Buffer Format
3998 @section Summary Buffer Format
3999 @cindex summary buffer format
4003 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4004 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4005 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4011 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4012 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4013 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4014 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4017 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4018 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4019 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4020 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4021 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4022 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4023 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4024 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4025 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4026 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4027 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4030 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4031 'mail-extract-address-components)
4034 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4035 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4036 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4037 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4040 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4041 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4043 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4044 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4045 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4046 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4047 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4049 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4050 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4051 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4052 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4053 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4055 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%) %s\n}.
4057 The following format specification characters are understood:
4063 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4064 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4066 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4067 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4068 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4070 Full @code{From} header.
4072 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4074 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
4075 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
4077 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4078 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4079 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4080 may be more thorough.
4082 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4085 Number of lines in the article.
4087 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
4088 methods (like nnfolder).
4090 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4092 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace lines.
4094 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4095 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4097 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4098 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4100 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4101 for adopted articles.
4103 One space for each thread level.
4105 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4110 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4111 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4115 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4117 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4118 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4119 default level. If the difference between
4120 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4121 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4129 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4131 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4137 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4138 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4140 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4141 article has any children.
4147 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4148 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4149 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4150 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4151 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4152 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4155 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4156 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4157 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4158 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4159 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4160 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4162 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4163 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4165 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4168 @node To From Newsgroups
4169 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4173 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4174 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4175 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4176 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4177 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4181 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4182 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4183 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4187 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4188 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4191 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4192 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4195 @findex gnus-extra-header
4196 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4197 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4198 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4201 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4205 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4206 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4207 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4208 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4209 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4210 headers are used instead.
4214 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4215 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4216 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4217 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4220 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4221 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4222 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4223 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4225 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4229 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4231 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4232 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4233 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4234 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4238 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4239 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4246 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4247 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4250 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4251 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4253 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4254 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4255 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4256 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4258 Here are the elements you can play with:
4264 Unprefixed group name.
4266 Current article number.
4268 Current article score.
4272 Number of unread articles in this group.
4274 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4277 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4278 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4279 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4280 and no unselected ones.
4282 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4283 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4285 Subject of the current article.
4287 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4289 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4291 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4293 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4295 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4297 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4301 @node Summary Highlighting
4302 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4306 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4307 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4308 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4309 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4310 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4312 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4313 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4314 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4315 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4317 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4318 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4319 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4320 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4322 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4323 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4324 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4325 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4326 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4327 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4330 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4331 ((> score default) . bold))
4333 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4334 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4338 @node Summary Maneuvering
4339 @section Summary Maneuvering
4340 @cindex summary movement
4342 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4343 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4345 None of these commands select articles.
4350 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4351 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4352 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4353 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4354 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4358 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4359 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4360 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4361 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4362 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4365 @kindex G g (Summary)
4366 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4367 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4368 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4371 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4372 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4373 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4374 to the group buffer.
4376 Variables related to summary movement:
4380 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4381 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4382 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4383 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4384 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4385 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4386 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4387 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4388 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
4389 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4390 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4391 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4392 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4393 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4395 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4396 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4397 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4398 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4399 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4400 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4401 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4403 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4405 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4406 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4407 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4408 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4409 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4411 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4412 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4413 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4414 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4415 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4416 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4417 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4418 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4421 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4422 the given number of lines from the top.
4427 @node Choosing Articles
4428 @section Choosing Articles
4429 @cindex selecting articles
4432 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4433 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4437 @node Choosing Commands
4438 @subsection Choosing Commands
4440 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4441 and they all select and display an article.
4443 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4444 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4448 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4449 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4450 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4451 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4456 @kindex G n (Summary)
4457 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4458 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4459 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4464 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4465 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4466 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4471 @kindex G N (Summary)
4472 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4473 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4478 @kindex G P (Summary)
4479 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4480 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4483 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4484 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4485 Go to the next article with the same subject
4486 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4489 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4490 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4491 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4492 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4496 @kindex G f (Summary)
4498 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4499 Go to the first unread article
4500 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4504 @kindex G b (Summary)
4506 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4507 Go to the article with the highest score
4508 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4513 @kindex G l (Summary)
4514 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4515 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4518 @kindex G o (Summary)
4519 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4521 @cindex article history
4522 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4523 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4524 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4525 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4526 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4527 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4532 @kindex G j (Summary)
4533 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4534 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4535 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4540 @node Choosing Variables
4541 @subsection Choosing Variables
4543 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4546 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4547 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4548 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4549 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4550 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4551 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4553 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4554 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4555 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4556 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4558 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4559 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4560 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4561 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4562 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4563 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4564 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4565 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4566 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4567 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4568 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4569 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4570 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4571 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4576 @node Paging the Article
4577 @section Scrolling the Article
4578 @cindex article scrolling
4583 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4584 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4585 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4586 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4587 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4590 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4591 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4592 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4595 @kindex RET (Summary)
4596 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4597 Scroll the current article one line forward
4598 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4601 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4602 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4603 Scroll the current article one line backward
4604 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4608 @kindex A g (Summary)
4610 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4611 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4612 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4613 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4614 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4615 the way it came from the server.
4617 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4618 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4619 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4622 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4627 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4632 @kindex A < (Summary)
4633 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4634 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4635 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4640 @kindex A > (Summary)
4641 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4642 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4646 @kindex A s (Summary)
4648 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4649 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4650 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4654 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4655 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4660 @node Reply Followup and Post
4661 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4664 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4665 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4666 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4667 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4671 @node Summary Mail Commands
4672 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4674 @cindex composing mail
4676 Commands for composing a mail message:
4682 @kindex S r (Summary)
4684 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4685 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4686 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4687 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4688 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4693 @kindex S R (Summary)
4694 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4695 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4696 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4697 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4698 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4701 @kindex S w (Summary)
4702 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4703 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4704 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4705 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4706 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4709 @kindex S W (Summary)
4710 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4711 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4712 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4713 the process/prefix convention.
4716 @kindex S v (Summary)
4717 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
4718 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
4719 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
4720 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4721 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
4722 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
4726 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4727 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4728 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4729 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4730 Forward the current article to some other person
4731 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
4732 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
4733 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4734 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4735 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4736 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4737 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4738 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4739 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4744 @kindex S m (Summary)
4745 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4746 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4747 Send a mail to some other person
4748 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4751 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4752 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4753 @cindex bouncing mail
4754 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4755 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4756 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4757 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4758 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4759 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
4760 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4761 very well fail, though.
4764 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4765 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4766 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4767 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4768 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4769 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4770 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4771 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4772 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4773 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4775 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4776 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4777 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4778 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4779 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4781 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4782 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4785 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4786 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4787 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4788 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4789 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4792 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4793 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4794 @cindex crossposting
4795 @cindex excessive crossposting
4796 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4797 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4799 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4800 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4801 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4802 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4803 command understands the process/prefix convention
4804 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4808 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4811 @node Summary Post Commands
4812 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4814 @cindex composing news
4816 Commands for posting a news article:
4822 @kindex S p (Summary)
4823 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4824 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4825 Post an article to the current group
4826 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4831 @kindex S f (Summary)
4832 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4833 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4834 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4838 @kindex S F (Summary)
4840 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4841 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4842 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4843 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4844 process/prefix convention.
4847 @kindex S n (Summary)
4848 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4849 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4850 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4853 @kindex S N (Summary)
4854 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4855 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4856 message through mail and include the original message
4857 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4858 the process/prefix convention.
4861 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4862 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4863 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4864 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
4865 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
4866 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
4867 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4868 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4869 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4870 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4871 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4872 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4873 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4876 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4877 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4879 @cindex making digests
4880 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4881 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4882 process/prefix convention.
4885 @kindex S u (Summary)
4886 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4887 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4888 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4889 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4892 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4895 @node Summary Message Commands
4896 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4900 @kindex S y (Summary)
4901 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4902 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4903 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4904 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4905 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4910 @node Canceling and Superseding
4911 @subsection Canceling Articles
4912 @cindex canceling articles
4913 @cindex superseding articles
4915 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4916 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4918 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4920 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4922 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4923 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4924 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4925 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4926 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4927 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4929 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4930 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4933 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4934 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4935 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4937 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4938 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4939 your original article.
4941 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4943 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4944 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4945 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4948 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4949 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4950 have posted almost the same article twice.
4952 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4953 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4954 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4955 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4956 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4957 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4958 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4959 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4960 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4961 canceled/superseded.
4963 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4966 @node Marking Articles
4967 @section Marking Articles
4968 @cindex article marking
4969 @cindex article ticking
4972 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4974 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4975 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4976 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4978 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4981 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4982 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4983 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4987 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4991 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4992 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4993 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4997 @node Unread Articles
4998 @subsection Unread Articles
5000 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5005 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5006 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5008 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5009 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5010 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5011 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5012 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5013 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5014 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5017 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5018 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5020 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5021 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5022 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5023 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5027 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5028 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5030 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5035 @subsection Read Articles
5036 @cindex expirable mark
5038 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5043 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5044 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5045 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5048 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5049 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5052 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5053 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5054 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5057 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5058 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5061 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5062 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5065 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5066 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5069 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5070 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5073 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5074 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5077 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5078 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5081 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5082 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5086 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5087 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5088 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5092 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5093 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5095 One more special mark, though:
5099 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5100 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5102 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5103 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5104 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5105 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5111 @subsection Other Marks
5112 @cindex process mark
5115 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5121 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5122 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5123 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5124 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5125 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5128 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5129 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5130 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5131 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5133 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5134 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5135 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5137 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5138 Articles that are ``recently'' arrived in the group will be marked
5139 with an @samp{N} in the second column (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Most
5140 backend doesn't support the mark, in which case it's not shown.
5143 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5144 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5145 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5148 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5149 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5150 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5151 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5154 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5155 Articles that haven't been seen by the user before are marked with a
5156 @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5159 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5160 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5161 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5162 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5163 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5166 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5167 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5168 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5169 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5170 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5171 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5175 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5176 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5177 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5179 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5180 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5181 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5185 @subsection Setting Marks
5186 @cindex setting marks
5188 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5193 @kindex M c (Summary)
5194 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5195 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5196 @cindex mark as unread
5197 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5198 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5204 @kindex M t (Summary)
5205 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5206 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5207 @xref{Article Caching}.
5212 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5213 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5214 Mark the current article as dormant
5215 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5219 @kindex M d (Summary)
5221 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5222 Mark the current article as read
5223 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5227 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5228 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5229 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5234 @kindex M k (Summary)
5235 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5236 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5237 and then select the next unread article
5238 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5242 @kindex M K (Summary)
5243 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5244 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5245 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5246 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5249 @kindex M C (Summary)
5250 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5251 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5252 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5255 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5256 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5257 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5258 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5261 @kindex M H (Summary)
5262 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5263 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5264 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5267 @kindex M h (Summary)
5268 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5269 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5270 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5273 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5274 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5275 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5276 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5279 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5280 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5281 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5282 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5286 @kindex M e (Summary)
5288 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5289 Mark the current article as expirable
5290 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5293 @kindex M b (Summary)
5294 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5295 Set a bookmark in the current article
5296 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5299 @kindex M B (Summary)
5300 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5301 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5302 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5305 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5306 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5307 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5308 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5311 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5312 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5313 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5314 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5317 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5318 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5319 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5320 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5321 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5324 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5325 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5326 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5327 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5328 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5329 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5330 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5331 The default is @code{t}.
5334 @node Generic Marking Commands
5335 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5337 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5338 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5339 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5340 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5341 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5344 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5345 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5348 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5349 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5350 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5351 to list in this manual.
5353 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5354 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5355 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5356 article, you could say something like:
5359 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5360 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5361 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5367 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5368 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5372 @node Setting Process Marks
5373 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5374 @cindex setting process marks
5381 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5383 Mark the current article with the process mark
5384 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5385 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5389 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5390 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5391 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5392 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5395 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5396 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5397 Remove the process mark from all articles
5398 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5401 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5402 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5403 Invert the list of process marked articles
5404 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5407 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5408 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5409 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5410 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5413 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5414 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5415 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5416 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5419 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5420 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5421 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5424 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5425 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5426 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5427 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5430 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5431 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5432 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5433 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5436 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5437 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5438 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5439 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5442 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5443 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5444 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5447 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5448 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5449 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5450 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5453 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5454 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5455 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5458 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5459 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5460 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5461 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5464 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5465 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5466 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5467 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5470 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5471 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5472 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5473 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5476 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5477 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5478 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5479 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5483 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5484 set process marks based on article body contents.
5491 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5492 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5493 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5496 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5497 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5498 additional articles.
5504 @kindex / / (Summary)
5505 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5506 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5507 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5510 @kindex / a (Summary)
5511 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5512 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5513 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5516 @kindex / x (Summary)
5517 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5518 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5519 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5520 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5524 @kindex / u (Summary)
5526 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5527 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5528 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5529 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5530 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5533 @kindex / m (Summary)
5534 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5535 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5536 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5539 @kindex / t (Summary)
5540 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5541 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5542 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5543 articles younger than that number of days.
5546 @kindex / n (Summary)
5547 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5548 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5549 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5550 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5553 @kindex / w (Summary)
5554 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5555 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5556 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5560 @kindex / v (Summary)
5561 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5562 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5563 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5567 @kindex M S (Summary)
5568 @kindex / E (Summary)
5569 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5570 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5571 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5574 @kindex / D (Summary)
5575 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5576 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5577 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5580 @kindex / * (Summary)
5581 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5582 Include all cached articles in the limit
5583 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5586 @kindex / d (Summary)
5587 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5588 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5589 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5592 @kindex / M (Summary)
5593 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5594 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5597 @kindex / T (Summary)
5598 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5599 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5602 @kindex / c (Summary)
5603 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5604 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5605 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5608 @kindex / C (Summary)
5609 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5610 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5611 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5612 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5620 @cindex article threading
5622 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5623 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5624 hierarchical fashion.
5626 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5627 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5628 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5629 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
5630 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5631 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5632 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5634 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5638 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5641 A tree-like article structure.
5644 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5647 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5648 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5649 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5650 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5651 called loose threads.
5653 @item thread gathering
5654 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5656 @item sparse threads
5657 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5658 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5664 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5665 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5669 @node Customizing Threading
5670 @subsection Customizing Threading
5671 @cindex customizing threading
5674 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5675 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5676 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5677 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5682 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5685 @cindex loose threads
5688 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5689 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5690 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5691 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5692 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5693 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5695 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
5696 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
5697 There are four possible values:
5701 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5702 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5703 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5704 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5705 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5710 @cindex adopting articles
5715 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5716 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5717 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5718 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5721 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5722 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5723 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5724 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5725 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5726 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5727 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5730 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5731 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5732 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5736 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5737 display them after one another.
5740 Don't gather loose threads.
5743 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5744 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5745 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5746 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
5747 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5748 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5749 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5750 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5751 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5752 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
5753 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5755 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5756 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
5757 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5760 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5761 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5762 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5763 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5764 simplification is used.
5766 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5767 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5768 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5769 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5771 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5773 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5779 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5780 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5781 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5782 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5787 (mapconcat 'identity
5788 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5790 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5793 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5796 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5797 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5798 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5799 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5800 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5801 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5803 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5806 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5807 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5808 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5810 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5811 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5814 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5815 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5816 Remove excessive whitespace.
5819 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5822 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5823 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5824 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5825 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5826 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5827 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5828 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5829 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5831 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5832 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5833 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5834 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5835 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5836 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5837 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5838 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5839 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5843 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5844 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5845 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5846 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5848 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5849 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5850 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5853 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5857 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5858 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5864 @node Filling In Threads
5865 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5868 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5869 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5870 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5871 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5872 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5873 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5874 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5875 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5876 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5877 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5878 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5879 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
5881 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5882 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5883 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5885 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5886 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5887 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5888 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5889 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5890 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5891 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
5892 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5893 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
5894 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
5895 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5896 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
5897 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5898 @code{nil} by default.
5900 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
5901 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
5902 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
5903 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the backend has to fetch
5904 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
5905 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
5906 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
5908 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
5909 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
5910 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
5915 @node More Threading
5916 @subsubsection More Threading
5919 @item gnus-show-threads
5920 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5921 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5922 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5923 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5924 slower and more awkward.
5926 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5927 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5928 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5931 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5932 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5933 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5934 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5935 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5936 threads are expunged.
5938 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5939 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5940 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5943 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5944 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5945 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5946 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
5947 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
5948 result in a new thread.
5950 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5951 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5952 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5955 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5956 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5957 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5958 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5959 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5960 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5961 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5962 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5963 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5964 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5965 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5970 @node Low-Level Threading
5971 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5975 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5976 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5977 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5979 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5980 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5981 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5982 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5983 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5984 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5985 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5986 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5987 meaningful. Here's one example:
5990 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5992 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5993 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5995 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5997 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6004 @node Thread Commands
6005 @subsection Thread Commands
6006 @cindex thread commands
6012 @kindex T k (Summary)
6013 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
6014 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6015 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6016 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6017 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6022 @kindex T l (Summary)
6023 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
6024 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6025 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6026 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6029 @kindex T i (Summary)
6030 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6031 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6032 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6035 @kindex T # (Summary)
6036 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6037 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6038 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6041 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6042 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6043 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6044 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6047 @kindex T T (Summary)
6048 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6049 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6052 @kindex T s (Summary)
6053 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6054 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6055 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6058 @kindex T h (Summary)
6059 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6060 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6063 @kindex T S (Summary)
6064 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6065 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6068 @kindex T H (Summary)
6069 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6070 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6073 @kindex T t (Summary)
6074 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6075 Re-thread the current article's thread
6076 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6077 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6080 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6081 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6082 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6083 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6087 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6088 understand the numeric prefix.
6093 @kindex T n (Summary)
6095 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
6097 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6098 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6099 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6102 @kindex T p (Summary)
6104 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
6106 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6107 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6108 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6111 @kindex T d (Summary)
6112 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6113 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6116 @kindex T u (Summary)
6117 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6118 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6121 @kindex T o (Summary)
6122 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6123 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6126 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6127 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6128 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6129 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6130 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6131 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6132 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6133 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6134 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6135 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6136 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6137 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6141 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6142 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6144 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6145 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6146 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6147 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6148 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6149 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6150 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6151 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6152 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6153 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6154 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6156 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6157 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6158 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6159 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6160 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6162 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6163 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6164 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6166 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6167 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6168 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6169 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6170 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6171 ascending article order.
6173 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6174 by number, you could do something like:
6177 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6178 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6179 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6180 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6183 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6184 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6185 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6186 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6187 which the articles arrived.
6189 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6193 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6195 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6196 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6199 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6200 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6201 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6202 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6205 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6206 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6207 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6208 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6209 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6210 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6211 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6212 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6213 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6214 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6215 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6216 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6217 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6219 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6223 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6224 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6225 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6230 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6231 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6232 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6233 @cindex article pre-fetch
6236 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6237 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6238 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6239 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6240 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6242 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6243 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6245 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6246 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6247 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6248 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6249 connection is blocked.
6251 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6252 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6253 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6254 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6256 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6257 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6258 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6259 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6262 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6265 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6266 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6267 happen automatically.
6269 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6270 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6271 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6272 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6273 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6274 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6275 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6277 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6278 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6279 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6280 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6281 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6282 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6283 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6284 data structure as the only parameter.
6286 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6289 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6290 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6291 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6292 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6295 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6298 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6299 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6300 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6302 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6303 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6304 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6305 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6309 Remove articles when they are read.
6312 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6315 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6317 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6318 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6319 @c from the next group.
6322 @node Article Caching
6323 @section Article Caching
6324 @cindex article caching
6327 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6328 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6329 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6330 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6331 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6333 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6335 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6336 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6337 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6338 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6339 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6340 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6341 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6342 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6344 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6345 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6346 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6347 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6348 as dormant, and don't worry.
6350 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6352 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6353 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6354 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6355 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6356 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6357 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6358 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6359 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6360 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6361 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6363 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6364 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6365 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6366 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6367 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6368 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6369 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6370 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6371 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6372 not then be downloaded by this command.
6374 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6375 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6376 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6377 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6378 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6379 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6381 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6382 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6383 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6384 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6385 variables, the group is not cached.
6387 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6388 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6389 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6390 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6391 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6392 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
6393 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6394 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6395 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6399 @node Persistent Articles
6400 @section Persistent Articles
6401 @cindex persistent articles
6403 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6404 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6405 useful in my opinion.
6407 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6408 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6409 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6410 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6411 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6412 the expiry going on at the news server.
6414 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6415 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6416 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6422 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6423 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6426 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6427 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6428 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6429 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6433 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6435 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6436 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6437 interested in persistent articles:
6440 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6444 @node Article Backlog
6445 @section Article Backlog
6447 @cindex article backlog
6449 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6450 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6451 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
6452 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6453 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6454 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6455 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
6456 increase memory usage some.
6458 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6459 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
6460 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6461 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
6462 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6463 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6464 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6466 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6469 @node Saving Articles
6470 @section Saving Articles
6471 @cindex saving articles
6473 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6474 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6475 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6476 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6477 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6479 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6480 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
6481 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6483 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6484 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6485 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6486 deleted before saving.
6492 @kindex O o (Summary)
6494 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6495 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6496 Save the current article using the default article saver
6497 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6500 @kindex O m (Summary)
6501 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6502 Save the current article in mail format
6503 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6506 @kindex O r (Summary)
6507 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6508 Save the current article in rmail format
6509 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6512 @kindex O f (Summary)
6513 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6514 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6515 Save the current article in plain file format
6516 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6519 @kindex O F (Summary)
6520 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6521 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6522 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6525 @kindex O b (Summary)
6526 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6527 Save the current article body in plain file format
6528 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6531 @kindex O h (Summary)
6532 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6533 Save the current article in mh folder format
6534 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6537 @kindex O v (Summary)
6538 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6539 Save the current article in a VM folder
6540 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6544 @kindex O p (Summary)
6546 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6547 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6548 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6551 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6552 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6553 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6554 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6555 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6556 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6557 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6558 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6559 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6560 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6561 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6562 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6566 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6567 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6568 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6569 functions below, or you can create your own.
6573 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6574 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6575 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6576 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6577 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6578 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6579 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6581 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6582 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6583 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6584 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6585 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6586 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6588 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6589 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6590 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6591 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6592 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6593 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6594 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6596 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6597 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6598 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6599 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6600 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6602 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6603 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6604 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6605 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6606 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6609 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6610 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6611 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6612 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6613 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6615 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6616 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6617 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6618 reader to use this setting.
6621 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6622 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6623 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6624 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6627 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6628 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6629 available functions that generate names:
6633 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6634 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6635 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6637 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6638 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6639 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6641 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6642 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6643 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6645 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6646 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6647 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6649 @item gnus-sender-save-name
6650 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
6651 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
6654 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6655 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6656 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6657 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6658 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6662 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6663 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6664 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6665 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6668 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6669 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6670 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6671 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6672 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6673 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6674 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6675 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6676 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6678 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6679 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6680 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6681 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6683 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6684 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6685 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6688 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6689 lots of mail groups called things like
6690 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6691 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6692 following will do just that:
6695 (defun my-save-name (group)
6696 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6697 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6699 (setq gnus-split-methods
6700 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6705 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6706 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6707 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6708 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6709 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6710 all the files in the top level directory
6711 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6712 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6713 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6714 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6716 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6717 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6718 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6719 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6720 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6723 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6727 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6728 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
6729 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6732 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6733 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6734 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6735 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6738 @node Decoding Articles
6739 @section Decoding Articles
6740 @cindex decoding articles
6742 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6743 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6746 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6747 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6748 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6749 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6750 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6751 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6755 @cindex article series
6756 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6757 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6758 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6759 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6760 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6762 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6763 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6764 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6766 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
6767 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6768 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6770 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6771 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6772 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6775 @node Uuencoded Articles
6776 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6778 @cindex uuencoded articles
6783 @kindex X u (Summary)
6784 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6785 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6786 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6789 @kindex X U (Summary)
6790 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6791 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6792 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6795 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6796 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6797 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6800 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6801 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6802 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6803 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6807 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6808 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6809 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6810 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6811 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6813 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6814 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6815 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6816 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6819 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6820 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6821 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6822 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6823 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6824 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6828 @node Shell Archives
6829 @subsection Shell Archives
6831 @cindex shell archives
6832 @cindex shared articles
6834 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6835 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6836 some commands to deal with these:
6841 @kindex X s (Summary)
6842 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6843 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6846 @kindex X S (Summary)
6847 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6848 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6851 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6852 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6853 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6856 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6857 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6858 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6859 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6863 @node PostScript Files
6864 @subsection PostScript Files
6870 @kindex X p (Summary)
6871 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6872 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6875 @kindex X P (Summary)
6876 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6877 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6878 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6881 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6882 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6883 View the current PostScript series
6884 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6887 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6888 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6889 View and save the current PostScript series
6890 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6895 @subsection Other Files
6899 @kindex X o (Summary)
6900 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6901 Save the current series
6902 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6905 @kindex X b (Summary)
6906 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6907 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6908 doesn't really work yet.
6912 @node Decoding Variables
6913 @subsection Decoding Variables
6915 Adjective, not verb.
6918 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6919 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6920 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6924 @node Rule Variables
6925 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6926 @cindex rule variables
6928 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6929 variables are of the form
6932 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6939 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6940 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6942 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6943 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6946 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6947 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6950 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6951 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6952 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6953 user and default view rules.
6955 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6956 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6957 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6962 @node Other Decode Variables
6963 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6966 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6968 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6969 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6970 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6971 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6972 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6976 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6977 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6980 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6981 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6982 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6985 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6986 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6987 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6988 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6989 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6992 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6993 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6994 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6996 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6997 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6998 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6999 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7000 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7003 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7004 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7005 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7007 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7008 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7009 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7010 looking for files to display.
7012 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7013 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7014 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7017 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7018 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7019 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7022 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7023 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7024 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7027 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7028 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7029 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7032 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7033 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7034 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7035 decoded articles as unread.
7037 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7038 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7039 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7040 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7042 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7043 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7044 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7046 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7047 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7049 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7050 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7051 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7052 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7054 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7055 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7056 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7057 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7058 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7059 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7060 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7061 simply dropped them.
7066 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7067 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7071 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7072 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7073 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7074 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7075 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7076 for you when you post the article.
7078 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7079 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7080 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7081 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7083 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7084 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7085 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7086 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7087 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7088 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7089 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7091 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7092 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7093 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7094 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7095 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7096 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7097 Default is @code{t}.
7103 @subsection Viewing Files
7104 @cindex viewing files
7105 @cindex pseudo-articles
7107 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7108 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7109 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7110 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7111 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7112 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7113 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7115 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7116 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7117 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7118 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7120 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7121 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7122 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7124 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7125 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7126 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7127 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7128 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7130 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7131 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7132 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7133 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7134 a list of parameters to that command.
7136 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7137 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7138 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7140 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7141 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7142 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7145 @node Article Treatment
7146 @section Article Treatment
7148 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7149 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7150 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7151 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7152 these articles easier.
7155 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7156 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7157 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7158 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7159 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7160 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7161 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7162 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7166 @node Article Highlighting
7167 @subsection Article Highlighting
7168 @cindex highlighting
7170 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7171 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7176 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7177 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7178 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7179 Do much highlighting of the current article
7180 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7181 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7184 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7185 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7186 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7187 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7188 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7189 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7190 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7191 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7192 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7193 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7194 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7195 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7198 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7199 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7200 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7202 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7205 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7207 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7208 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7209 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7211 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7212 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7213 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7215 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7216 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7217 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7218 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7219 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7220 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7222 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7223 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7224 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7226 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7227 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7228 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7230 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7231 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7232 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7233 that it's a citation.
7235 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7236 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7237 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7239 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7240 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7241 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7243 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7244 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7245 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7246 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7252 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7253 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7254 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7255 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7256 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7257 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7258 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7259 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7264 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7267 @node Article Fontisizing
7268 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7270 @cindex article emphasis
7272 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7273 @kindex W e (Summary)
7274 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7275 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7276 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7277 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7279 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7280 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7281 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7282 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7283 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7284 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7285 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7286 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7290 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7291 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7292 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7301 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7302 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7303 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7304 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7305 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7306 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7307 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7308 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7309 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7310 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7311 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7312 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7313 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7315 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7316 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7317 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7321 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7324 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7326 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7327 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7328 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7329 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7331 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7334 @node Article Hiding
7335 @subsection Article Hiding
7336 @cindex article hiding
7338 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7339 too much cruft in most articles.
7344 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7345 @findex gnus-article-hide
7346 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7347 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7348 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7351 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7352 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7353 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7357 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7358 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7359 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7360 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7363 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7364 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7365 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7369 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7370 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7371 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7372 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7373 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7374 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7375 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7376 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7380 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7381 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7382 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7383 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7388 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7389 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7390 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7391 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7392 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7393 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7394 articles that have signatures in them do:
7396 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7398 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7400 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7401 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7403 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7406 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7411 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7412 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7413 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7414 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7417 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7418 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7421 @cindex stripping advertisements
7422 @cindex advertisements
7423 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7424 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7425 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7426 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7427 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7428 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7429 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7430 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7431 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7432 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7436 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7437 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7438 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7439 customizing the hiding:
7443 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7444 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7445 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7446 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7447 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7448 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7449 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7454 Starting point of the hidden text.
7456 Ending point of the hidden text.
7458 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7460 Number of lines of hidden text.
7463 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7464 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7465 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7466 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7467 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7472 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7473 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7475 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7476 following two variables:
7479 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7480 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7481 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7482 50), hide the cited text.
7484 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7485 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7486 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7491 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7492 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7493 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7494 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7495 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7496 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7500 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7501 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7502 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7504 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7505 citation customization.
7507 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7511 @node Article Washing
7512 @subsection Article Washing
7514 @cindex article washing
7516 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7517 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7519 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7520 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7523 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7524 articles by default.
7529 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7530 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7534 @kindex W l (Summary)
7535 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7536 Remove page breaks from the current article
7537 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7541 @kindex W r (Summary)
7542 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7543 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7544 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7545 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7546 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7547 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7549 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7550 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7551 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7552 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7556 @kindex W t (Summary)
7558 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
7559 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7560 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
7563 @kindex W v (Summary)
7564 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7565 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7566 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7569 @kindex W o (Summary)
7570 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7571 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7574 @kindex W d (Summary)
7575 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7576 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7578 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7580 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7581 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7582 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7583 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7586 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
7587 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
7588 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
7589 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
7592 @kindex W w (Summary)
7593 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7594 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7596 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7600 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7601 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7602 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7605 @kindex W C (Summary)
7606 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7607 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7608 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7611 @kindex W c (Summary)
7612 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7613 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7614 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7615 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7616 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7619 @kindex W q (Summary)
7620 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
7621 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
7622 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
7623 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
7624 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
7625 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
7626 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
7627 header that says that this encoding has been done.
7628 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
7631 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7632 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7633 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7634 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7635 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7636 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7637 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7639 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
7642 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7643 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7644 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7645 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7646 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7649 @kindex W h (Summary)
7650 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7651 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7652 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7653 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7655 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
7658 @kindex W f (Summary)
7660 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7661 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7662 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7663 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7670 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7671 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7672 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7673 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7674 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7675 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7676 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7677 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7678 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7679 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7680 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7681 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7682 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7683 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7684 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7685 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7686 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7687 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7688 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7689 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7693 @kindex W b (Summary)
7694 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7695 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7696 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7699 @kindex W B (Summary)
7700 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7701 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7702 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7705 @kindex W p (Summary)
7706 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
7707 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
7708 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
7709 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
7710 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
7711 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
7712 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
7715 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7716 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7717 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7718 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7721 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7722 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7723 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7724 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7727 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7728 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7729 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7730 lines with a single empty line.
7731 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7734 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7735 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7736 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7737 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7740 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7741 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7742 Do all the three commands above
7743 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7746 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7747 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7748 Remove all blank lines
7749 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7752 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7753 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7754 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7755 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7758 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7759 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7760 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7761 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7765 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7768 @node Article Buttons
7769 @subsection Article Buttons
7772 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7773 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7774 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7775 button on these references.
7777 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7778 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7779 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7784 @item gnus-button-alist
7785 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7786 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7789 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7795 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7796 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7797 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7800 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7801 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7802 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7805 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7806 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7807 avoid false matches.
7810 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7813 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7814 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7818 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7821 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7824 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7825 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7826 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7827 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7828 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7831 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7834 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7836 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7837 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7838 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7839 default values of the variables above.
7841 @item gnus-article-button-face
7842 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7843 Face used on buttons.
7845 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7846 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7847 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7851 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7855 @subsection Article Date
7857 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7858 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7859 when the article was sent.
7864 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7865 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7866 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7867 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7870 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7871 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7873 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7874 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7877 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7878 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7879 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7882 @kindex W T p (Summary)
7883 @findex gnus-article-date-english
7884 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
7885 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
7888 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7889 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7890 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7891 @findex format-time-string
7892 Display the date using a user-defined format
7893 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7894 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7895 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7896 for a list of possible format specs.
7899 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7900 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7901 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7902 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7903 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7904 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7907 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
7910 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7911 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7914 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7915 into wonderful absurdities.
7917 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7920 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7923 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7924 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7928 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7929 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7930 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7931 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7932 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7933 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7934 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7938 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7939 preferred format automatically.
7942 @node Article Signature
7943 @subsection Article Signature
7945 @cindex article signature
7947 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7948 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7949 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7950 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7951 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7952 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7953 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7954 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7955 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7958 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7959 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7960 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7961 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7962 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7963 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7964 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7965 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7968 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7971 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7972 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7973 signature when displaying articles.
7977 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7980 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7983 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7984 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7986 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7987 in question is not a signature.
7990 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7991 listed above. Here's an example:
7994 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7995 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7998 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7999 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8000 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8001 signature after all.
8004 @node Article Miscellania
8005 @subsection Article Miscellania
8009 @kindex A t (Summary)
8010 @findex gnus-article-babel
8011 Translate the article from one language to another
8012 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8018 @section @sc{mime} Commands
8019 @cindex MIME decoding
8021 @cindex viewing attachments
8023 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8024 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8030 @kindex K v (Summary)
8031 View the @sc{mime} part.
8034 @kindex K o (Summary)
8035 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8038 @kindex K c (Summary)
8039 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8042 @kindex K e (Summary)
8043 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8046 @kindex K i (Summary)
8047 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8050 @kindex K | (Summary)
8051 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8054 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8059 @kindex K b (Summary)
8060 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8061 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8065 @kindex K m (Summary)
8066 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8067 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8068 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8069 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8070 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8073 @kindex X m (Summary)
8074 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8075 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8076 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8077 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8080 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8081 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
8082 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8083 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8086 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8087 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8088 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8091 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8092 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8093 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8095 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8096 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8097 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8098 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
8099 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
8100 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8103 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8104 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8105 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8112 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8113 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8114 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8115 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8118 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8121 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8125 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8126 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8127 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8128 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8129 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
8131 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8132 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8133 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8134 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8135 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8136 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8137 save all jpegs into some directory).
8139 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8142 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8143 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8145 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8146 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8147 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8148 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8149 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8152 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8153 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8154 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8156 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8157 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8158 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
8159 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
8161 Ready-made functions include@*
8162 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
8163 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
8164 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
8165 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
8166 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
8167 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
8168 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
8169 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
8170 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8171 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8172 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8173 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8175 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
8176 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
8178 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
8179 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
8180 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
8183 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8184 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8185 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8186 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
8190 to your @file{.gnus} file.
8199 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8200 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8201 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8202 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8203 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8204 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8205 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8207 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8208 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8209 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
8210 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8212 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8213 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
8214 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8215 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8216 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
8217 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8218 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
8219 something some agents insist on having in there.
8221 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8222 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8223 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8224 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8225 quoted-printable header encoding.
8227 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8228 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8229 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8233 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8236 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8237 means encode all charsets),
8239 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8240 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8241 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8248 @cindex coding system aliases
8249 @cindex preferred charset
8251 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8253 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8254 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8257 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8258 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8261 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8262 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8264 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8267 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8270 This will almost do the right thing.
8272 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8276 (codepage-setup 1251)
8277 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8281 @node Article Commands
8282 @section Article Commands
8289 @kindex A P (Summary)
8290 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8291 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8292 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8293 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
8294 run just before printing the buffer.
8299 @node Summary Sorting
8300 @section Summary Sorting
8301 @cindex summary sorting
8303 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8304 can't really see why you'd want that.
8309 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8310 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8311 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8314 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8315 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8316 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8319 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8320 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8321 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8324 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8325 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8326 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8329 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8330 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8331 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8334 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8335 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8336 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8339 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8340 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8341 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8344 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
8345 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
8346 Sort using the default sorting method
8347 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
8350 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8351 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8352 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8353 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8354 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8358 @node Finding the Parent
8359 @section Finding the Parent
8360 @cindex parent articles
8361 @cindex referring articles
8366 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8367 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8368 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8369 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8370 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8371 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8372 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8373 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8374 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8376 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8377 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8378 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
8379 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8380 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8384 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8385 @kindex A R (Summary)
8386 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8387 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8390 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8391 @kindex A T (Summary)
8392 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8393 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8394 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8395 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8396 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8397 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8398 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8400 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8401 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8402 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8403 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8404 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8405 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8408 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8409 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8411 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8412 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8413 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8414 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8415 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8416 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8417 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8420 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8421 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8422 by giving this command a prefix.
8424 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8425 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8426 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8427 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8428 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8429 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8432 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8433 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8434 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8437 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8438 then ask Deja if that fails:
8441 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8443 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8446 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8447 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8448 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8449 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8450 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8451 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8454 @node Alternative Approaches
8455 @section Alternative Approaches
8457 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8458 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8461 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8462 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8467 @subsection Pick and Read
8468 @cindex pick and read
8470 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8471 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8472 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8473 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8475 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8476 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8477 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8478 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8479 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8480 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8482 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8487 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8488 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8489 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8490 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8491 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8492 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8493 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8494 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8497 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8498 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8499 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8500 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8504 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8505 Unpick the thread or article
8506 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8507 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8508 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8509 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8510 the thread or article at that line.
8514 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8515 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8516 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8517 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8518 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8519 will still be visible when you are reading.
8523 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8524 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8525 which is mapped to the same function
8526 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8528 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8531 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8534 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8535 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8537 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8538 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8539 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8541 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8542 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8543 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8544 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8545 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8546 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8547 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8551 @subsection Binary Groups
8552 @cindex binary groups
8554 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8555 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8556 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8557 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8558 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8559 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8560 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8563 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8564 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8565 command, when you have turned on this mode
8566 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8568 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8569 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8573 @section Tree Display
8576 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8577 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
8578 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8579 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8582 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8585 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8586 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8587 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8589 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8590 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8591 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8592 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8593 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8595 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8596 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8597 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8598 default is @code{modeline}.
8600 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8601 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8602 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8603 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8604 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8605 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8606 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8612 The name of the poster.
8614 The @code{From} header.
8616 The number of the article.
8618 The opening bracket.
8620 The closing bracket.
8625 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8627 Variables related to the display are:
8630 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8631 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8632 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8633 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8634 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8635 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8637 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8638 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8639 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8640 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8644 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8645 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8646 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
8647 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
8648 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8649 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8650 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8651 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8652 other windows displayed next to it.
8654 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8655 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8656 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8657 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8658 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8659 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8660 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8664 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8667 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8677 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8681 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8682 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8684 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8686 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8691 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8692 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8693 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8696 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8697 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8698 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8699 (gnus-add-configuration
8703 (summary 0.75 point)
8708 @xref{Window Layout}.
8711 @node Mail Group Commands
8712 @section Mail Group Commands
8713 @cindex mail group commands
8715 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8716 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8718 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8719 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8724 @kindex B e (Summary)
8725 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8726 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
8727 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
8728 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
8729 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
8732 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8733 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8734 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8735 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8736 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8737 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8740 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8741 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8742 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8743 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8744 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8745 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8748 @kindex B m (Summary)
8750 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8751 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8752 Move the article from one mail group to another
8753 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8754 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8757 @kindex B c (Summary)
8759 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8760 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8761 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8762 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8763 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8766 @kindex B B (Summary)
8767 @cindex crosspost mail
8768 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8769 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8770 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8771 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8772 be properly updated.
8775 @kindex B i (Summary)
8776 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8777 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8778 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8779 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8782 @kindex B r (Summary)
8783 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8784 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8785 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8786 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8787 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8788 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8789 (which is the default).
8793 @kindex B w (Summary)
8795 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8796 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8797 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8798 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8799 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8800 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8803 @kindex B q (Summary)
8804 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8805 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8806 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8807 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8810 @kindex B t (Summary)
8811 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8812 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8813 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8816 @kindex B p (Summary)
8817 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8818 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8819 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8820 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8821 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8822 article from your news server (or rather, from
8823 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8824 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8825 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8826 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8827 just not have arrived yet.
8831 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8832 @cindex moving articles
8833 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
8834 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8835 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8836 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8837 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
8838 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
8839 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
8842 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8843 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8844 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8845 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8849 @node Various Summary Stuff
8850 @section Various Summary Stuff
8853 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8854 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8855 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8856 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8860 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8861 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8862 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8864 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8865 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8866 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8867 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8868 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8869 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8872 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8873 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8874 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8875 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8876 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8878 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8879 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8880 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8883 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8884 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8885 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8886 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8887 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8888 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8889 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
8890 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8891 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8892 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8894 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8895 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8896 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8897 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8898 list of articles to be selected.
8900 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8901 the list in one particular group:
8904 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8905 (if (string= group "some.group")
8906 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8913 @node Summary Group Information
8914 @subsection Summary Group Information
8919 @kindex H f (Summary)
8920 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8921 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8922 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8923 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8924 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8925 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8926 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8927 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8928 be used for fetching the file.
8931 @kindex H d (Summary)
8932 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8933 Give a brief description of the current group
8934 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8935 rereading the description from the server.
8938 @kindex H h (Summary)
8939 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8940 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8941 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8944 @kindex H i (Summary)
8945 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8946 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8950 @node Searching for Articles
8951 @subsection Searching for Articles
8956 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8957 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8958 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
8959 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8962 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8963 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8964 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
8965 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8969 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8970 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8971 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8972 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8973 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8974 search backward instead.
8976 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8977 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8980 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8981 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8982 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8983 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8986 @node Summary Generation Commands
8987 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8992 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8993 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8994 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8997 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8998 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8999 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9000 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9005 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9006 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9012 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9013 @kindex A D (Summary)
9014 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9015 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9016 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9017 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9018 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9019 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9020 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9021 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9025 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
9026 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9027 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9028 several documents into one biiig group
9029 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9030 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9031 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9032 command understands the process/prefix convention
9033 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9036 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9037 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9038 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9039 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9040 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9041 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9045 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9046 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9047 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9050 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
9051 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9052 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9053 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9056 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
9057 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9058 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9059 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
9064 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
9065 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
9066 @cindex summary exit
9067 @cindex exiting groups
9069 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
9070 group and return you to the group buffer.
9076 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
9078 @findex gnus-summary-exit
9079 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
9080 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
9081 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
9082 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
9083 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
9084 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
9085 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
9086 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
9087 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
9088 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
9092 @kindex Z E (Summary)
9094 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
9095 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
9096 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
9100 @kindex Z c (Summary)
9102 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
9103 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
9104 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
9105 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
9108 @kindex Z C (Summary)
9109 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
9110 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
9111 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
9114 @kindex Z n (Summary)
9115 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
9116 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
9117 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
9120 @kindex Z R (Summary)
9121 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
9122 Exit this group, and then enter it again
9123 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
9124 all articles, both read and unread.
9128 @kindex Z G (Summary)
9129 @kindex M-g (Summary)
9130 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
9131 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
9132 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
9133 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
9134 articles, both read and unread.
9137 @kindex Z N (Summary)
9138 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
9139 Exit the group and go to the next group
9140 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
9143 @kindex Z P (Summary)
9144 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
9145 Exit the group and go to the previous group
9146 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
9149 @kindex Z s (Summary)
9150 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9151 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9152 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9153 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9154 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9157 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9158 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9159 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9160 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9162 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9163 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9164 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
9165 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
9166 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
9167 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
9168 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
9169 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
9170 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
9171 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
9172 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
9173 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
9175 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9177 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9178 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9179 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9180 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9181 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9182 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9183 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9184 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9185 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9188 @node Crosspost Handling
9189 @section Crosspost Handling
9193 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
9194 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9195 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9196 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9197 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9198 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9201 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9202 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9203 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9204 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9205 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9207 @cindex cross-posting
9210 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9211 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9212 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9213 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9214 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9215 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9216 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9217 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9218 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9219 the cross reference mechanism.
9221 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9222 @cindex overview.fmt
9223 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9224 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9225 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9226 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9227 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9228 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9231 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9232 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9233 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9238 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9241 @node Duplicate Suppression
9242 @section Duplicate Suppression
9244 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9245 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9246 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9247 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9252 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9253 is evil and not very common.
9256 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9257 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9260 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9261 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9264 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9267 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9268 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9270 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9271 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9272 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9273 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9274 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9275 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9276 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9279 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9280 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9281 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9282 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9283 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9287 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9288 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9289 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9291 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9292 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9293 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9294 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9295 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
9296 session are suppressed.
9298 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9299 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9300 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9301 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9303 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9304 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9305 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9306 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9309 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
9310 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9311 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9312 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9313 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
9314 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9315 to you to figure out, I think.
9320 Gnus is able to verify PGP or S/MIME signed messages or decrypt PGP
9325 To verify or decrypt PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or
9331 @item mm-verify-option
9332 @vindex mm-verify-option
9333 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9334 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9335 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9337 @item mm-decrypt-option
9338 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9339 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9340 @code{always}, always decrypt @code{known}, only decrypt known
9341 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9346 @section Mailing List
9348 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369.
9353 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
9354 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
9355 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
9358 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
9359 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
9360 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
9363 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
9364 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
9365 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
9369 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
9370 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
9371 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
9374 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
9375 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
9376 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
9379 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
9380 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
9381 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
9385 @node Article Buffer
9386 @chapter Article Buffer
9387 @cindex article buffer
9389 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9390 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9391 tell Gnus otherwise.
9394 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9395 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9396 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9397 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9398 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9402 @node Hiding Headers
9403 @section Hiding Headers
9404 @cindex hiding headers
9405 @cindex deleting headers
9407 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9408 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9410 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9411 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9412 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9413 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9414 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9415 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9416 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9417 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9418 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9420 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9424 @item gnus-visible-headers
9425 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9426 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9427 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9428 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9430 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9431 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9434 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9437 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9440 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9441 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9442 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9443 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9444 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9445 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9447 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
9448 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
9451 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9454 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9457 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9458 variable will have no effect.
9462 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9463 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9464 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9465 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9466 the headers are to be displayed.
9468 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9469 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9472 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9475 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9476 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9478 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9479 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9480 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9481 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
9482 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9483 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9484 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9487 These conditions are:
9490 Remove all empty headers.
9492 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9493 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9495 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9498 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9501 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
9502 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
9504 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9507 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9509 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9512 To include these three elements, you could say something like;
9515 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9516 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9519 This is also the default value for this variable.
9523 @section Using @sc{mime}
9526 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9527 while people stand around yawning.
9529 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9530 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9532 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9533 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9534 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9536 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
9537 @findex gnus-display-mime
9538 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
9539 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
9540 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
9541 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
9543 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
9547 @findex gnus-article-press-button
9549 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
9550 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
9551 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
9553 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
9554 @item M-RET (Article)
9556 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
9557 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
9559 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
9561 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
9562 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
9564 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
9566 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
9567 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
9569 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
9571 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
9572 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
9574 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
9576 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
9577 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
9578 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
9579 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
9580 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
9581 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
9583 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
9585 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
9586 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
9588 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
9590 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
9591 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
9592 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
9593 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
9594 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
9597 @findex gnus-mime-internalize-part
9599 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
9600 viewer is available, use an external viewer
9601 (@code{gnus-mime-internalize-part}).
9603 @findex gnus-mime-externalize-part
9605 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
9606 (@code{gnus-mime-externalize-part}).
9608 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
9610 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
9612 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
9614 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
9615 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
9619 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
9620 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
9623 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
9624 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
9625 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
9626 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
9627 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
9628 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
9629 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
9630 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
9631 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
9633 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9635 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9638 @node Customizing Articles
9639 @section Customizing Articles
9640 @cindex article customization
9642 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9643 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9644 called automatically when you select the articles.
9646 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9647 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9648 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9649 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9651 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9652 for sensible values.
9656 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9659 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9662 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9665 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9668 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9672 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9673 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9674 regexps in the list.
9677 A list where the first element is not a string:
9679 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9680 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9681 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9685 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9690 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9691 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9692 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9693 considered to contain just a single part.
9695 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9696 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9697 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9698 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9699 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9700 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9701 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9703 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9704 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9705 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9706 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9709 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9710 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9711 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9712 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9713 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9714 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9715 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9716 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9717 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9718 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9719 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
9720 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9721 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
9722 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9723 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9724 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9725 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9726 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9727 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9728 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
9729 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9730 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9731 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
9732 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
9733 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9734 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9735 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9736 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9737 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9738 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9739 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9740 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9741 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9742 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9743 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9744 @item gnus-treat-translate
9747 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9748 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9749 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9750 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9751 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9755 @node Article Keymap
9756 @section Article Keymap
9758 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9759 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9760 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9761 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9764 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9769 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9770 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9771 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9774 @kindex DEL (Article)
9775 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9776 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9779 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9780 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9781 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9782 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9783 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9786 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9787 @findex gnus-article-mail
9788 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9789 given a prefix, include the mail.
9793 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9794 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9795 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9799 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9800 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9801 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9804 @kindex TAB (Article)
9805 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9806 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9807 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9810 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9811 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9812 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9818 @section Misc Article
9822 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9823 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9824 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9825 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9828 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9829 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9831 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9832 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9834 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9835 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9836 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9837 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9838 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9839 the contents of the article buffer.
9841 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9842 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9843 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9845 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9846 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9847 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9848 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9850 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9851 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9852 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9853 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9854 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9859 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9860 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9863 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9866 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9868 @item gnus-break-pages
9869 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9870 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9871 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9872 paging will not be done.
9874 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9875 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9876 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9881 @node Composing Messages
9882 @chapter Composing Messages
9883 @cindex composing messages
9886 @cindex sending mail
9892 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9893 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9894 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9895 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9896 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9897 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9900 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9901 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9902 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9903 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9904 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9905 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9906 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9907 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
9910 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9911 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9917 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9920 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9921 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9922 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9923 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9925 @item gnus-add-to-list
9926 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9927 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9928 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9933 @node Posting Server
9934 @section Posting Server
9936 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9937 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9939 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9941 @vindex gnus-post-method
9943 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will post using the same
9944 select method as you're reading from (which might be convenient if
9945 you're reading lots of groups from different private servers).
9946 However. If the server you're reading from doesn't allow posting,
9947 just reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9948 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9949 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9952 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9955 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9956 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9957 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9958 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
9960 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9961 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9963 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9964 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9967 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
9968 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
9972 @section Mail and Post
9974 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9978 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9979 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9980 @cindex mailing lists
9982 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9983 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9984 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9985 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9986 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9987 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9988 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9989 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9990 still a pain, though.
9994 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9995 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9996 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9999 @findex ispell-message
10001 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
10004 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
10005 you're in, you could say something like the following:
10008 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
10012 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
10013 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
10015 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
10018 Modify to suit your needs.
10021 @node Archived Messages
10022 @section Archived Messages
10023 @cindex archived messages
10024 @cindex sent messages
10026 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
10027 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
10028 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
10029 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
10032 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
10033 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
10034 use to store sent messages. The default is:
10037 (nnfolder "archive"
10038 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
10039 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
10040 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
10041 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
10044 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
10045 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
10046 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
10047 directory chosen, you could say something like:
10050 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
10051 '(nnfolder "archive"
10052 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
10053 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
10054 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
10057 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
10059 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
10060 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
10061 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
10063 This variable can be used to do the following:
10067 Messages will be saved in that group.
10069 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
10070 message will not be stored in the select method given by
10071 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
10072 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
10073 has the default value shown above. Then setting
10074 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
10075 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
10076 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
10078 @item a list of strings
10079 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
10080 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
10081 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
10083 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
10088 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
10090 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
10093 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
10095 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
10098 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
10100 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10101 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
10102 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
10103 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
10106 More complex stuff:
10108 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10109 '((if (message-news-p)
10114 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
10115 messages in one file per month:
10118 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10119 '((if (message-news-p)
10121 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
10124 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
10125 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
10127 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
10128 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
10129 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
10130 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
10131 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
10132 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
10133 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
10134 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
10135 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
10136 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
10138 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
10139 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
10140 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
10141 this will disable archiving.
10144 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
10145 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
10146 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
10147 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
10148 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
10151 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
10152 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
10153 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
10156 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
10157 but the latter is the preferred method.
10159 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
10160 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
10161 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
10166 @node Posting Styles
10167 @section Posting Styles
10168 @cindex posting styles
10171 All them variables, they make my head swim.
10173 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
10174 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
10175 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
10178 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
10179 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
10180 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
10181 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
10182 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
10187 (signature "Peace and happiness")
10188 (organization "What me?"))
10190 (signature "Death to everybody"))
10191 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
10192 (organization "Emacs is it")))
10195 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
10196 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
10197 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
10198 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
10199 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
10200 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
10201 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
10202 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
10204 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
10205 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
10206 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header (the
10207 next element in the match) in the original article , and compare that to
10208 the last regexp in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function
10209 will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the
10210 variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be
10211 @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value,
10212 then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
10214 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
10215 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
10216 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
10217 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
10218 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
10219 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
10220 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
10221 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
10222 result is thrown away.
10224 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
10225 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
10226 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
10227 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
10228 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
10229 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
10231 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
10232 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
10233 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
10235 @findex message-mail-p
10236 @findex message-news-p
10238 So here's a new example:
10241 (setq gnus-posting-styles
10243 (signature-file "~/.signature")
10245 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
10246 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
10248 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
10249 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
10250 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
10252 (signature my-news-signature))
10253 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
10254 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
10255 ((posting-from-work-p)
10256 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
10257 (address "user@@bar.foo")
10258 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
10259 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
10261 (From (save-excursion
10262 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
10263 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
10265 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
10268 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
10269 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
10270 if you fill many roles.
10277 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
10278 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
10279 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
10280 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
10281 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
10283 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
10284 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
10285 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
10286 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
10287 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
10291 @vindex nndraft-directory
10292 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
10293 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
10294 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
10295 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
10296 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
10297 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
10299 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
10300 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10303 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10304 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10305 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10306 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10307 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10308 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10309 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10310 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10311 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10312 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10313 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10314 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10315 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10316 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10318 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10319 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10320 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10322 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10323 @kindex D e (Draft)
10324 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10325 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10326 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10328 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10331 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10332 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10333 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10334 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10335 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10336 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10337 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10340 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10341 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10342 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10345 @node Rejected Articles
10346 @section Rejected Articles
10347 @cindex rejected articles
10349 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10350 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10351 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10352 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10354 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
10355 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10356 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10357 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
10358 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10360 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10361 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10362 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10368 Gnus has an ALPHA support to GPG that's provided by @file{gpg.el}. See
10369 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} to enable Gnus to
10370 verify or decrypt messages accordingly.
10372 To use this correctly with GPG, you'll need the following lisp code in your
10373 @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10377 (setq mml2015-use 'gpg)
10378 (setq gpg-temp-directory (expand-file-name "~/.gnupg/tmp"))
10381 The @code{gpg-temp-directory} need to point to a directory with permissions set
10382 to 700, for your own safety.
10384 If you want to benefit of PGP2.6 compatibility, you might create a script named
10385 @file{gpg-2comp} with these instructions:
10389 exec gpg --rfc1991 "$@@"
10392 If you don't want to use such compatibility, you can add the following line to
10393 your @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10396 (setq gpg-command-default-alist (quote ((gpg . "gpg") (gpg-2comp . "gpg"))))
10399 To sign or encrypt your message you may choose to use the MML Security
10400 menu or @kbd{C-c C-m s p} to sign your message using PGP/MIME, @kbd{C-c
10401 C-m s s} to sign your message using S/MIME. There's also @kbd{C-c C-m c
10402 p} to encrypt your message with PGP/MIME and @kbd{C-c C-m c s} to
10403 encrypt using S/MIME.
10405 Gnus will ask for your passphrase and then it will send your message, if
10406 you've typed it correctly.
10408 @node Select Methods
10409 @chapter Select Methods
10410 @cindex foreign groups
10411 @cindex select methods
10413 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
10414 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
10415 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
10416 personal mail group.
10418 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
10419 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
10420 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
10421 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
10422 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
10423 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
10425 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
10426 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
10428 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
10431 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
10432 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
10433 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
10434 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
10435 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
10437 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
10440 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
10441 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
10442 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
10443 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
10444 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
10445 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
10446 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
10450 @node Server Buffer
10451 @section Server Buffer
10453 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
10454 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
10455 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
10456 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
10457 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
10458 backend represents a virtual server.
10460 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
10461 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
10462 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
10463 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
10465 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
10466 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
10467 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
10468 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
10469 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
10470 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
10471 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
10473 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
10474 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
10477 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
10478 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
10479 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
10480 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
10481 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
10482 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
10483 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
10486 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10487 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10490 @node Server Buffer Format
10491 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10492 @cindex server buffer format
10494 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10495 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10496 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10497 variable, with some simple extensions:
10502 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10505 The name of this server.
10508 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10511 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10514 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10515 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10516 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10517 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10527 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10530 @node Server Commands
10531 @subsection Server Commands
10532 @cindex server commands
10538 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10539 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10543 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10544 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10547 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10548 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10549 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10553 @findex gnus-server-exit
10554 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10558 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10559 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10563 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10564 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10568 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10569 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10573 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10574 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10578 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10579 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10580 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10585 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10586 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10587 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10588 a mail backend that has gotten out of sync.
10593 @node Example Methods
10594 @subsection Example Methods
10596 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10599 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10602 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10608 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10609 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10612 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10613 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10615 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10616 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10620 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10623 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10624 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10626 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10627 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10628 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10632 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10635 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10638 Here's the method for a public spool:
10642 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10643 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10649 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10650 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10651 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10652 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10653 should probably look something like this:
10657 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
10658 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
10659 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
10660 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
10663 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10664 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
10665 configuration to the example above:
10668 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
10671 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
10672 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
10673 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
10677 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
10678 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
10679 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
10680 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
10683 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10684 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10685 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10686 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10689 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10690 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10692 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10693 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10695 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10696 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10697 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10699 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10701 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10702 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10703 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10704 will contain the following:
10714 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10715 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10716 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10719 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10720 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10721 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10724 @node Server Variables
10725 @subsection Server Variables
10727 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10728 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10729 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10730 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10731 won't change the "derived" variables.
10733 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10734 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10735 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10736 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10737 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10738 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10739 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10740 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10741 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10745 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10746 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10747 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10751 @node Servers and Methods
10752 @subsection Servers and Methods
10754 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10755 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10756 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10757 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10761 @node Unavailable Servers
10762 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10764 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10765 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10766 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10767 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10768 actually the case or not.
10770 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10771 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10772 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10773 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10774 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10775 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10776 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10777 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10779 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10780 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10782 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
10783 with the following commands:
10789 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10790 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10791 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10795 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10796 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10797 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10801 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10802 Mark the current server as unreachable
10803 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10806 @kindex M-o (Server)
10807 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10808 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10809 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10812 @kindex M-c (Server)
10813 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10814 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10815 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10819 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10820 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10821 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10827 @section Getting News
10828 @cindex reading news
10829 @cindex news backends
10831 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10832 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10833 or it can read from a local spool.
10836 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10837 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10842 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10845 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10846 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10847 server as the, uhm, address.
10849 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10850 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10851 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10852 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10854 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10855 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10856 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10858 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10863 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10864 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10865 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10867 @cindex authentification
10868 @cindex nntp authentification
10869 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10870 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10871 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10872 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10873 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10874 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10875 present in this hook.
10877 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10878 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10879 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10880 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10881 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10882 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10883 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10884 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10885 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10886 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10887 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10888 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10892 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10895 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
10897 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10898 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
10899 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
10900 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
10901 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
10902 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
10903 @samp{force} is explained below.
10907 Here's an example file:
10910 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10911 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10914 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10915 have to be first, for instance.
10917 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10918 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10919 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10920 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10921 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10922 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10923 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10925 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10926 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10932 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10933 previously mentioned.
10935 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10937 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10938 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10939 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10940 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10941 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10944 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10945 '(("innd" (ding))))
10948 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10950 The default value is
10953 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10954 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
10955 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10958 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10959 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10961 @item nntp-maximum-request
10962 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10963 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10964 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10965 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10966 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10967 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10968 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10970 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10971 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10972 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10973 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10974 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10975 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10976 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10977 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10978 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10979 no timeouts are done.
10981 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10982 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10983 @c @cindex PPP connections
10984 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10985 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10986 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10987 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10988 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10989 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10990 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10991 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10992 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10993 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10995 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10996 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10997 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10998 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10999 @c described above.
11001 @item nntp-server-hook
11002 @vindex nntp-server-hook
11003 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
11006 @item nntp-buggy-select
11007 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
11008 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
11010 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
11011 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
11012 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
11013 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
11016 @item nntp-xover-commands
11017 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
11020 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
11021 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
11025 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
11026 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
11027 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
11028 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
11029 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
11030 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
11031 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
11032 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
11033 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
11034 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
11035 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
11037 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
11038 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
11039 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
11041 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11042 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11043 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
11044 server closes connection.
11046 @item nntp-record-commands
11047 @vindex nntp-record-commands
11048 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
11049 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
11050 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
11051 that doesn't seem to work.
11053 @item nntp-open-connection-function
11054 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
11055 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
11056 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
11057 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
11058 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
11059 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
11060 indirect ones (two pre-made).
11064 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
11065 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
11066 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
11070 @node Direct Functions
11071 @subsubsection Direct Functions
11072 @cindex direct connection functions
11074 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
11075 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
11076 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
11077 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
11080 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
11081 @item nntp-open-network-stream
11082 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
11085 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
11086 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
11087 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
11088 you must have SSLay installed
11089 (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
11090 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
11091 define a server as follows:
11094 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
11096 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
11098 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
11099 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
11100 (nntp-port-number "snews")
11101 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
11104 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
11105 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
11106 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
11107 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
11108 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
11109 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
11110 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
11111 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
11115 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11116 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
11117 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
11120 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
11121 session, which is not a good idea.
11125 @node Indirect Functions
11126 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
11127 @cindex indirect connection functions
11129 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
11130 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
11131 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
11132 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
11133 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
11134 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
11137 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
11138 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
11139 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
11140 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
11141 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
11143 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
11146 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
11147 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
11148 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
11149 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
11152 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
11153 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
11154 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
11155 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
11157 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
11160 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
11161 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
11162 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
11165 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
11166 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
11167 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
11168 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
11170 @item nntp-via-user-password
11171 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
11172 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
11174 @item nntp-via-envuser
11175 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
11176 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
11177 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
11178 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
11180 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
11181 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
11182 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
11183 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
11190 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
11195 @item nntp-via-user-name
11196 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
11197 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
11199 @item nntp-via-address
11200 @vindex nntp-via-address
11201 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
11206 @node Common Variables
11207 @subsubsection Common Variables
11209 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
11210 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
11215 @item nntp-pre-command
11216 @vindex nntp-pre-command
11217 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
11218 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
11219 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
11220 wrapper for instance.
11223 @vindex nntp-address
11224 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
11226 @item nntp-port-number
11227 @vindex nntp-port-number
11228 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
11230 @item nntp-end-of-line
11231 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
11232 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
11233 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
11234 using a non native connection function.
11236 @item nntp-telnet-command
11237 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
11238 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
11239 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
11240 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
11242 @item nntp-telnet-switches
11243 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
11244 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
11251 @subsection News Spool
11255 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
11256 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
11257 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
11260 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
11261 anything else) as the address.
11263 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
11264 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
11265 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
11266 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
11270 @item nnspool-inews-program
11271 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
11272 Program used to post an article.
11274 @item nnspool-inews-switches
11275 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
11276 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
11278 @item nnspool-spool-directory
11279 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
11280 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
11281 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
11283 @item nnspool-nov-directory
11284 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
11285 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
11286 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
11288 @item nnspool-lib-dir
11289 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
11290 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
11292 @item nnspool-active-file
11293 @vindex nnspool-active-file
11294 The path to the active file.
11296 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
11297 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
11298 The path to the group descriptions file.
11300 @item nnspool-history-file
11301 @vindex nnspool-history-file
11302 The path to the news history file.
11304 @item nnspool-active-times-file
11305 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
11306 The path to the active date file.
11308 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
11309 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
11310 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
11313 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11314 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11316 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
11317 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
11318 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
11324 @section Getting Mail
11325 @cindex reading mail
11328 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
11332 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
11333 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
11334 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
11335 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
11336 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
11337 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
11338 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
11339 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
11340 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
11341 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
11342 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11343 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
11344 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
11348 @node Mail in a Newsreader
11349 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
11351 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
11352 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
11353 of a culture shock.
11355 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
11356 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
11358 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
11359 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
11360 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
11361 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
11363 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
11365 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
11366 deleted? How awful!
11368 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
11369 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
11370 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
11371 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
11374 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
11375 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
11376 they want to treat a message.
11378 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
11379 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
11380 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
11381 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
11382 archived somewhere else.
11384 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
11385 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
11386 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
11387 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
11388 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
11390 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
11391 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
11392 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
11394 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
11395 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
11398 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
11399 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
11400 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
11401 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
11402 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
11404 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
11405 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
11406 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
11407 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
11408 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
11409 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
11413 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
11414 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
11416 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
11417 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
11418 and things will happen automatically.
11420 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
11421 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
11424 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
11427 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
11428 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
11429 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
11430 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
11431 like any other group.
11433 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
11436 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11437 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11438 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11442 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
11443 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
11444 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
11447 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
11448 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
11449 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
11452 @node Splitting Mail
11453 @subsection Splitting Mail
11454 @cindex splitting mail
11455 @cindex mail splitting
11457 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
11458 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
11459 to be split into groups.
11462 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11463 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11464 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11465 ("mail.other" "")))
11468 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
11469 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
11470 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
11471 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
11472 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
11473 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
11474 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
11477 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
11480 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
11481 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
11482 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
11483 mail belongs in that group.
11485 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
11486 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
11487 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
11488 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
11489 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
11490 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
11492 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
11493 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
11494 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
11495 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
11496 thinks should carry this mail message.
11498 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
11499 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
11500 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
11501 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
11503 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
11504 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
11505 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
11506 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
11507 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
11509 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
11512 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
11513 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
11514 links. If that's the case for you, set
11515 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
11516 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
11518 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
11519 @kindex nnmail-split-history
11520 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
11521 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
11522 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
11523 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
11526 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11527 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11528 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11529 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11530 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11531 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11532 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11533 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11534 month's rent money.
11538 @subsection Mail Sources
11540 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11541 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11545 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11546 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11547 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11551 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11552 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11554 @cindex mail server
11557 @cindex mail source
11559 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11560 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11565 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11568 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11569 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11570 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11573 The following mail source types are available:
11577 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11583 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11584 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11587 An example file mail source:
11590 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11593 Or using the default path:
11599 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11600 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11601 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11604 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11608 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11611 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11615 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11618 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11620 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11623 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11627 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11628 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11629 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
11630 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
11631 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
11637 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11641 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11645 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11646 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11647 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11648 predicate are considered.
11652 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11656 An example directory mail source:
11659 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11664 Get mail from a POP server.
11670 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11671 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11674 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11675 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11676 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11677 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
11678 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
11681 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11685 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11689 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
11690 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11693 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11696 The valid format specifier characters are:
11700 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11701 included in this string.
11704 The name of the server.
11707 The port number of the server.
11710 The user name to use.
11713 The password to use.
11716 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11717 corresponding keywords.
11720 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11721 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11724 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11725 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11728 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11729 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11732 @item :authentication
11733 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11734 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11739 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11740 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11742 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11743 default user name, and default fetcher:
11749 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11752 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11753 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11756 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11759 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11763 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11764 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11765 contains exactly one mail.
11771 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11772 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11775 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11776 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11778 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11779 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11780 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11783 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11784 from locking problems).
11788 Two example maildir mail sources:
11791 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
11792 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11796 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
11801 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
11802 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
11803 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
11804 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
11811 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11812 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11815 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11816 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11819 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11823 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11827 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11828 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11829 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11831 @item :authentication
11832 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11833 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11834 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11838 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
11839 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
11840 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
11846 The valid format specifier characters are:
11850 The name of the server.
11853 User name from `imap-default-user'.
11856 The port number of the server.
11859 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11860 corresponding keywords.
11863 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11864 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11867 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11868 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11869 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11870 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11871 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11872 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11875 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11876 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11877 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11878 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11881 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11882 after finishing the fetch.
11886 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11889 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
11891 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11895 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11896 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11898 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11901 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11902 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11904 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11910 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11911 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11914 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11918 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11922 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11923 folder after finishing the fetch.
11927 An example webmail source:
11930 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
11932 :password "secret")
11937 @item Common Keywords
11938 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11944 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11945 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11949 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11954 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11955 useful when you use local mail and news.
11960 @subsubsection Function Interface
11962 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11963 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11964 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11965 consider the following mail-source setting:
11968 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11969 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11972 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11973 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11974 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11975 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11976 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11978 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11981 @node Mail Source Customization
11982 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11984 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11985 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11989 @item mail-source-crash-box
11990 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11991 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11992 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11994 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11995 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11996 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11998 @item mail-source-directory
11999 @vindex mail-source-directory
12000 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
12001 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
12002 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
12005 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
12006 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
12007 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
12008 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
12009 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
12010 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
12012 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
12013 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
12014 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
12019 @node Fetching Mail
12020 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
12022 @vindex mail-sources
12023 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
12024 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
12025 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
12026 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
12028 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
12029 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
12032 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
12033 mail server, you'd say something like:
12038 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12039 :password "secret")))
12042 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
12046 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
12047 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12050 :password "secret")))
12054 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
12055 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
12056 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
12057 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
12058 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
12059 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
12063 @node Mail Backend Variables
12064 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
12066 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
12070 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
12071 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
12072 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
12073 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
12075 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
12076 @item nnmail-split-hook
12077 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
12078 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
12079 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
12080 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
12081 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
12082 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
12083 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
12084 in the buffer will show up in any files.
12085 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
12088 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
12089 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
12090 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
12091 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
12092 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
12093 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
12094 starting to handle the new mail) and
12095 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
12096 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
12097 default file modes the new mail files get:
12100 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
12101 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
12103 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
12104 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
12107 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
12108 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
12109 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
12110 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
12111 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
12112 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
12113 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
12115 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
12116 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
12117 @findex delete-file
12118 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
12120 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12121 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12122 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
12123 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
12124 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
12129 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
12130 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
12131 @cindex mail splitting
12132 @cindex fancy mail splitting
12134 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
12135 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
12136 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
12137 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
12138 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
12139 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
12141 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
12144 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
12145 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
12146 ;; from real errors.
12147 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
12149 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
12150 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
12151 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
12152 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
12153 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
12154 ;; Other mailing lists...
12155 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
12156 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
12157 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
12158 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
12159 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
12160 ;; message was really cross-posted.
12161 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
12162 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
12164 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
12165 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
12169 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
12170 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
12171 the five possible split syntaxes:
12176 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
12177 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
12181 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
12182 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
12183 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
12184 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
12185 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
12186 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
12187 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
12188 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
12191 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
12192 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
12193 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
12194 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
12197 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
12198 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
12201 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
12202 this message. Use with extreme caution.
12205 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
12206 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
12207 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
12208 function should return a @var{split}.
12211 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
12212 body of the messages:
12215 (defun split-on-body ()
12217 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
12218 (goto-char (point-min))
12219 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
12223 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
12224 when the @code{:} function is run.
12227 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
12228 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
12229 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
12233 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
12237 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
12238 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
12239 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
12240 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
12241 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
12243 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
12244 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
12245 are expanded as specified by the variable
12246 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
12247 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
12250 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
12251 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
12252 when all this splitting is performed.
12254 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
12255 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
12256 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
12259 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
12262 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
12263 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
12265 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
12266 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
12267 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
12268 groupings 1 through 9.
12270 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
12271 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
12272 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
12273 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
12274 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
12275 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
12276 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
12277 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
12278 it once per thread.
12280 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to a
12281 non-nil value. And then you can include
12282 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon feature, like so:
12284 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12285 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
12286 ;; other splits go here
12290 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
12291 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
12292 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
12293 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
12294 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
12295 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
12296 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
12297 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
12298 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
12299 unless the group name matches the regexp
12300 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
12301 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
12302 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
12303 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
12304 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12305 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
12306 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
12307 messages goes into the new group.
12310 @node Group Mail Splitting
12311 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
12312 @cindex mail splitting
12313 @cindex group mail splitting
12315 @findex gnus-group-split
12316 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
12317 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
12318 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
12319 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
12320 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
12321 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
12322 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
12323 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
12325 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
12326 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
12327 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
12328 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
12330 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
12331 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
12332 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
12333 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
12334 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
12335 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
12336 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
12338 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
12339 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
12340 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
12341 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
12342 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
12343 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
12344 @code{gnus-group-split}.
12346 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
12347 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
12348 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
12349 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
12350 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
12351 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
12352 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
12353 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
12354 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
12355 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
12356 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
12357 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
12358 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
12360 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
12365 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
12366 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
12368 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
12369 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
12370 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
12371 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
12373 ((split-spec . catch-all))
12376 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
12377 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
12378 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
12381 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
12382 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
12383 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
12387 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
12388 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
12389 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
12393 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
12396 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
12397 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
12398 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
12399 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
12400 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
12401 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
12402 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
12403 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
12404 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
12406 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
12407 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
12408 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
12409 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
12410 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
12411 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
12412 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
12413 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
12414 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
12416 @findex gnus-group-split-update
12417 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
12418 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
12419 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
12420 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
12421 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
12424 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
12427 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
12428 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
12429 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
12430 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
12431 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
12434 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
12435 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
12436 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
12437 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
12439 @node Incorporating Old Mail
12440 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
12441 @cindex incorporating old mail
12442 @cindex import old mail
12444 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
12445 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
12446 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
12449 Doing so can be quite easy.
12451 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
12452 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
12453 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
12454 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
12455 your @code{nnml} groups.
12461 Go to the group buffer.
12464 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
12465 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12468 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
12471 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
12472 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12475 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
12476 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12479 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
12480 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
12481 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
12482 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
12483 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
12485 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
12486 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
12487 using the new mail backend.
12490 @node Expiring Mail
12491 @subsection Expiring Mail
12492 @cindex article expiry
12494 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
12495 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
12496 different approach to mail reading.
12498 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
12499 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
12500 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
12501 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
12502 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
12503 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
12506 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
12507 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
12508 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
12509 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
12510 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
12511 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
12512 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
12513 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
12515 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12516 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
12517 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
12518 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
12519 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
12520 column in the summary buffer.
12522 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
12523 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
12524 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
12525 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
12528 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
12530 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
12531 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
12532 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
12535 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
12536 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
12537 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
12538 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
12539 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
12541 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
12542 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
12545 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12546 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
12549 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
12550 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
12552 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
12553 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
12554 don't really mix very well.
12556 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
12557 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
12558 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
12559 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
12562 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
12563 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
12564 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
12565 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
12568 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12570 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12572 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
12574 ((string= group "mail.junk")
12576 ((string= group "important")
12582 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
12583 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
12585 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
12586 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
12587 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
12590 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
12591 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
12593 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
12594 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
12595 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
12596 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
12597 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
12598 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
12599 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
12600 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
12601 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
12602 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
12603 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
12604 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
12607 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
12609 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12613 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12614 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12615 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12616 easier for procmail users.
12618 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12619 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12620 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12621 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12622 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12623 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12624 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12625 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12626 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12627 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12628 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12629 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12630 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12633 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12635 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12636 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12637 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12638 auto-expire turned on.
12642 @subsection Washing Mail
12643 @cindex mail washing
12644 @cindex list server brain damage
12645 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12647 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12648 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12649 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12650 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12651 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12652 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12654 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12655 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12656 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12659 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12660 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12661 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12662 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12665 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12666 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12667 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12668 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12669 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12672 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12673 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12674 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12675 Emacs running on MS machines.
12679 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12680 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12681 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12682 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12685 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12686 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12687 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12688 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12690 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12691 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12692 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12693 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12694 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12695 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12696 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12699 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12700 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12703 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12704 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12707 This can also be done non-destructively with
12708 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12710 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12711 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12712 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12714 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12715 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12717 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12718 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12719 @code{References} headers.
12723 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12724 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12725 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12729 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12730 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12731 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12738 @subsection Duplicates
12740 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12741 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12742 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12743 @cindex duplicate mails
12744 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12745 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12746 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12747 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12748 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12749 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12750 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12751 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12752 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12753 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12754 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12755 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12756 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12758 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12759 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12760 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12761 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12763 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12766 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12767 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12771 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12772 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12773 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
12774 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12775 (any mail "mail.misc")
12782 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12783 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
12788 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12789 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12790 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12791 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12792 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12795 @node Not Reading Mail
12796 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12798 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12799 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12800 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12802 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12803 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12804 mail, which should help.
12806 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12807 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12808 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12809 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12810 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12811 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12812 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12813 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12814 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12815 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12816 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12818 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12819 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12823 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12824 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12826 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12827 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12828 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12830 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12831 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12832 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12833 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12836 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12837 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12838 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12839 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12840 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12841 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12845 @node Unix Mail Box
12846 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12848 @cindex unix mail box
12850 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12851 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12852 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12853 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12854 which group it belongs in.
12856 Virtual server settings:
12859 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12860 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12861 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
12864 @item nnmbox-active-file
12865 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12866 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
12867 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
12869 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12870 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12871 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12872 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
12877 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12881 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12882 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12883 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12884 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12885 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12887 Virtual server settings:
12890 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12891 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12892 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
12894 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12895 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12896 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
12897 @file{~/.rmail-active}
12899 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12900 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12901 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
12907 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12909 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12911 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12912 format. It should be used with some caution.
12914 @vindex nnml-directory
12915 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12916 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12917 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12918 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12920 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12923 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12924 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12925 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12926 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12927 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12928 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12929 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12930 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12932 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12933 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12934 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12935 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12937 Virtual server settings:
12940 @item nnml-directory
12941 @vindex nnml-directory
12942 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12943 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
12946 @item nnml-active-file
12947 @vindex nnml-active-file
12948 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
12949 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
12951 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12952 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12953 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12954 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
12956 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12957 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12958 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
12961 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12962 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12963 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
12964 default is @code{nil}
12966 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12967 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12968 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12970 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12971 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12972 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12976 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12977 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12978 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12979 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12980 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12981 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12982 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12987 @subsubsection MH Spool
12989 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12991 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12992 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12993 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12994 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12996 Virtual server settings:
12999 @item nnmh-directory
13000 @vindex nnmh-directory
13001 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
13002 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
13005 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
13006 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
13007 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
13011 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
13012 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
13013 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
13014 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
13015 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
13016 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
13017 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
13022 @subsubsection Mail Folders
13024 @cindex mbox folders
13025 @cindex mail folders
13027 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
13028 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
13029 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
13032 Virtual server settings:
13035 @item nnfolder-directory
13036 @vindex nnfolder-directory
13037 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
13038 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
13041 @item nnfolder-active-file
13042 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
13043 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
13045 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
13046 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
13047 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
13048 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
13050 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
13051 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
13052 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
13055 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
13056 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
13057 @cindex backup files
13058 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
13059 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
13060 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
13061 your @file{.emacs} file:
13064 (defun turn-off-backup ()
13065 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
13067 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
13070 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
13071 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
13072 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
13073 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
13074 extract some information from it before removing it.
13076 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
13077 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
13078 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
13079 default is @code{nil}.
13084 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
13085 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
13086 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
13087 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
13088 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
13089 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
13092 @node Comparing Mail Backends
13093 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
13095 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
13096 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
13097 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
13098 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
13099 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
13101 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
13102 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
13103 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
13104 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
13105 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
13106 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
13107 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
13108 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
13111 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
13112 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
13113 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
13114 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
13119 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
13120 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
13121 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
13122 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
13123 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
13124 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
13125 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
13126 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
13127 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
13128 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
13129 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
13130 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
13131 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
13136 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
13137 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
13138 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
13139 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
13140 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
13141 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
13142 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
13143 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
13144 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
13145 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
13146 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
13147 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
13148 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
13149 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
13151 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
13152 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
13157 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
13158 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
13159 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
13160 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
13161 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
13162 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
13163 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
13164 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
13165 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
13166 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
13167 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
13168 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
13169 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
13170 provided by the active file and overviews.
13172 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
13173 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
13174 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
13175 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
13176 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
13179 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
13180 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
13185 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
13186 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
13187 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
13188 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
13189 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
13190 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
13191 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
13195 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
13196 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
13197 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
13198 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
13199 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
13200 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
13201 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
13202 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
13203 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
13205 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
13206 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
13207 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
13208 friendly mail backend all over.
13213 @node Browsing the Web
13214 @section Browsing the Web
13216 @cindex browsing the web
13220 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
13221 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
13222 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
13223 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
13224 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
13225 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
13226 even know what a news group is.
13228 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
13229 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
13230 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
13231 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
13232 you mad in the end.
13234 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
13237 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
13238 interfaces to these sources.
13241 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
13242 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
13243 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
13244 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
13245 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
13246 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
13249 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
13251 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
13252 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
13253 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
13254 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
13255 though, you should be ok.
13257 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
13258 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
13259 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
13260 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
13261 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
13265 @subsection Web Searches
13269 @cindex InReference
13270 @cindex Usenet searches
13271 @cindex searching the Usenet
13273 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
13274 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
13275 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
13276 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
13277 searches without having to use a browser.
13279 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
13280 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
13281 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
13282 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
13283 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
13285 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
13286 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
13287 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
13288 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
13289 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
13290 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
13291 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
13292 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
13293 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
13294 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
13297 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
13298 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
13299 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
13300 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
13301 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
13302 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
13304 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
13305 to use @code{nnweb}.
13307 Virtual server variables:
13312 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
13313 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
13317 @vindex nnweb-search
13318 The search string to feed to the search engine.
13320 @item nnweb-max-hits
13321 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
13322 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
13325 @item nnweb-type-definition
13326 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
13327 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
13328 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
13333 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
13337 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
13340 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
13343 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
13347 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
13354 @subsection Slashdot
13358 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
13359 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
13360 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
13362 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
13363 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
13366 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13367 '((nnslashdot "")))
13370 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
13371 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
13372 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
13373 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
13374 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
13377 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
13378 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13380 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
13381 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
13382 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
13383 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
13384 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
13385 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
13388 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
13391 @item nnslashdot-threaded
13392 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
13393 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
13394 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
13395 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
13396 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
13397 but much, much slower than untreaded.
13399 @item nnslashdot-login-name
13400 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
13401 The login name to use when posting.
13403 @item nnslashdot-password
13404 @vindex nnslashdot-password
13405 The password to use when posting.
13407 @item nnslashdot-directory
13408 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
13409 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
13410 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
13412 @item nnslashdot-active-url
13413 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
13414 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
13415 news articles and comments. The default is
13416 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
13418 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
13419 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
13420 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
13422 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
13424 @item nnslashdot-article-url
13425 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
13426 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
13428 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
13430 @item nnslashdot-threshold
13431 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
13432 The score threshold. The default is -1.
13434 @item nnslashdot-group-number
13435 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
13436 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
13437 updated. The default is 0.
13444 @subsection Ultimate
13446 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
13448 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
13449 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
13450 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
13451 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
13453 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
13454 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
13455 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
13456 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
13457 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
13458 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
13459 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
13461 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
13464 @item nnultimate-directory
13465 @vindex nnultimate-directory
13466 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
13467 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
13472 @subsection Web Archive
13474 @cindex Web Archive
13476 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
13477 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
13478 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
13479 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13482 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
13483 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
13484 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
13485 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
13486 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
13487 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
13488 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
13490 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
13493 @item nnwarchive-directory
13494 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
13495 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
13496 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
13498 @item nnwarchive-login
13499 @vindex nnwarchive-login
13500 The account name on the web server.
13502 @item nnwarchive-passwd
13503 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
13504 The password for your account on the web server.
13512 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
13513 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
13514 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13517 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
13518 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
13521 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
13524 @item nnrss-directory
13525 @vindex nnrss-directory
13526 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
13527 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
13531 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
13532 the summary buffer.
13535 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
13536 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
13538 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
13540 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
13541 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
13544 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
13547 (require 'browse-url)
13549 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
13551 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
13554 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
13555 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
13557 (browse-url (cdr url))
13558 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
13560 (eval-after-load "gnus"
13561 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
13562 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
13563 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
13566 @node Customizing w3
13567 @subsection Customizing w3
13573 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
13574 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
13575 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
13577 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
13578 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
13579 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
13582 (eval-after-load "w3"
13584 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
13585 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
13586 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
13587 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
13589 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
13592 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
13593 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
13597 @node Other Sources
13598 @section Other Sources
13600 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
13601 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
13605 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
13606 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
13607 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
13608 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
13609 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
13610 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
13614 @node Directory Groups
13615 @subsection Directory Groups
13617 @cindex directory groups
13619 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
13620 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
13623 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
13624 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
13625 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
13626 backend to read directories. Big deal.
13628 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
13629 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
13630 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
13631 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
13632 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
13634 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
13636 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
13637 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
13638 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
13639 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
13642 @node Anything Groups
13643 @subsection Anything Groups
13646 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
13647 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
13648 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
13651 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
13652 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
13653 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
13654 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
13655 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
13656 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
13657 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
13658 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
13659 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
13660 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
13663 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
13664 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
13665 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
13666 in the article buffer, just as usual.
13668 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
13669 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
13670 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
13671 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
13673 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
13674 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
13675 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
13676 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
13677 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
13678 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
13679 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
13680 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
13685 @item nneething-map-file-directory
13686 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
13687 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
13688 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13690 @item nneething-exclude-files
13691 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13692 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13693 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13695 @item nneething-include-files
13696 @vindex nneething-include-files
13697 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13698 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13700 @item nneething-map-file
13701 @vindex nneething-map-file
13702 Name of the map files.
13706 @node Document Groups
13707 @subsection Document Groups
13709 @cindex documentation group
13712 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13713 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13720 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13725 The standard Unix mbox file.
13727 @cindex MMDF mail box
13729 The MMDF mail box format.
13732 Several news articles appended into a file.
13735 @cindex rnews batch files
13736 The rnews batch transport format.
13737 @cindex forwarded messages
13740 Forwarded articles.
13743 Netscape mail boxes.
13746 MIME multipart messages.
13748 @item standard-digest
13749 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13752 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13755 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13756 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13757 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13760 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13761 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13762 group. And that's it.
13764 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13765 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13766 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13767 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13768 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13769 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13770 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13771 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13772 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13773 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13775 Virtual server variables:
13778 @item nndoc-article-type
13779 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13780 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13781 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13782 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13783 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13785 @item nndoc-post-type
13786 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13787 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13788 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13793 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13797 @node Document Server Internals
13798 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13800 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13801 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13802 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13803 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13805 First, here's an example document type definition:
13809 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13810 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13813 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13814 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13815 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13816 types can be defined with very few settings:
13819 @item first-article
13820 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13821 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13824 @item article-begin
13825 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13826 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13828 @item head-begin-function
13829 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13832 @item nndoc-head-begin
13833 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13836 @item nndoc-head-end
13837 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13838 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13840 @item body-begin-function
13841 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13845 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13848 @item body-end-function
13849 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13853 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13856 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13857 regexp will be totally ignored.
13861 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13862 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13863 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13864 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13865 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13868 @item prepare-body-function
13869 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13870 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13871 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13873 @item article-transform-function
13874 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13875 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13876 body of the article.
13878 @item generate-head-function
13879 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13880 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13881 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13882 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13886 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13891 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13892 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13893 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13894 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13895 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13896 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13897 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13898 (subtype digest guess))
13901 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13902 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13903 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13904 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13905 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13907 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13908 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13909 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13910 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13911 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
13912 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13913 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13914 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13915 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13916 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13924 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13925 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13926 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13928 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13929 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13930 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13933 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13934 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13935 that interested in doing things properly.
13937 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13938 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13941 First some terminology:
13946 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13947 get news and/or mail from.
13950 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13951 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13954 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13958 @item message packets
13959 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13960 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13961 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13963 @item response packets
13964 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13965 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13966 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13976 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13977 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13978 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13979 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13982 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13985 You put the packet in your home directory.
13988 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13989 the native or secondary server.
13992 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13993 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13996 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
14000 You transfer this packet to the server.
14003 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
14006 You then repeat until you die.
14010 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
14011 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
14014 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
14015 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
14016 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
14020 @node SOUP Commands
14021 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
14023 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
14027 @kindex G s b (Group)
14028 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
14029 Pack all unread articles in the current group
14030 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
14031 process/prefix convention.
14034 @kindex G s w (Group)
14035 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
14036 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
14039 @kindex G s s (Group)
14040 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
14041 Send all replies from the replies packet
14042 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
14045 @kindex G s p (Group)
14046 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
14047 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
14050 @kindex G s r (Group)
14051 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
14052 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
14055 @kindex O s (Summary)
14056 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
14057 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
14058 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
14059 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
14064 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
14069 @item gnus-soup-directory
14070 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
14071 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
14072 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
14074 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
14075 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
14076 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
14077 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
14079 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
14080 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
14081 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
14082 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
14084 @item gnus-soup-packer
14085 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
14086 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
14087 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
14089 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
14090 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
14091 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
14092 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
14094 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
14095 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
14096 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
14098 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
14099 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
14100 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
14101 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
14107 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
14110 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
14111 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
14112 you can read them at leisure.
14114 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
14118 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
14119 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
14120 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
14121 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
14123 @item nnsoup-directory
14124 @vindex nnsoup-directory
14125 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
14126 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
14128 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
14129 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
14130 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
14131 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
14133 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
14134 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
14135 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
14136 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
14137 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
14139 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
14140 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
14141 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
14142 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
14144 @item nnsoup-active-file
14145 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
14146 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
14147 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
14148 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
14149 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
14151 @item nnsoup-packer
14152 @vindex nnsoup-packer
14153 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
14154 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
14156 @item nnsoup-unpacker
14157 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
14158 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
14159 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
14161 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
14162 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
14163 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
14166 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
14167 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
14168 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
14171 @item nnsoup-always-save
14172 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
14173 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
14179 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
14181 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
14182 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
14183 more for that to happen.
14185 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
14186 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
14187 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
14190 In specific, this is what it does:
14193 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
14194 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
14197 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
14198 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
14199 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
14202 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
14203 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
14204 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
14207 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
14208 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
14209 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
14211 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
14217 @item nngateway-address
14218 @vindex nngateway-address
14219 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
14221 @item nngateway-header-transformation
14222 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
14223 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
14224 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
14225 transformation should be called, and defaults to
14226 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
14227 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
14230 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
14231 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
14232 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
14235 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
14238 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
14241 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
14244 The following pre-defined functions exist:
14246 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
14249 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
14250 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
14251 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
14253 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
14255 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
14256 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
14257 @code{nngateway-address}.
14262 (setq gnus-post-method
14264 "mail2news@@replay.com"
14265 (nngateway-header-transformation
14266 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
14274 So, to use this, simply say something like:
14277 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
14283 @subsection @sc{imap}
14287 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
14288 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
14289 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
14290 specify the network address of the server.
14292 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
14293 POP can, it can hence be viewed as POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
14294 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
14295 protocol. (@sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp} because news
14296 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.)
14298 If you want to use @sc{imap} as POP++, use an imap entry in
14299 mail-sources. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the @sc{imap}
14300 server and store them on the local disk. This is not the usage
14301 described in this section. @xref{Mail Sources}.
14303 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
14304 entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods. With this, Gnus will
14305 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
14306 usage explained in this section.
14308 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
14309 might look something like this:
14312 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14313 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
14314 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
14316 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14317 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
14318 ; a UW server running on localhost
14320 (nnimap-server-port 143)
14321 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14322 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
14323 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
14324 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
14325 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
14326 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
14327 (nnimap-stream network))
14328 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
14330 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
14331 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
14332 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
14335 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
14340 @item nnimap-address
14341 @vindex nnimap-address
14343 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
14344 server name if not specified.
14346 @item nnimap-server-port
14347 @vindex nnimap-server-port
14348 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
14350 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
14353 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14354 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
14357 @item nnimap-list-pattern
14358 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
14359 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
14360 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
14361 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
14362 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
14363 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
14365 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
14366 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
14367 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
14370 Example server specification:
14373 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14374 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
14375 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
14378 @item nnimap-stream
14379 @vindex nnimap-stream
14380 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
14381 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
14382 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
14383 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
14385 Example server specification:
14388 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14389 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14392 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
14396 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Requires the
14397 @samp{imtest} program.
14399 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
14401 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
14402 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
14405 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the
14406 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
14408 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
14410 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
14413 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
14414 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
14415 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
14416 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
14417 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
14418 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
14419 restrictions on IMAP commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
14420 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
14421 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
14424 @vindex imap-ssl-program
14425 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
14426 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
14427 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
14428 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
14429 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
14430 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
14433 @vindex imap-shell-program
14434 @vindex imap-shell-host
14435 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14436 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14438 @item nnimap-authenticator
14439 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14441 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14442 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14444 Example server specification:
14447 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14448 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14451 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14455 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
14456 external program @code{imtest}.
14458 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
14461 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
14462 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14464 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14466 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14468 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14471 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14473 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14474 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14475 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14476 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14477 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14478 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14481 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14482 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14483 running in circles yet?
14485 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14486 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14489 The possible options are:
14494 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14497 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14498 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14499 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14500 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14502 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14507 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
14508 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
14510 If non-nil, marks dormant articles as ticked (as well), for other IMAP
14511 clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will naturally still (only) be
14512 marked as ticked. This is to make dormant articles stand out, just
14513 like ticked articles, in other IMAP clients. (In other words, Gnus has
14514 two ``Tick'' marks and IMAP has only one.)
14516 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
14517 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
14520 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
14521 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
14522 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
14523 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
14526 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
14527 as ticked for other users.
14529 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
14531 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
14533 This variable contain the IMAP search command sent to server when
14534 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
14535 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
14536 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
14538 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
14539 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
14540 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
14541 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
14543 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14544 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14546 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14547 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14548 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14554 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14555 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14556 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14561 @node Splitting in IMAP
14562 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14563 @cindex splitting imap mail
14565 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14566 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14567 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14568 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14569 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14573 Here are the variables of interest:
14577 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14578 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14580 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14582 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14583 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14585 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14587 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14588 @cindex splitting, inbox
14590 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14592 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14593 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14597 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14598 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14601 No nnmail equivalent.
14603 @item nnimap-split-rule
14604 @cindex Splitting, rules
14605 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14607 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14610 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14611 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14612 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14613 Neither did I, we need examples.
14616 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14618 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14619 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14620 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14623 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14624 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14625 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
14627 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14628 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14632 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14635 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14636 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14637 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14638 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14640 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14641 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14642 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14643 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
14644 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14645 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14647 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14648 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14649 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14651 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14652 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14653 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14655 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
14657 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14658 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14659 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14662 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14663 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14664 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14665 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14666 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14667 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14670 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14671 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14672 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14673 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14674 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14675 group/function elements.
14677 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14679 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14681 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14683 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14684 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14686 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14687 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14688 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14691 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14692 @cindex splitting, fancy
14693 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14694 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14696 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14697 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14698 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14700 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14701 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14702 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14703 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14708 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14709 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14712 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14716 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14717 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14718 @cindex editing imap acls
14719 @cindex Access Control Lists
14720 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14722 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14724 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14725 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14726 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14729 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14730 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14731 editing window with detailed instructions.
14733 Some possible uses:
14737 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14738 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14739 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14741 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14742 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14743 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14747 @node Expunging mailboxes
14748 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
14752 @cindex Manual expunging
14754 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14756 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
14757 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14758 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14760 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14765 @node Combined Groups
14766 @section Combined Groups
14768 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14772 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14773 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14777 @node Virtual Groups
14778 @subsection Virtual Groups
14780 @cindex virtual groups
14781 @cindex merging groups
14783 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14786 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14787 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14788 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14790 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14791 regexp to match component groups.
14793 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14794 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14795 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14796 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14797 the virtual group.)
14799 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14800 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14803 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14806 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14807 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14809 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14810 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14811 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14812 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14815 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14818 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14819 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14820 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14822 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14823 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14824 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14825 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14826 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14828 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14829 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14830 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14832 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14833 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14834 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14835 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14836 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14837 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14838 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14839 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14840 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14841 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14842 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14844 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14845 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14846 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14847 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14848 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14849 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14850 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14852 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14853 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14857 @node Kibozed Groups
14858 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14862 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14863 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14864 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14865 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14867 @kindex G k (Group)
14868 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14871 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14872 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14873 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14874 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14876 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14877 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14878 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14880 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14881 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14882 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14883 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14884 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14885 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14886 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14887 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14889 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14890 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14891 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14892 Stranger things have happened.
14894 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14895 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14897 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14898 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14899 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14900 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14901 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14902 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14904 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14905 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14908 @node Gnus Unplugged
14909 @section Gnus Unplugged
14914 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14916 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14917 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14918 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14919 read news. Believe it or not.
14921 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14922 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14923 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14924 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14925 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14927 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14928 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14929 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14930 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14931 reading news on a machine.
14933 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14937 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14938 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14942 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14943 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14950 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14952 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14955 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14956 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14957 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14958 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14959 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14960 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14961 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14962 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14963 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14964 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14969 @subsection Agent Basics
14971 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14973 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14974 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14975 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14976 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14978 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14979 connected to the net continuously.
14981 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14982 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14984 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14989 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14990 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14991 already fetched while in this mode.
14994 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14995 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14996 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14997 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14998 Source Specifiers}).
15001 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
15002 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
15003 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
15004 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
15005 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
15008 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
15009 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
15010 then you read the news offline.
15013 And then you go to step 2.
15016 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
15022 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
15023 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
15024 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
15025 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
15026 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
15027 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
15030 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
15037 @node Agent Categories
15038 @subsection Agent Categories
15040 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
15041 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
15042 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
15043 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
15044 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
15045 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
15046 you're interested in the articles anyway.
15048 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
15049 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
15050 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
15051 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
15052 managing categories.
15055 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
15056 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
15057 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
15061 @node Category Syntax
15062 @subsubsection Category Syntax
15064 A category consists of two things.
15068 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
15069 are eligible for downloading; and
15072 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
15073 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
15074 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
15077 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
15078 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
15079 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
15080 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
15082 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
15083 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
15084 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
15086 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
15087 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
15088 operators sprinkled in between.
15090 Perhaps some examples are in order.
15092 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
15093 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
15099 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
15100 short (for some value of ``short'').
15102 Here's a more complex predicate:
15111 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
15112 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
15115 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
15116 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
15117 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
15119 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
15120 you want to do, you can write your own.
15124 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
15125 lines; default 100.
15128 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
15129 lines; default 200.
15132 True iff the article has a download score less than
15133 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
15136 True iff the article has a download score greater than
15137 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
15140 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
15141 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
15142 checksum and sees whether articles match.
15151 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
15152 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
15153 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
15156 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
15157 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
15158 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
15159 something along the lines of the following:
15162 (defun my-article-old-p ()
15163 "Say whether an article is old."
15164 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
15165 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
15168 with the predicate then defined as:
15171 (not my-article-old-p)
15174 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
15175 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
15176 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
15177 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
15180 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
15181 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
15182 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
15185 and simply specify your predicate as:
15191 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
15192 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
15193 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
15194 just don't give a damn.
15196 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
15197 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
15198 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
15199 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
15200 parameters like so:
15203 (agent-predicate . short)
15206 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
15207 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
15208 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
15210 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
15213 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
15216 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
15217 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
15218 predicate is assumed to be a list.
15221 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
15222 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
15223 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
15224 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
15225 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
15226 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
15228 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
15229 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
15230 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
15231 if it's to be specific to that group.
15233 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
15240 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
15241 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
15247 Category specification
15251 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
15257 Group Parameter specification
15260 (agent-score ("from"
15261 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
15266 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
15272 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
15279 Category specification
15282 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
15288 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
15292 Group Parameter specification
15295 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
15298 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
15303 Use @code{normal} score files
15305 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
15306 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
15307 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
15308 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
15310 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
15311 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
15312 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
15313 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
15317 Category Specification
15324 Group Parameter specification
15327 (agent-score . file)
15332 @node Category Buffer
15333 @subsubsection Category Buffer
15335 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
15336 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
15337 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
15339 The following commands are available in this buffer:
15343 @kindex q (Category)
15344 @findex gnus-category-exit
15345 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
15348 @kindex k (Category)
15349 @findex gnus-category-kill
15350 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
15353 @kindex c (Category)
15354 @findex gnus-category-copy
15355 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
15358 @kindex a (Category)
15359 @findex gnus-category-add
15360 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
15363 @kindex p (Category)
15364 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
15365 Edit the predicate of the current category
15366 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
15369 @kindex g (Category)
15370 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
15371 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
15372 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
15375 @kindex s (Category)
15376 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
15377 Edit the download score rule of the current category
15378 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
15381 @kindex l (Category)
15382 @findex gnus-category-list
15383 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
15387 @node Category Variables
15388 @subsubsection Category Variables
15391 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
15392 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
15393 Hook run in category buffers.
15395 @item gnus-category-line-format
15396 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
15397 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
15398 Variables}). Valid elements are:
15402 The name of the category.
15405 The number of groups in the category.
15408 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
15409 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
15410 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
15412 @item gnus-agent-short-article
15413 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
15414 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
15416 @item gnus-agent-long-article
15417 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
15418 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
15420 @item gnus-agent-low-score
15421 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
15422 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
15425 @item gnus-agent-high-score
15426 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
15427 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
15433 @node Agent Commands
15434 @subsection Agent Commands
15436 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
15437 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
15438 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
15442 * Group Agent Commands::
15443 * Summary Agent Commands::
15444 * Server Agent Commands::
15447 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
15448 following incantation:
15450 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15452 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15457 @node Group Agent Commands
15458 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
15462 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
15463 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
15464 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
15465 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
15468 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
15469 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
15470 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
15473 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
15474 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
15475 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
15476 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
15479 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
15480 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
15481 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
15482 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
15485 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
15486 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
15487 Add the current group to an Agent category
15488 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
15489 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15492 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
15493 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
15494 Remove the current group from its category, if any
15495 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
15496 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15499 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
15500 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15501 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
15507 @node Summary Agent Commands
15508 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
15512 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
15513 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
15514 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
15517 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
15518 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
15519 Remove the downloading mark from the article
15520 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
15523 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
15524 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
15525 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
15528 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
15529 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
15530 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
15533 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
15534 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
15535 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
15536 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
15541 @node Server Agent Commands
15542 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
15546 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
15547 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
15548 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
15549 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
15552 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
15553 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
15554 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
15555 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
15561 @subsection Agent Expiry
15563 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
15564 @findex gnus-agent-expire
15565 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
15566 @cindex Agent expiry
15567 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
15570 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
15571 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
15572 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
15573 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
15574 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
15575 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
15577 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
15578 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
15579 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
15580 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
15581 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
15584 @node Agent and IMAP
15585 @subsection Agent and IMAP
15587 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However,
15588 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
15589 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
15590 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
15592 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
15593 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
15594 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
15595 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
15597 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
15598 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
15599 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
15600 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
15601 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
15603 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15604 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
15605 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
15606 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
15607 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
15608 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
15610 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
15611 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
15612 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
15613 in the group buffer by default.
15615 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
15616 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
15621 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
15624 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
15628 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
15629 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
15630 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
15631 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
15632 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
15633 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
15634 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
15635 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
15638 @node Outgoing Messages
15639 @subsection Outgoing Messages
15641 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
15642 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
15643 after posting, and edit them at will.
15645 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
15646 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
15647 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
15648 messages in the draft group.
15652 @node Agent Variables
15653 @subsection Agent Variables
15656 @item gnus-agent-directory
15657 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
15658 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
15659 @file{~/News/agent/}.
15661 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
15662 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
15663 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
15664 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
15665 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
15668 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15669 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15670 Hook run when connecting to the network.
15672 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15673 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15674 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
15679 @node Example Setup
15680 @subsection Example Setup
15682 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
15683 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
15684 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
15687 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
15688 ;;; from your ISP's server.
15689 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
15691 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
15692 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
15693 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
15695 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
15696 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
15698 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
15702 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
15703 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
15706 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
15707 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
15708 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
15709 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
15710 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
15713 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
15714 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
15715 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
15716 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
15717 back all the killed groups.)
15719 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
15720 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
15721 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
15724 @node Batching Agents
15725 @subsection Batching Agents
15727 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
15728 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
15729 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
15733 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
15737 @node Agent Caveats
15738 @subsection Agent Caveats
15740 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
15741 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
15745 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
15750 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
15751 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
15757 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
15758 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
15765 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
15766 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
15767 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
15770 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
15771 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
15772 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
15773 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
15774 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
15776 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
15777 before generating the summary buffer.
15779 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15780 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15781 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15783 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15784 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15785 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15786 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15789 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15790 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15791 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15792 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15793 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15794 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15795 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15796 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15797 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
15798 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15799 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15800 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15801 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15802 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15803 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15804 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15805 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15809 @node Summary Score Commands
15810 @section Summary Score Commands
15811 @cindex score commands
15813 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15814 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15815 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15816 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15817 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15819 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15820 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15821 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15822 score file the current one.
15824 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15829 @kindex V s (Summary)
15830 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15831 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15834 @kindex V S (Summary)
15835 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15836 Display the score of the current article
15837 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15840 @kindex V t (Summary)
15841 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15842 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15843 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15846 @kindex V R (Summary)
15847 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15848 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15849 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15850 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15851 effect you're having.
15854 @kindex V c (Summary)
15855 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15856 Make a different score file the current
15857 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15860 @kindex V e (Summary)
15861 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15862 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15863 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15867 @kindex V f (Summary)
15868 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15869 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15870 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15873 @kindex V F (Summary)
15874 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15875 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15876 after editing score files.
15879 @kindex V C (Summary)
15880 @findex gnus-score-customize
15881 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15882 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15886 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15891 @kindex V m (Summary)
15892 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15893 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15894 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15897 @kindex V x (Summary)
15898 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15899 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15900 expunge all articles below this score
15901 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15904 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15905 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15908 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15909 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15913 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15914 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15916 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15917 keys are available:
15921 Score on the author name.
15924 Score on the subject line.
15927 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15930 Score on the @code{References} line.
15936 Score on the number of lines.
15939 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15942 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15943 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
15944 @file{ADAPT} files.)
15953 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
15959 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15960 what headers you are scoring on.
15972 Substring matching.
15975 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
16004 Greater than number.
16009 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
16010 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
16011 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
16015 Temporary score entry.
16018 Permanent score entry.
16021 Immediately scoring.
16026 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
16027 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
16028 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
16029 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
16031 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
16032 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
16033 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
16034 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
16035 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
16037 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
16038 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
16039 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
16040 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
16041 current score file.
16043 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
16044 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
16045 pretend they are keymaps or not.
16048 @node Group Score Commands
16049 @section Group Score Commands
16050 @cindex group score commands
16052 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
16057 @kindex W f (Group)
16058 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
16059 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
16060 all the time. This command will flush the cache
16061 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
16065 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
16067 @findex gnus-batch-score
16068 @cindex batch scoring
16070 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
16074 @node Score Variables
16075 @section Score Variables
16076 @cindex score variables
16080 @item gnus-use-scoring
16081 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
16082 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
16083 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
16085 @item gnus-kill-killed
16086 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
16087 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
16088 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
16089 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
16090 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
16091 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
16092 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
16094 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
16095 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
16096 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
16097 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
16098 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
16100 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
16101 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
16102 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
16103 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
16105 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
16106 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
16107 @cindex score cache
16108 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
16109 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
16110 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
16111 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
16112 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
16113 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
16116 @item gnus-save-score
16117 @vindex gnus-save-score
16118 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
16119 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
16120 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
16122 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
16123 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
16124 across group visits.
16126 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
16127 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
16128 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
16129 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
16130 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
16131 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
16132 manually entered data.
16134 @item gnus-summary-default-score
16135 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
16136 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
16138 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
16139 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
16140 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
16141 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
16142 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
16143 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
16145 @item gnus-score-over-mark
16146 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
16147 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
16148 default. Default is @samp{+}.
16150 @item gnus-score-below-mark
16151 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
16152 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
16153 default. Default is @samp{-}.
16155 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
16156 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
16157 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
16158 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
16160 Predefined functions available are:
16163 @item gnus-score-find-single
16164 @findex gnus-score-find-single
16165 Only apply the group's own score file.
16167 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
16168 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
16169 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
16170 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
16171 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
16172 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
16173 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
16174 then a regexp match is done.
16176 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
16177 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
16179 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
16180 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
16181 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
16182 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
16184 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
16185 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
16186 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
16187 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
16188 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
16192 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
16193 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
16194 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
16195 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
16196 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
16197 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
16198 returned is the local score file. Phu.
16200 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
16201 overall score file, you could use the value
16203 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
16204 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
16207 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
16208 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
16209 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
16210 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
16211 are expired. It's 7 by default.
16213 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
16214 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
16215 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
16216 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
16217 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
16218 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
16219 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
16222 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
16223 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
16224 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
16226 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
16227 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
16228 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
16229 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
16230 threading---according to the current value of
16231 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
16232 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
16233 simplified in this manner.
16238 @node Score File Format
16239 @section Score File Format
16240 @cindex score file format
16242 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
16243 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
16244 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
16246 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
16250 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
16252 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
16254 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
16256 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
16261 (mark-and-expunge -10)
16265 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
16266 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
16267 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
16268 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
16272 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
16273 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
16275 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
16276 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
16277 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
16279 Six keys are supported by this alist:
16284 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
16285 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
16286 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
16287 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
16288 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
16289 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
16290 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
16291 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
16292 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
16293 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
16294 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
16295 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
16296 to articles that matches these score entries.
16298 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
16299 score entry has one to four elements.
16303 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
16304 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
16308 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
16309 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
16310 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
16311 is successful. If this element is not present, the
16312 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
16313 instead. This is 1000 by default.
16316 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
16317 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
16318 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
16319 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
16320 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
16323 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
16324 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
16325 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
16326 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
16329 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
16330 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
16331 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
16332 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
16333 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
16334 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
16335 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
16336 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
16337 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
16338 instead, if you feel like.
16341 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
16342 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
16344 These predicates are true if
16347 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
16350 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
16351 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
16358 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
16359 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
16360 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
16361 it's not. I think.)
16363 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
16364 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
16365 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
16366 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
16369 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
16370 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
16371 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
16372 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
16373 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
16374 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
16375 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
16379 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
16380 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
16381 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
16382 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
16383 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
16384 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
16385 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
16386 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
16389 @item Head, Body, All
16390 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
16394 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
16395 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
16396 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
16397 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
16398 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
16399 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
16400 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
16404 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
16405 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
16406 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
16407 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
16408 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
16409 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
16410 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
16411 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
16412 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
16413 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
16414 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
16418 @cindex Score File Atoms
16420 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16421 lower than this number will be marked as read.
16424 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16425 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
16427 @item mark-and-expunge
16428 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16429 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
16432 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
16433 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
16434 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
16435 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
16436 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
16439 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
16440 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
16443 @item exclude-files
16444 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
16445 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
16449 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
16450 ignored when handling global score files.
16453 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
16454 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
16455 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
16456 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
16459 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
16460 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
16461 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
16462 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
16464 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
16468 (mark-and-expunge -100)
16471 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
16472 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
16473 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
16474 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
16475 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
16477 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
16478 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
16479 scoring rules exist.
16482 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
16483 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
16484 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
16485 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
16486 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
16487 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
16488 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16489 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
16490 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
16491 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
16492 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
16496 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
16497 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
16498 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
16499 file for a number of groups.
16502 @cindex local variables
16503 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
16504 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
16505 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
16506 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
16507 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
16511 @node Score File Editing
16512 @section Score File Editing
16514 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
16515 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
16516 with a mode for that.
16518 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
16519 additional commands:
16524 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
16525 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
16526 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
16527 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
16530 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
16531 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
16532 Insert the current date in numerical format
16533 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
16534 you were wondering.
16537 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
16538 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
16539 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
16540 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
16541 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
16546 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
16548 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
16549 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
16551 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
16552 e} to begin editing score files.
16555 @node Adaptive Scoring
16556 @section Adaptive Scoring
16557 @cindex adaptive scoring
16559 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
16560 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
16561 stupidity, to be precise.
16563 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
16564 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
16565 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
16566 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
16567 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16568 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
16569 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
16570 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
16571 variable to @code{(word line)}.
16573 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16574 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
16575 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
16576 might look something like this:
16579 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16580 '((gnus-unread-mark)
16581 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
16582 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
16583 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
16584 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
16585 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
16586 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
16587 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
16588 (gnus-ancient-mark)
16589 (gnus-low-score-mark)
16590 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
16593 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
16594 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
16595 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
16596 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
16597 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
16598 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
16601 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
16602 will be applied to each article.
16604 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
16605 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
16606 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
16607 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
16609 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
16610 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
16611 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
16612 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
16614 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
16615 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
16616 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
16617 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
16619 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
16620 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
16621 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
16622 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
16623 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
16624 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
16626 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
16627 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
16628 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
16629 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
16630 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
16631 aspirins afterwards.)
16633 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
16634 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
16635 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
16637 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
16638 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
16639 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
16641 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
16642 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
16643 let you use different rules in different groups.
16645 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
16646 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
16647 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
16650 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
16651 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
16652 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
16653 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
16654 the length of the match is less than
16655 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
16656 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
16659 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16660 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
16661 headers. If you adapt on words, the
16662 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
16663 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
16666 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16667 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
16668 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
16669 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
16670 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
16673 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
16674 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
16675 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
16676 score with 30 points.
16678 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
16679 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
16680 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
16681 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
16682 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
16684 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
16685 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
16686 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
16687 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
16688 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
16690 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
16691 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
16692 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
16693 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
16695 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
16696 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
16697 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
16698 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
16700 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
16701 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
16702 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
16703 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
16704 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
16706 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
16707 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
16708 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
16710 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
16711 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
16712 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
16713 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
16716 @node Home Score File
16717 @section Home Score File
16719 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
16720 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
16721 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
16722 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
16724 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
16725 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
16726 could perhaps use the same home score file.
16728 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
16729 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
16734 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
16738 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
16739 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
16743 A list. The elements in this list can be:
16747 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
16748 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
16751 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
16752 the home score file.
16755 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
16758 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
16763 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
16766 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16767 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
16770 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
16771 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
16773 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
16775 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16776 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
16779 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
16780 Other functions include
16783 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
16784 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
16785 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
16786 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16790 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16791 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16792 their own home score files:
16795 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16796 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16797 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16798 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16799 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16802 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16803 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16804 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16805 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16806 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16808 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16809 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16810 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16811 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16812 precedence over this variable.
16815 @node Followups To Yourself
16816 @section Followups To Yourself
16818 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16819 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16820 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16821 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16822 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16823 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16827 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16828 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16829 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16832 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16833 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16834 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16838 @vindex message-sent-hook
16839 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16840 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
16842 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
16846 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16847 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16851 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16852 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16855 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16856 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16861 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
16865 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16866 is system-dependent.
16869 @node Scoring On Other Headers
16870 @section Scoring On Other Headers
16871 @cindex scoring on other headers
16873 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
16874 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
16875 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
16876 that Gnus has to request every single article from the backend to find
16877 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
16879 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
16880 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
16881 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
16882 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
16883 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
16885 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
16888 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
16889 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
16892 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
16893 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
16894 time if you have much mail.
16896 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
16897 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
16903 @section Scoring Tips
16904 @cindex scoring tips
16910 @cindex scoring crossposts
16911 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16912 the @code{Xref} header.
16914 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16917 @item Multiple crossposts
16918 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16919 more than, say, 3 groups:
16922 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
16926 @item Matching on the body
16927 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16928 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16929 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16930 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16931 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16932 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16933 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16936 @item Marking as read
16937 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16938 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16939 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16943 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16945 @item Negated character classes
16946 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16947 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16948 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16952 @node Reverse Scoring
16953 @section Reverse Scoring
16954 @cindex reverse scoring
16956 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16957 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16958 like this in your score file:
16962 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16967 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16968 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16971 @node Global Score Files
16972 @section Global Score Files
16973 @cindex global score files
16975 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16976 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16977 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16979 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16980 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16981 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16983 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16984 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16985 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16986 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16987 files are applicable to which group.
16989 To use the score file
16990 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16991 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
16995 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16996 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16997 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
17000 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
17002 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
17003 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
17004 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
17005 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
17007 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
17008 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
17010 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
17011 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
17012 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
17013 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
17014 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
17015 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
17017 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
17023 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
17025 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
17027 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
17029 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
17030 lowered out of existence.
17032 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
17033 articles completely.
17036 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
17037 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
17038 old articles for a long time.
17041 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
17042 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
17043 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
17044 holding our breath yet?
17048 @section Kill Files
17051 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
17052 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
17053 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
17055 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
17056 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
17057 files into score files.
17059 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
17060 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
17061 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
17062 that isn't a very good idea.
17064 Normal kill files look like this:
17067 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17068 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
17072 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
17073 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
17075 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
17076 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
17079 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
17084 @kindex M-k (Summary)
17085 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
17086 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
17089 @kindex M-K (Summary)
17090 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
17091 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
17094 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
17099 @kindex M-k (Group)
17100 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
17101 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
17104 @kindex M-K (Group)
17105 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
17106 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
17109 Kill file variables:
17112 @item gnus-kill-file-name
17113 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
17114 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
17115 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
17116 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
17117 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
17118 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
17120 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
17121 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
17122 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
17123 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
17126 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
17127 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
17128 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
17129 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
17130 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
17131 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
17132 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
17133 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
17134 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
17136 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
17137 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
17138 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
17143 @node Converting Kill Files
17144 @section Converting Kill Files
17146 @cindex converting kill files
17148 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
17149 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
17150 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
17153 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
17154 You can fetch it from
17155 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
17157 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
17158 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
17159 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
17167 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
17168 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
17169 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
17171 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
17172 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
17173 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
17174 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
17175 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
17176 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
17177 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
17178 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
17182 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
17183 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
17184 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
17185 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
17189 @node Using GroupLens
17190 @subsection Using GroupLens
17192 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
17194 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
17195 better bit in town at the moment.
17197 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
17201 @item gnus-use-grouplens
17202 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
17203 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
17204 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
17206 @item grouplens-pseudonym
17207 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
17208 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
17209 with the Better Bit Bureau.
17211 @item grouplens-newsgroups
17212 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
17213 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
17217 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
17218 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
17219 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
17220 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
17221 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
17222 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
17225 @node Rating Articles
17226 @subsection Rating Articles
17228 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
17229 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
17230 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
17231 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
17234 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
17239 @kindex r (GroupLens)
17240 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
17241 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
17244 @kindex k (GroupLens)
17245 @findex grouplens-score-thread
17246 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
17247 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
17248 threads in rec.humor.
17252 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
17253 the score of the article you're reading.
17258 @kindex n (GroupLens)
17259 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
17260 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
17263 @kindex , (GroupLens)
17264 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
17265 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
17269 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
17270 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
17273 @node Displaying Predictions
17274 @subsection Displaying Predictions
17276 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
17277 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
17278 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
17279 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
17280 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
17282 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
17283 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
17284 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
17285 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
17286 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
17287 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
17288 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
17289 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
17290 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
17291 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
17292 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
17293 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
17294 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
17296 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
17297 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
17298 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
17299 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
17301 The following are valid values for that variable.
17304 @item prediction-spot
17305 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
17308 @item confidence-interval
17309 A numeric confidence interval.
17311 @item prediction-bar
17312 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
17314 @item confidence-bar
17315 Numerical confidence.
17317 @item confidence-spot
17318 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
17320 @item prediction-num
17321 Plain-old numeric value.
17323 @item confidence-plus-minus
17324 Prediction +/- confidence.
17329 @node GroupLens Variables
17330 @subsection GroupLens Variables
17334 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
17335 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
17336 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
17337 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
17340 @item grouplens-bbb-host
17341 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
17344 @item grouplens-bbb-port
17345 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
17347 @item grouplens-score-offset
17348 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
17349 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
17352 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
17353 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
17354 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
17359 @node Advanced Scoring
17360 @section Advanced Scoring
17362 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
17363 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
17364 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
17365 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
17366 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
17368 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
17372 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
17373 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
17374 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
17378 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
17379 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
17381 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
17382 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
17383 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
17384 non-@code{nil} value.
17386 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
17387 operator, and various match operators.
17394 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
17395 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
17396 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
17401 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
17402 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
17403 then this operator will return @code{false}.
17408 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
17409 logical negation of the value of its argument.
17413 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
17414 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
17415 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
17416 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
17417 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
17418 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
17419 the ancestry you want to go.
17421 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
17422 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
17423 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
17424 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
17425 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
17428 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
17429 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
17431 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
17432 when he's talking about Gnus:
17436 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17437 ("subject" "Gnus"))
17443 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
17447 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17454 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
17455 really don't want to read what he's written:
17459 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17460 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
17464 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
17465 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
17466 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
17473 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
17474 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
17475 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
17476 ("body" "white.*socks"))
17480 The possibilities are endless.
17483 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
17484 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
17486 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
17487 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
17488 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
17489 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
17490 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
17491 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
17492 @samp{subject}) first.
17494 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
17495 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
17506 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
17507 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
17513 ("subject" "Gnus")))
17520 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
17521 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
17526 @section Score Decays
17527 @cindex score decays
17530 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
17531 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
17532 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
17533 use them in any sensible way.
17535 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
17536 @findex gnus-decay-score
17537 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
17538 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
17539 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
17540 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
17541 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
17542 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
17543 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
17544 definition of that function:
17547 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
17549 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
17550 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
17553 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
17555 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
17557 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
17560 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
17561 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
17562 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
17563 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
17567 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
17570 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
17573 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
17577 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
17578 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
17579 the new score, which should be an integer.
17581 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
17582 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
17589 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
17590 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
17591 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
17592 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
17593 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
17594 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
17595 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
17596 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
17597 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
17598 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
17599 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
17600 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
17601 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
17602 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
17603 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
17604 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
17605 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
17606 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
17610 @node Process/Prefix
17611 @section Process/Prefix
17612 @cindex process/prefix convention
17614 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
17615 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
17617 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
17618 command to be performed on.
17622 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
17623 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
17624 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
17625 with the current one.
17627 @vindex transient-mark-mode
17628 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
17629 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
17631 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
17632 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
17635 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
17636 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
17638 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
17641 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
17642 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
17643 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
17644 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17646 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
17647 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
17648 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
17649 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
17650 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
17651 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
17652 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
17653 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
17655 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
17656 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
17657 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
17658 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
17659 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
17663 @section Interactive
17664 @cindex interaction
17668 @item gnus-novice-user
17669 @vindex gnus-novice-user
17670 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
17671 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
17672 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
17673 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
17676 @item gnus-expert-user
17677 @vindex gnus-expert-user
17678 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
17679 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
17680 matter how strange.
17682 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
17683 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
17684 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
17685 is @code{t} by default.
17687 @item gnus-interactive-exit
17688 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
17689 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
17694 @node Symbolic Prefixes
17695 @section Symbolic Prefixes
17696 @cindex symbolic prefixes
17698 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
17699 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
17700 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
17701 rule of 900 to the current article.
17703 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
17704 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
17705 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
17706 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
17707 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
17708 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
17709 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
17711 @kindex M-i (Summary)
17712 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
17713 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
17714 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
17715 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
17716 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
17717 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
17718 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
17719 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
17721 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
17722 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
17723 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
17725 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
17729 @node Formatting Variables
17730 @section Formatting Variables
17731 @cindex formatting variables
17733 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
17734 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
17735 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
17736 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
17737 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
17740 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
17741 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
17742 lots of percentages everywhere.
17745 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
17746 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
17747 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
17748 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
17749 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
17750 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
17751 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
17754 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
17755 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
17756 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
17757 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
17758 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
17759 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
17760 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
17761 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
17763 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
17764 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
17766 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
17767 @findex gnus-update-format
17768 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
17769 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
17770 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
17771 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
17775 @node Formatting Basics
17776 @subsection Formatting Basics
17778 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
17779 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
17780 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
17782 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
17783 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
17784 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
17785 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
17786 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
17789 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
17790 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
17791 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
17792 less than 4 characters wide.
17795 @node Mode Line Formatting
17796 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
17798 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
17799 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
17800 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
17801 with the following two differences:
17806 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
17809 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
17810 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
17811 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
17812 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
17813 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
17814 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
17815 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
17820 @node Advanced Formatting
17821 @subsection Advanced Formatting
17823 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
17824 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
17825 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
17826 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
17828 These are the valid modifiers:
17833 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17837 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17842 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17845 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17850 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17853 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17856 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17859 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17863 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17864 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17865 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17866 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17867 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17868 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17869 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17871 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17872 last operation, padding.
17874 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
17875 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
17876 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
17877 @xref{Compilation}.
17880 @node User-Defined Specs
17881 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17883 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17884 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17885 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17886 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17887 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17888 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17889 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17890 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17891 should protect against that.
17893 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17894 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17895 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17896 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17900 @node Formatting Fonts
17901 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17903 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17904 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17905 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17906 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17909 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17910 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17911 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17912 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17913 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17914 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17916 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17917 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17918 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17919 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17920 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17921 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17922 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17923 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17925 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17928 ;; Create three face types.
17929 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17930 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17932 ;; We want the article count to be in
17933 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17934 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17935 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17937 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17938 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17940 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17941 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17942 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17945 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17946 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17948 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17949 mode-line variables.
17952 @node Positioning Point
17953 @subsection Positioning Point
17955 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
17956 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
17957 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
17959 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
17961 @findex gnus-goto-colon
17962 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
17963 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
17965 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
17966 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%C} specifier. If you
17967 put a @samp{%C} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
17971 @node Wide Characters
17972 @subsection Wide Characters
17974 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
17975 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
17976 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
17978 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
17979 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
17980 these coutries, that's not true.
17982 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
17983 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
17984 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
17985 prettieer. The default value is @code{nil}.
17989 @node Window Layout
17990 @section Window Layout
17991 @cindex window layout
17993 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17995 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17996 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17997 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17998 @code{t} by default.
18000 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
18001 glitches. Use at your own peril.
18003 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
18004 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
18005 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
18008 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
18009 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
18010 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
18014 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
18015 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
18016 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
18017 possible names is listed below.
18019 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
18020 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
18023 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
18027 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
18028 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
18029 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
18030 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
18031 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
18032 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
18033 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
18034 size spec per split.
18036 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
18037 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
18038 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
18039 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
18040 present) gets focus.
18042 Here's a more complicated example:
18045 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
18046 (summary 0.25 point)
18047 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
18051 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
18052 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
18053 occupy, not a percentage.
18055 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
18056 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
18057 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
18058 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
18059 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
18062 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
18065 (article (horizontal 1.0
18070 (summary 0.25 point)
18075 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
18076 @code{horizontal} thingie?
18078 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
18079 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
18080 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
18081 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
18082 the screen is to be given to this strip.
18084 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
18085 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
18086 lines from the splits.
18088 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
18092 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
18093 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
18094 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
18095 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
18096 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
18097 size = number | frame-params
18098 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
18101 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
18102 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
18103 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
18104 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
18106 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
18107 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
18108 @cindex window height
18109 @cindex window width
18110 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
18111 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
18112 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
18113 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
18114 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
18115 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
18117 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
18118 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
18119 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
18120 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
18122 @findex gnus-configure-frame
18123 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
18124 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
18125 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
18126 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
18127 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
18128 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
18129 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
18130 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
18131 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
18132 configuration list.
18135 (gnus-configure-frame
18139 (article 0.3 point))
18147 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
18148 @code{frame} split:
18151 (gnus-configure-frame
18154 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
18156 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
18157 (user-position . t)
18158 (left . -1) (top . 1))
18163 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
18164 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
18165 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
18166 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
18167 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
18168 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
18169 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
18170 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
18172 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
18173 be found in its default value.
18175 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
18176 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
18177 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
18181 (message (horizontal 1.0
18182 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
18184 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
18189 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
18190 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
18191 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
18196 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
18197 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
18198 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
18199 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
18200 (name . "Message"))
18201 (message 1.0 point))))
18204 @findex gnus-add-configuration
18205 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
18206 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
18207 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
18208 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
18211 (gnus-add-configuration
18212 '(article (vertical 1.0
18214 (summary .25 point)
18218 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
18219 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
18220 Gnus has been loaded.
18222 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
18223 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
18224 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
18225 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
18226 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
18228 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
18229 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
18230 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
18233 @subsection Example Window Configurations
18237 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
18238 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
18253 (gnus-add-configuration
18256 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
18258 (summary 0.16 point)
18261 (gnus-add-configuration
18264 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
18265 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
18271 @node Faces and Fonts
18272 @section Faces and Fonts
18277 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
18278 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
18279 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
18284 @section Compilation
18285 @cindex compilation
18286 @cindex byte-compilation
18288 @findex gnus-compile
18290 Remember all those line format specification variables?
18291 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
18292 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
18293 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
18294 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
18295 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
18298 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
18299 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
18300 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
18301 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
18302 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
18303 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
18304 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
18308 @section Mode Lines
18311 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
18312 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
18313 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
18314 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
18315 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
18316 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
18317 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
18320 @cindex display-time
18322 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
18323 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
18324 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
18325 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
18326 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
18327 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
18328 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
18329 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
18332 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
18334 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
18335 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
18337 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
18338 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
18339 (length display-time-string)))))
18342 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
18343 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
18344 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
18345 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
18346 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
18349 @node Highlighting and Menus
18350 @section Highlighting and Menus
18352 @cindex highlighting
18355 @vindex gnus-visual
18356 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
18357 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
18358 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
18361 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
18362 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
18365 @item group-highlight
18366 Do highlights in the group buffer.
18367 @item summary-highlight
18368 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
18369 @item article-highlight
18370 Do highlights in the article buffer.
18372 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
18374 Create menus in the group buffer.
18376 Create menus in the summary buffers.
18378 Create menus in the article buffer.
18380 Create menus in the browse buffer.
18382 Create menus in the server buffer.
18384 Create menus in the score buffers.
18386 Create menus in all buffers.
18389 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
18390 buffers, you could say something like:
18393 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
18396 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
18399 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
18402 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
18403 in all Gnus buffers.
18405 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
18408 @item gnus-mouse-face
18409 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
18410 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
18411 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
18415 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
18419 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
18420 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
18421 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
18423 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
18424 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
18425 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
18427 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
18428 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
18429 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
18431 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
18432 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
18433 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
18435 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
18436 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
18437 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
18439 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
18440 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
18441 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
18452 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
18453 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
18454 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
18455 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
18456 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
18460 @vindex gnus-carpal
18461 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
18462 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
18463 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
18468 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
18469 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
18470 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
18472 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
18473 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
18474 Face used on buttons.
18476 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
18477 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
18478 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
18480 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
18481 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
18482 Buttons in the group buffer.
18484 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
18485 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
18486 Buttons in the summary buffer.
18488 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
18489 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
18490 Buttons in the server buffer.
18492 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
18493 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
18494 Buttons in the browse buffer.
18497 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
18498 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
18499 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
18507 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
18508 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
18509 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
18510 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
18511 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
18513 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
18514 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
18515 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
18517 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
18518 been idle for thirty minutes:
18521 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
18524 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
18528 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
18531 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
18532 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
18533 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18535 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
18536 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
18537 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
18538 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18540 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
18541 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
18542 @var{idle} minutes.
18544 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
18545 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
18548 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
18549 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
18550 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
18552 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
18553 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
18554 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
18555 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
18557 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
18558 your @file{.gnus} file:
18560 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
18562 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
18565 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
18566 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
18567 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
18568 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
18569 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
18570 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
18571 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
18572 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
18573 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
18574 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
18575 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
18577 @findex gnus-demon-init
18578 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
18579 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
18580 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
18581 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
18582 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
18584 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
18585 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
18586 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
18595 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
18596 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
18598 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
18599 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
18600 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
18601 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
18604 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
18605 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
18606 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
18607 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
18609 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
18610 this will make spam disappear.
18612 There are some variables to customize, of course:
18615 @item gnus-use-nocem
18616 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
18617 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
18620 @item gnus-nocem-groups
18621 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
18622 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
18623 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
18624 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
18626 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
18627 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
18628 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
18629 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
18630 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
18631 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
18633 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
18634 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
18636 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
18637 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
18638 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
18639 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
18640 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
18641 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
18642 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
18643 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
18644 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
18645 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
18647 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
18648 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
18651 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
18654 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
18655 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
18658 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
18661 The specs are applied left-to-right.
18664 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
18665 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
18667 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
18668 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
18669 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
18670 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
18672 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
18673 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
18676 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
18678 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
18686 This might be dangerous, though.
18688 @item gnus-nocem-directory
18689 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
18690 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
18691 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
18693 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18694 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18695 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
18696 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
18697 might then see old spam.
18699 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
18700 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
18701 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
18702 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
18703 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
18706 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18707 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18708 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
18709 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
18713 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
18714 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
18715 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
18716 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
18723 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
18724 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
18725 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
18727 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
18728 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
18729 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
18730 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
18731 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
18732 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
18733 @code{undo} function.
18735 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
18736 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
18737 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
18738 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
18739 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
18740 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
18741 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
18742 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
18743 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
18744 never be totally undoable.
18746 @findex gnus-undo-mode
18747 @vindex gnus-use-undo
18749 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
18750 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
18751 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
18752 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
18757 @section Moderation
18760 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
18761 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
18762 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
18765 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
18769 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
18772 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18774 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
18779 You split your incoming mail by matching on
18780 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
18781 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
18784 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
18785 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
18788 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
18789 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
18793 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
18796 (setq gnus-moderated-list
18797 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
18801 @node XEmacs Enhancements
18802 @section XEmacs Enhancements
18805 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
18809 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
18810 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
18811 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
18812 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
18825 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
18826 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
18827 over your shoulder as you read news.
18830 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
18831 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
18832 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
18833 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
18834 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
18839 @subsubsection Picon Basics
18841 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18850 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18851 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18852 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18853 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18854 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18855 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18856 @code{GIF} formats.
18859 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18860 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18861 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18862 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18863 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18865 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18866 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18867 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18868 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18869 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18870 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18873 @node Picon Requirements
18874 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18876 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18877 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18880 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18881 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18882 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18884 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18885 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18886 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18887 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18888 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18892 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18894 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18895 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18898 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18899 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18902 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18903 containing the Picons databases.
18905 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18908 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18909 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18914 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18922 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18923 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18924 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18925 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18926 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18931 @item gnus-picons-database
18932 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18933 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18934 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18935 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18936 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18937 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18939 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18940 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18941 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18942 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18943 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18944 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18945 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18947 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18948 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18949 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18950 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18951 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18952 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18953 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18954 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
18956 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18957 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18958 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18963 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18964 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18966 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18967 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18970 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18972 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18973 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18974 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18975 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18977 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18978 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18979 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18985 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18986 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18994 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18995 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18996 don't need to worry about.
19000 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
19001 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
19002 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
19003 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
19005 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
19006 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
19007 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
19008 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
19010 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
19011 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
19012 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
19013 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
19014 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
19016 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
19017 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
19018 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
19019 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
19020 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
19021 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
19022 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
19024 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
19025 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
19026 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
19027 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
19029 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
19030 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
19031 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
19032 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
19033 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
19034 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
19035 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
19037 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
19038 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
19039 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
19040 Defaults to @code{nil}.
19042 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
19043 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
19044 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
19045 Defaults to @code{t}.
19047 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
19048 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
19049 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
19050 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
19052 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
19053 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
19054 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
19056 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
19057 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
19058 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
19059 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
19061 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
19062 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
19064 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
19065 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
19066 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
19067 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
19068 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
19069 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
19070 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
19071 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
19082 @subsection Smileys
19087 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
19092 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
19093 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
19095 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
19096 @file{.gnus.el} file:
19099 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
19102 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
19103 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
19104 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
19105 text and maps that to file names.
19107 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
19108 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
19109 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
19110 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
19111 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
19112 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
19114 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
19115 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
19117 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
19118 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
19119 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
19121 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
19122 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
19126 @item smiley-data-directory
19127 @vindex smiley-data-directory
19128 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
19130 @item smiley-flesh-color
19131 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
19132 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
19134 @item smiley-features-color
19135 @vindex smiley-features-color
19136 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
19138 @item smiley-tongue-color
19139 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
19140 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
19142 @item smiley-circle-color
19143 @vindex smiley-circle-color
19144 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
19146 @item smiley-mouse-face
19147 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
19148 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
19154 @subsection Toolbar
19164 @item gnus-use-toolbar
19165 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
19166 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
19167 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
19168 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
19170 @item gnus-group-toolbar
19171 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
19172 The toolbar in the group buffer.
19174 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
19175 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
19176 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
19178 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
19179 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
19180 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
19186 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
19189 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
19190 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
19191 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
19192 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
19193 unusual directory structure.
19195 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
19196 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
19197 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
19198 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
19200 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
19201 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
19202 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
19203 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
19204 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
19205 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
19207 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
19208 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
19209 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
19223 @node Fuzzy Matching
19224 @section Fuzzy Matching
19225 @cindex fuzzy matching
19227 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
19228 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
19230 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
19231 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
19232 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
19234 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
19235 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
19236 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
19237 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
19238 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
19241 @node Thwarting Email Spam
19242 @section Thwarting Email Spam
19246 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
19248 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
19249 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
19250 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
19251 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
19252 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
19253 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
19254 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
19255 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
19258 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
19259 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
19260 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
19261 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
19262 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
19263 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
19267 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
19268 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
19270 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
19271 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
19272 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
19273 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
19274 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
19275 part of the mail address.)
19278 (setq message-default-news-headers
19279 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
19282 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
19283 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
19288 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
19289 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
19290 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
19296 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
19297 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
19298 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
19299 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
19301 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
19302 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
19303 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
19304 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
19305 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
19306 your fancy split rule in this way:
19311 (to "larsi" "misc")
19315 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
19316 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
19317 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
19318 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
19319 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
19321 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
19322 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
19323 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
19324 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
19325 cosmic balance somewhat.
19327 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
19328 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
19329 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
19330 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
19333 @node Various Various
19334 @section Various Various
19340 @item gnus-home-directory
19341 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
19342 defaults to @file{~/}.
19344 @item gnus-directory
19345 @vindex gnus-directory
19346 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
19347 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
19348 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
19350 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
19351 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
19352 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
19353 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
19355 @item gnus-default-directory
19356 @vindex gnus-default-directory
19357 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
19358 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
19359 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
19360 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
19361 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
19362 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
19365 @vindex gnus-verbose
19366 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
19367 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
19368 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
19369 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
19370 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
19372 @item gnus-verbose-backends
19373 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
19374 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
19375 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
19377 @item nnheader-max-head-length
19378 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
19379 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
19380 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
19381 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
19382 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
19383 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
19384 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
19385 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
19386 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
19388 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
19389 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
19390 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
19391 read when doing the operation described above.
19393 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
19394 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
19396 @cindex invalid characters in file names
19397 @cindex characters in file names
19398 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
19399 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
19400 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
19403 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
19407 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
19408 Windows (phooey) systems.
19410 @item gnus-hidden-properties
19411 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
19412 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
19413 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
19414 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
19416 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
19417 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
19418 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
19419 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
19420 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
19422 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
19423 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
19424 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
19426 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
19427 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
19429 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
19430 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
19431 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
19432 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
19435 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
19444 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
19445 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
19447 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
19449 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
19455 Not because of victories @*
19458 but for the common sunshine,@*
19460 the largess of the spring.
19464 but for the day's work done@*
19465 as well as I was able;@*
19466 not for a seat upon the dais@*
19467 but at the common table.@*
19472 @chapter Appendices
19475 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
19476 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
19477 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
19478 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
19479 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
19480 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
19481 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
19482 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
19490 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
19491 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
19493 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
19494 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
19495 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
19496 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
19497 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
19499 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
19500 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
19501 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
19502 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
19503 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
19504 appropriate name, don't you think?)
19506 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
19507 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
19508 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
19509 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
19512 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
19513 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
19514 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
19515 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
19516 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
19517 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
19518 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
19519 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
19520 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
19524 @node Gnus Versions
19525 @subsection Gnus Versions
19526 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
19528 @cindex September Gnus
19529 @cindex Quassia Gnus
19531 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
19532 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
19533 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
19535 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
19536 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
19538 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
19539 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
19541 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
19542 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
19544 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
19545 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
19548 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
19550 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
19551 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
19552 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
19553 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
19554 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
19555 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
19558 @node Other Gnus Versions
19559 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
19562 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
19563 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
19564 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
19565 @sc{mime} capabilities.
19567 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
19568 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
19569 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
19570 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
19577 What's the point of Gnus?
19579 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
19580 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
19581 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
19582 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
19583 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
19584 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
19585 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
19586 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
19587 keep track of millions of people who post?
19589 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
19590 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
19591 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
19592 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
19593 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
19594 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
19595 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
19596 every one of you to explore and invent.
19598 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
19599 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
19602 @node Compatibility
19603 @subsection Compatibility
19605 @cindex compatibility
19606 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
19607 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
19608 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
19613 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
19617 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
19620 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
19623 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
19624 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
19625 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
19626 important variables have their values copied into their global
19627 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
19628 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
19630 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
19631 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
19632 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
19633 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
19634 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
19638 @cindex highlighting
19639 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
19640 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
19641 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
19642 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
19643 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
19644 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
19647 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
19648 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
19649 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
19650 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
19652 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
19653 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
19654 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
19655 to stop doing it the old way.
19657 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
19659 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19661 @cindex reporting bugs
19663 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
19664 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
19665 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
19667 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
19668 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
19669 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
19670 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
19675 @subsection Conformity
19677 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
19678 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
19685 There are no known breaches of this standard.
19689 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
19691 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
19692 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
19693 We do have some breaches to this one.
19699 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
19700 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
19701 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
19702 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
19703 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
19708 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
19709 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
19710 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
19711 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
19715 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
19716 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
19721 @subsection Emacsen
19727 Gnus should work on :
19735 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
19739 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
19740 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
19743 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
19744 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
19745 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
19749 @node Gnus Development
19750 @subsection Gnus Development
19752 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
19753 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
19754 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
19755 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
19756 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
19757 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
19758 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
19759 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
19761 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
19762 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
19763 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
19764 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
19765 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
19768 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
19769 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
19770 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
19771 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
19772 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
19774 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
19775 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
19776 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
19777 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
19778 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
19779 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
19780 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
19781 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
19782 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
19783 can't be assumed to do so.
19788 @subsection Contributors
19789 @cindex contributors
19791 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
19792 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
19793 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
19794 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
19795 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
19796 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
19797 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
19798 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
19799 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
19800 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
19802 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
19808 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
19811 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
19812 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
19813 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
19814 functionality and stuff.
19817 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
19818 well as numerous other things).
19821 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
19824 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
19827 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
19830 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
19831 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
19834 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
19837 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
19838 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19841 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
19844 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
19847 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19850 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19853 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19854 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19857 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19860 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19863 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19866 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19870 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19873 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19876 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19879 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19880 well as autoconf support.
19884 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19885 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19887 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19896 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19900 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19910 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19925 Massimo Campostrini,
19930 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19931 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19935 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19938 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19944 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19949 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19953 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19961 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19963 Michelangelo Grigni,
19967 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19969 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19971 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19978 François Felix Ingrand,
19979 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19980 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19982 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19993 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19994 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19996 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19997 Thor Kristoffersen,
20000 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
20018 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
20019 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
20026 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
20031 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
20035 John McClary Prevost,
20041 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
20046 Christian von Roques,
20049 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
20056 Philippe Schnoebelen,
20058 Randal L. Schwartz,
20072 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
20077 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
20093 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
20098 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
20099 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
20100 (550kB and counting).
20102 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
20105 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
20106 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
20110 @subsection New Features
20111 @cindex new features
20114 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
20115 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
20116 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
20117 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
20118 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
20121 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
20122 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
20123 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
20126 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
20128 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
20133 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
20134 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
20137 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
20138 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
20141 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
20144 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
20145 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
20146 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
20149 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
20150 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
20151 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
20152 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
20155 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
20156 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
20159 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
20160 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
20161 (@pxref{The Active File}).
20164 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
20165 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
20168 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
20169 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
20170 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
20173 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
20174 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
20175 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
20178 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
20179 the @file{.emacs} file.
20182 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
20183 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
20186 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
20187 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
20190 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
20191 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
20194 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
20195 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
20198 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
20199 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
20202 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
20205 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
20206 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
20209 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
20210 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
20213 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
20214 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
20217 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
20220 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
20221 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
20224 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
20228 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
20232 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
20233 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
20236 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
20242 @node September Gnus
20243 @subsubsection September Gnus
20247 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
20251 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
20256 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
20257 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
20261 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
20262 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
20266 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
20270 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
20271 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
20274 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
20278 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
20281 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
20284 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
20287 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
20291 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
20292 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
20295 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
20299 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
20303 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
20307 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
20311 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
20314 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
20315 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
20318 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
20322 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
20323 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
20326 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
20329 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
20330 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
20331 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
20334 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
20338 The Gnus cache is much faster.
20341 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
20345 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
20346 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
20349 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
20350 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
20353 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
20354 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20357 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
20358 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
20359 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
20362 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
20363 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
20366 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
20369 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
20372 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
20375 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
20378 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
20379 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
20382 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
20386 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
20389 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
20394 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
20397 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
20401 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
20404 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
20408 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
20411 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
20414 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
20415 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
20418 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
20419 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
20423 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
20424 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
20427 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
20431 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
20432 buffer to allow easier treatment.
20435 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
20438 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
20442 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
20446 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
20447 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
20450 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
20454 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
20455 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
20458 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
20459 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
20462 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
20466 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
20469 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
20472 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
20478 @subsubsection Red Gnus
20480 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
20484 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
20491 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
20494 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
20495 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
20498 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
20499 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
20503 Article washing status can be displayed in the
20504 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
20507 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
20510 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
20511 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
20514 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
20518 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
20519 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
20523 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
20524 Server Internals}).
20527 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
20531 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
20534 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
20535 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
20538 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
20539 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
20540 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
20543 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
20544 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20547 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
20548 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
20551 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
20555 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
20556 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20559 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
20560 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
20563 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
20567 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
20570 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
20574 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
20575 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20578 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
20579 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20582 A new command for reading collections of documents
20583 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
20584 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
20587 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
20591 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
20592 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
20595 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
20596 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
20597 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
20600 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
20601 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
20605 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
20609 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
20613 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
20618 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
20622 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
20626 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
20627 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
20630 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
20636 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
20638 New features in Gnus 5.6:
20643 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
20644 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
20645 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
20648 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
20649 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
20650 group, which is created automatically.
20653 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
20657 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
20660 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
20661 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
20664 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
20668 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
20671 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
20672 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
20675 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
20678 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
20679 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
20682 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
20683 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
20686 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
20687 control over simplification.
20690 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
20693 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
20697 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
20700 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
20703 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
20704 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
20705 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
20708 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
20709 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
20712 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
20716 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
20717 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
20720 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
20721 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
20724 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
20728 A history of where mails have been split is available.
20731 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
20734 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
20735 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
20738 A new function for citing in Message has been
20739 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
20742 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
20745 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
20749 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
20750 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
20753 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
20754 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
20757 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
20760 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
20764 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
20765 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
20767 New features in Gnus 5.8:
20771 @item The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
20772 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
20774 If you used procmail like in
20777 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
20778 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
20779 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
20780 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
20783 this now has changed to
20787 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
20791 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
20792 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
20794 @item Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
20795 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
20797 @item Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
20798 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
20800 @item @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
20801 called to position point.
20803 @item The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
20804 summary buffers and NOV files.
20806 @item @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
20807 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
20809 @item The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
20810 subtly different manner.
20812 @item New web-based backends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
20813 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
20814 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
20816 @item Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
20824 @section The Manual
20828 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20829 either @code{texi2dvi}
20831 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20832 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20834 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20836 The following conventions have been used:
20841 This is a @samp{string}
20844 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20847 This is a @file{file}
20850 This is a @code{symbol}
20854 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20858 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20861 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20864 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20867 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20868 ever get them confused.
20872 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20873 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20874 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20875 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20876 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20877 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20878 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20884 @node On Writing Manuals
20885 @section On Writing Manuals
20887 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20888 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20889 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20890 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20891 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20892 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20895 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20896 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20897 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20900 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20901 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20906 @section Terminology
20908 @cindex terminology
20913 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20914 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20915 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20916 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20917 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20921 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20922 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20923 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20924 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20928 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20932 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20937 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20938 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20939 is all done by the backends.
20943 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20944 default, way of getting news.
20948 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20949 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20954 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20955 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20959 A message that has been posted as news.
20962 @cindex mail message
20963 A message that has been mailed.
20967 A mail message or news article
20971 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20976 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20981 A line from the head of an article.
20985 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20986 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20990 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20991 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20992 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20993 normal @sc{head} format.
20997 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20998 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20999 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
21000 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
21001 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
21002 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
21004 @item killed groups
21005 @cindex killed groups
21006 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
21007 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
21009 @item zombie groups
21010 @cindex zombie groups
21011 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
21014 @cindex active file
21015 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
21016 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
21017 is rather large, as you might surmise.
21020 @cindex bogus groups
21021 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
21022 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
21023 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
21026 @cindex activating groups
21027 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
21028 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
21029 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
21033 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
21035 @item select method
21036 @cindex select method
21037 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
21040 @item virtual server
21041 @cindex virtual server
21042 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
21043 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
21044 whole is a virtual server.
21048 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
21049 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
21052 @item ephemeral groups
21053 @cindex ephemeral groups
21054 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
21055 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
21056 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
21059 @cindex solid groups
21060 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
21061 group buffer are solid groups.
21063 @item sparse articles
21064 @cindex sparse articles
21065 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
21066 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
21070 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
21071 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
21075 @cindex thread root
21076 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
21077 articles in the thread.
21081 An article that has responses.
21085 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
21089 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
21090 specified by RFC 1153.
21096 @node Customization
21097 @section Customization
21098 @cindex general customization
21100 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
21101 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
21102 for some quite common situations.
21105 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
21106 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
21107 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
21108 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
21112 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
21113 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
21115 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
21116 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
21117 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
21121 @item gnus-read-active-file
21122 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
21123 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
21124 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
21125 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
21126 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
21128 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
21129 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
21130 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
21131 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
21135 @node Slow Terminal Connection
21136 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
21138 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
21139 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
21140 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
21144 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
21145 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
21146 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
21147 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
21148 horizontal and vertical recentering.
21150 @item gnus-visible-headers
21151 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
21152 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
21153 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
21154 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
21156 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
21158 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
21159 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
21160 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
21163 @item gnus-use-full-window
21164 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
21165 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
21166 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
21167 want to read them anyway.
21169 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
21170 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
21173 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
21174 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
21175 lines, which might save some time.
21179 @node Little Disk Space
21180 @subsection Little Disk Space
21183 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
21184 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
21188 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
21189 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
21190 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
21191 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21194 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
21195 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
21196 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
21197 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21200 @item gnus-save-killed-list
21201 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
21202 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
21203 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
21204 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
21210 @subsection Slow Machine
21211 @cindex slow machine
21213 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
21214 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
21216 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
21217 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
21219 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
21220 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
21221 summary buffer faster.
21225 @node Troubleshooting
21226 @section Troubleshooting
21227 @cindex troubleshooting
21229 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
21237 Make sure your computer is switched on.
21240 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
21241 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
21245 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
21246 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
21247 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
21248 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
21251 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
21255 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
21256 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
21257 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
21258 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
21259 something like that.
21262 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
21265 @cindex reporting bugs
21267 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
21269 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
21270 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
21271 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
21272 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
21274 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
21275 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
21276 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
21277 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
21280 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
21281 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
21282 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
21283 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
21284 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
21285 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
21287 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
21288 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
21289 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
21293 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
21294 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
21296 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
21297 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
21299 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
21300 @cindex ding mailing list
21301 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
21302 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
21306 @node Gnus Reference Guide
21307 @section Gnus Reference Guide
21309 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
21310 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
21311 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
21312 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
21315 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
21316 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
21317 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
21318 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
21319 and general methods of operation.
21322 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
21323 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
21324 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
21325 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
21326 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
21327 * Group Info:: The group info format.
21328 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
21329 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
21330 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
21334 @node Gnus Utility Functions
21335 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
21336 @cindex Gnus utility functions
21337 @cindex utility functions
21339 @cindex internal variables
21341 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
21342 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
21343 Below is a list of the most common ones.
21347 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
21348 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
21349 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
21351 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
21352 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
21353 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
21355 @item gnus-group-real-name
21356 @findex gnus-group-real-name
21357 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
21360 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
21361 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
21362 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
21363 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
21365 @item gnus-get-info
21366 @findex gnus-get-info
21367 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
21369 @item gnus-group-unread
21370 @findex gnus-group-unread
21371 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
21375 @findex gnus-active
21376 The active entry for @var{group}.
21378 @item gnus-set-active
21379 @findex gnus-set-active
21380 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
21382 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21383 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21384 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
21387 @item gnus-continuum-version
21388 @findex gnus-continuum-version
21389 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
21390 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
21393 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
21394 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
21395 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
21397 @item gnus-news-group-p
21398 @findex gnus-news-group-p
21399 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
21401 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21402 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21403 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
21405 @item gnus-server-to-method
21406 @findex gnus-server-to-method
21407 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
21409 @item gnus-server-equal
21410 @findex gnus-server-equal
21411 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
21413 @item gnus-group-native-p
21414 @findex gnus-group-native-p
21415 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
21417 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
21418 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
21419 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
21421 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
21422 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
21423 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
21425 @item group-group-find-parameter
21426 @findex group-group-find-parameter
21427 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
21428 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
21430 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
21431 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
21432 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
21434 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
21435 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
21436 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
21438 @item gnus-check-backend-function
21439 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
21440 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
21441 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
21444 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
21448 @item gnus-read-method
21449 @findex gnus-read-method
21450 Prompts the user for a select method.
21455 @node Backend Interface
21456 @subsection Backend Interface
21458 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
21459 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
21460 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
21461 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
21462 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
21463 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
21465 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
21466 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
21467 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
21468 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
21469 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
21470 been opened, the function should fail.
21472 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
21473 name. Take this example:
21477 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
21478 (nntp-port-number 4324))
21481 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
21482 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
21484 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
21485 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
21486 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
21488 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
21489 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
21490 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
21492 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
21493 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
21494 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
21495 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
21496 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
21497 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
21500 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
21501 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
21502 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
21503 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
21506 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
21507 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
21508 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
21509 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
21510 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
21511 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
21512 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
21513 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Backend Functions}.}
21514 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
21515 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
21517 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
21518 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
21519 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
21520 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
21521 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
21522 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
21523 of numbers as long as possible.
21525 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
21528 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
21531 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
21532 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
21533 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
21534 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
21535 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
21536 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
21540 @node Required Backend Functions
21541 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
21545 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
21547 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
21548 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
21549 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
21550 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
21552 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
21553 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
21554 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
21555 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
21557 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
21558 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
21559 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
21560 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
21561 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
21562 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
21563 number, do maximum fetches.
21565 Here's an example HEAD:
21568 221 1056 Article retrieved.
21569 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
21570 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21571 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21572 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21573 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21574 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21576 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21577 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21578 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21582 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21583 these in the data buffer.
21585 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21589 head = error / valid-head
21590 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21591 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21592 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21593 header = <text> eol
21596 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21597 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21601 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21602 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21603 field = <text except TAB>
21606 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21610 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21612 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21613 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21615 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21616 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21617 server. In fact, it should do so.
21619 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21620 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21623 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21625 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21626 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21629 There should be no data returned.
21632 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21634 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21635 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21636 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21637 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21639 There should be no data returned.
21642 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21644 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21645 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21646 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21647 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21649 There should be no data returned.
21652 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21654 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21656 There should be no data returned.
21659 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21661 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21662 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21663 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21664 it would be nice if that were possible.
21666 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21667 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21668 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21669 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21670 into its article buffer.
21672 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21673 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21674 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21675 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21676 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21677 on successful article retrieval.
21680 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21682 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21683 making @var{group} the current group.
21685 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21688 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21691 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21694 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21695 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21696 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21697 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21698 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21699 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21700 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21701 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21704 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21705 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21706 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21710 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21712 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21713 a no-op on most backends.
21715 There should be no data returned.
21718 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21720 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21723 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21726 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21727 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21730 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21731 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21734 active-file = *active-line
21735 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21737 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21740 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21741 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21742 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21745 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21747 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21748 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21749 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21750 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21751 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21752 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21754 There should be no result data from this function.
21759 @node Optional Backend Functions
21760 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21764 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21766 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21767 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21768 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21770 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21771 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21772 former is in the same format as the data from
21773 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21774 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21777 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21781 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21783 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21784 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21785 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21786 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21787 should return the (altered) group info.
21789 There should be no result data from this function.
21792 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21794 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21795 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21796 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21797 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21798 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21799 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21800 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21801 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21803 There should be no result data from this function.
21806 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21808 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21809 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21810 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21811 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21812 propagate the mark information to the server.
21814 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21817 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21820 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
21821 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
21822 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
21823 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
21824 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
21825 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
21826 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your backend should, if
21827 possible, not limit itself to these.
21829 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21830 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21831 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21832 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21834 An example action list:
21837 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21838 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21839 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21842 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21843 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21845 There should be no result data from this function.
21847 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21849 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21850 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21851 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21852 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21853 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21855 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21856 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21857 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21860 There should be no result data from this function.
21863 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21865 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21866 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21867 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21868 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21869 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21870 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21871 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21873 There should be no result data from this function.
21876 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21878 The result data from this function should be a description of
21882 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21884 description = <text>
21887 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21889 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21890 groups available on the server.
21893 description-buffer = *description-line
21897 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21899 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21900 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21901 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21904 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21906 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21908 There should be no return data.
21911 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21913 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21914 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21915 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21916 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21917 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21920 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21923 There should be no result data returned.
21926 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21929 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21930 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21932 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21933 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21934 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21935 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21936 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21937 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21939 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21940 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21943 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21944 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21946 There should be no data returned.
21949 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21951 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21952 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21953 this function in short order.
21955 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21956 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21958 There should be no data returned.
21961 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21963 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21964 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21966 There should be no data returned.
21969 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21971 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21972 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21973 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21975 There should be no data returned.
21978 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21980 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21981 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21983 There should be no data returned.
21988 @node Error Messaging
21989 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21991 @findex nnheader-report
21992 @findex nnheader-get-report
21993 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21994 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21995 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21996 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21997 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21998 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
22001 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
22003 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
22006 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
22007 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
22008 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
22009 takes one argument---the server symbol.
22011 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
22012 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
22013 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
22016 @node Writing New Backends
22017 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
22019 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
22020 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
22021 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
22022 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
22023 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
22026 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
22027 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
22028 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
22030 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
22031 package called @code{nnoo}.
22033 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
22034 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
22040 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
22041 parameters. For instance:
22044 (nnoo-declare nndir
22048 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
22049 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
22052 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
22053 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
22054 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
22056 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
22057 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
22058 a function in those backends.
22061 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
22062 "Where nndir will look for groups."
22063 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
22066 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
22067 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
22068 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
22070 @item nnoo-define-basics
22071 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
22075 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
22079 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
22080 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
22081 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
22083 @item nnoo-map-functions
22084 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
22085 functions from the parent backends.
22088 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
22089 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22090 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
22093 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
22094 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
22095 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
22096 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
22099 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
22100 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
22101 haven't already been defined.
22107 nnmh-request-newgroups)
22111 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
22112 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
22113 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
22118 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
22121 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
22122 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
22126 (require 'nnheader)
22130 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
22132 (nnoo-declare nndir
22135 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
22136 "Where nndir will look for groups."
22137 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
22139 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
22140 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
22143 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
22145 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
22146 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
22147 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
22149 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
22150 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
22152 ;;; Interface functions.
22154 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
22156 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
22157 (setq nndir-directory
22158 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
22160 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
22161 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
22162 (push `(nndir-current-group
22163 ,(file-name-nondirectory
22164 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
22166 (push `(nndir-top-directory
22167 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
22169 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
22171 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
22172 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22173 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22174 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
22175 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
22179 nnmh-status-message
22181 nnmh-request-newgroups))
22187 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
22188 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
22190 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
22191 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
22192 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
22193 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
22195 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
22196 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
22201 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
22204 The abilities can be:
22208 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
22210 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
22212 This backend supports both mail and news.
22214 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
22217 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
22218 articles and groups.
22220 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
22221 true for almost all backends.
22222 @item prompt-address
22223 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
22224 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
22225 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
22229 @node Mail-like Backends
22230 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
22232 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
22233 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
22234 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
22235 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
22238 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
22239 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
22240 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
22243 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
22244 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
22247 This function takes four parameters.
22251 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
22254 @item exit-function
22255 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
22257 @item temp-directory
22258 Where the temporary files should be stored.
22261 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
22262 performed for one group only.
22265 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
22266 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
22267 find the article number assigned to this article.
22269 The function also uses the following variables:
22270 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
22271 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
22272 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
22273 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
22277 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
22278 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
22282 @node Score File Syntax
22283 @subsection Score File Syntax
22285 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
22286 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
22287 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
22289 Here's a typical score file:
22293 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
22300 BNF definition of a score file:
22303 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
22304 element = rule / atom
22305 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
22306 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
22307 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
22308 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
22310 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
22311 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
22312 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
22313 date-header = "date"
22314 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22315 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22316 score = "nil" / <integer>
22317 date = "nil" / <natural number>
22318 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
22319 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
22320 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
22321 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
22322 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22323 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22324 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
22325 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22326 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
22327 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
22328 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
22329 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
22330 exclude-files / read-only / touched
22331 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
22332 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
22333 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
22334 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
22335 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
22336 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
22337 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
22338 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
22339 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
22340 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
22341 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
22342 eval = "eval" space <form>
22343 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
22346 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
22349 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
22350 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
22351 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
22352 one looong line, then that's ok.
22354 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
22355 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22359 @subsection Headers
22361 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
22362 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
22363 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
22364 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
22366 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
22367 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
22368 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
22369 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
22370 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
22371 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
22372 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
22374 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
22375 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
22376 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
22377 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
22378 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
22380 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
22381 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
22387 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
22388 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
22390 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
22391 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
22392 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
22393 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
22395 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
22399 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
22402 is transformed into
22405 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
22408 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
22409 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
22412 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
22415 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
22416 is slightly tricky:
22419 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
22425 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
22428 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
22434 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
22441 and is equal to the previous range.
22443 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
22444 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
22445 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
22449 range = simple-range / normal-range
22450 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
22451 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
22452 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
22453 number *[ " " contents ]
22456 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
22457 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
22458 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
22459 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
22460 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
22465 @subsection Group Info
22467 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
22468 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
22469 describes the group.
22471 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
22472 second is a more complex one:
22475 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
22477 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
22478 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
22480 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
22483 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
22484 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
22485 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
22486 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
22487 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
22488 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
22489 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
22490 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
22491 this section is about.
22493 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
22494 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
22495 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
22497 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
22500 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
22501 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
22502 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22503 group = quote <string> quote
22504 ralevel = rank / level
22505 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22506 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
22507 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22509 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
22510 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
22511 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
22512 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
22515 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
22516 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
22519 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
22520 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
22523 @item gnus-info-group
22524 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
22525 @findex gnus-info-group
22526 @findex gnus-info-set-group
22527 Get/set the group name.
22529 @item gnus-info-rank
22530 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
22531 @findex gnus-info-rank
22532 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
22533 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
22535 @item gnus-info-level
22536 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
22537 @findex gnus-info-level
22538 @findex gnus-info-set-level
22539 Get/set the group level.
22541 @item gnus-info-score
22542 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
22543 @findex gnus-info-score
22544 @findex gnus-info-set-score
22545 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
22547 @item gnus-info-read
22548 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
22549 @findex gnus-info-read
22550 @findex gnus-info-set-read
22551 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
22553 @item gnus-info-marks
22554 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
22555 @findex gnus-info-marks
22556 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
22557 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
22559 @item gnus-info-method
22560 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
22561 @findex gnus-info-method
22562 @findex gnus-info-set-method
22563 Get/set the group select method.
22565 @item gnus-info-params
22566 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
22567 @findex gnus-info-params
22568 @findex gnus-info-set-params
22569 Get/set the group parameters.
22572 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22573 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22575 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22576 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22577 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22578 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22581 @node Extended Interactive
22582 @subsection Extended Interactive
22583 @cindex interactive
22584 @findex gnus-interactive
22586 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22587 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22588 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22591 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22592 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22597 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22598 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22599 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22600 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22601 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22602 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22603 @code{interactive}.
22605 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22610 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22611 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22615 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22616 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22617 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22620 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22624 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22628 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22634 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22635 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22639 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22640 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22641 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22643 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22644 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22645 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22646 Gnus, that's very useful.
22648 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22649 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22650 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22651 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22652 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22653 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22654 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22655 following function:
22658 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22662 (,function ,@@args))
22666 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22667 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22668 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22671 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22672 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22673 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22675 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22676 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22677 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22680 @node Various File Formats
22681 @subsection Various File Formats
22684 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22685 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22689 @node Active File Format
22690 @subsubsection Active File Format
22692 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22693 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22696 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22699 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22700 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22701 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22702 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22703 no.general 1000 900 y
22706 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22709 active = *group-line
22710 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
22711 group = <non-white-space string>
22713 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22714 low-number = <positive integer>
22715 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22718 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22719 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22722 @node Newsgroups File Format
22723 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22725 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22726 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22727 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22730 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22731 Here's the definition:
22735 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22736 group = <non-white-space string>
22738 description = <string>
22743 @node Emacs for Heathens
22744 @section Emacs for Heathens
22746 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22747 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22748 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22749 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22750 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22751 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22752 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22756 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22757 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22762 @subsection Keystrokes
22766 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22769 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22772 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22773 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22774 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22775 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22776 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22777 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22779 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22780 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22781 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22782 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22783 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22784 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22785 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22787 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22788 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22789 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22790 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22791 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22792 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22793 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22795 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22796 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22797 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22798 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22799 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22805 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22807 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22808 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22809 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22810 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22812 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22813 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22814 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22815 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22816 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22817 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22818 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22821 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22822 write the following:
22825 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22828 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22829 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22830 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22833 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22834 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22835 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22836 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22837 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22839 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22840 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22841 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22845 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22849 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22852 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22853 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22856 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22859 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22860 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22863 @include gnus-faq.texi
22884 % LocalWords: Backend BNF mucho Backends backends detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
22885 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
22886 % LocalWords: nnmbox backend newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
22887 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
22888 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref