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14 Copyright @copyright{} 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
17 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
18 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
19 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
20 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual'',
21 and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
22 is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
24 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
25 modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
26 developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
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309 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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324 @dircategory Emacs network features
326 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
335 @title Gnus Manual (DEVELOPMENT VERSION)
337 @ifclear WEBHACKDEVEL
341 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
343 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
351 @top The Gnus Newsreader
355 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
356 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
357 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
360 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
361 This manual corresponds to Ma Gnus v0.4
376 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
377 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
379 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
380 being accused of plagiarism:
382 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
383 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
384 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
385 can even read news with it!
387 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
388 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
389 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
390 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
391 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
394 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
395 This manual corresponds to Ma Gnus v0.4
397 @heading Other related manuals
399 @item Message manual: Composing messages
400 @item Emacs-MIME: Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
401 @item Sieve: Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
402 @item PGG: @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
403 @item SASL: @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
409 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
410 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
411 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
412 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
413 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
414 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
415 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
416 * Searching:: Mail and News search engines.
417 * Various:: General purpose settings.
418 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
419 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
420 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
421 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
422 * Key Index:: Key Index.
424 Other related manuals
426 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
427 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
428 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
429 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
430 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
433 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
437 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
438 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
439 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
440 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
441 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
442 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
443 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
444 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
445 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
446 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
450 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
451 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
452 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
456 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
457 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
458 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
459 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
460 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
461 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
462 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
463 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
464 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
465 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
466 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
467 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
468 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
469 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
470 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
471 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
472 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
473 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
477 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
478 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
479 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
483 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
484 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
485 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
486 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
487 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
491 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
492 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
493 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
494 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
495 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
499 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
500 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
501 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
502 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
503 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
504 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
505 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
506 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
507 * Threading:: How threads are made.
508 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
509 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
510 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
511 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
512 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
513 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
514 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
515 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
516 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
517 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
518 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
519 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
520 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
521 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
522 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
523 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
524 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
525 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
526 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
527 or reselecting the current group.
528 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
529 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
530 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
531 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
533 Summary Buffer Format
535 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
536 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
537 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
538 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
542 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
543 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
545 Reply, Followup and Post
547 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
548 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
549 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
550 * Canceling and Superseding::
554 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
555 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
556 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
557 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
558 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
559 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
563 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
564 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
566 Customizing Threading
568 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
569 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
570 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
571 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
575 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
576 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
577 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
578 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
579 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
580 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
584 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
585 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
586 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
590 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
591 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
592 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
593 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
594 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
595 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
596 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
597 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
598 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys, Gravatars
599 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
600 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
602 Alternative Approaches
604 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
605 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
607 Various Summary Stuff
609 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
610 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
611 * Summary Generation Commands::
612 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
616 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
617 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
618 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
619 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
620 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
624 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
625 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
626 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
627 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
628 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
629 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
630 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
631 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
632 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
636 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
637 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
638 * Using IMAP:: Reading mail from @acronym{IMAP}.
639 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
640 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
641 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files.
642 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
643 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
644 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
648 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
649 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
650 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
651 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
652 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
653 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
654 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
658 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
659 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
663 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
664 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
665 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
669 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
670 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
671 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
672 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
673 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
674 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
675 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
676 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
677 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
678 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
679 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
680 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
681 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
685 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
686 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
687 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
689 Choosing a Mail Back End
691 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
692 * Babyl:: Babyl was used by older versions of Rmail.
693 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
694 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
695 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
696 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
697 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
702 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
703 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
704 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
708 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
709 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
710 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
711 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
712 * The Empty Backend:: The backend that never has any news.
716 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
720 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
724 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
725 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
726 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
730 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
731 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
732 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
734 The Gnus Diary Library
736 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
737 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
738 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
739 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
743 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
744 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
745 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
746 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
747 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
748 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
749 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
750 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
751 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
752 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
753 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
754 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
755 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
756 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
760 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
761 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
762 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
766 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
767 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
768 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
772 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
773 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
774 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
775 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
776 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
777 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
778 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
779 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
780 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
781 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
782 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
783 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
784 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
785 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
786 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
787 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
791 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
792 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
793 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
797 * nnir:: Searching with various engines.
798 * nnmairix:: Searching with Mairix.
802 * What is nnir?:: What does nnir do.
803 * Basic Usage:: How to perform simple searches.
804 * Setting up nnir:: How to set up nnir.
808 * Associating Engines:: How to associate engines.
812 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
813 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
814 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
815 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
816 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
817 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
818 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
819 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
820 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
821 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
822 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
823 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
824 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
825 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
826 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
827 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
828 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
829 * The Gnus Registry:: A package for tracking messages by Message-ID.
830 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
831 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
835 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
836 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
837 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
838 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
839 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
840 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
841 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
842 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
846 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
847 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
848 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were
850 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
851 * Gravatars:: Display the avatar of people you read.
852 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
856 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
857 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
858 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
859 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
863 * Spam Package Introduction::
864 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
865 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
866 * Spam and Ham Processors::
867 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
869 * Extending the Spam package::
870 * Spam Statistics Package::
872 Spam Statistics Package
874 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
875 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
876 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
880 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
881 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
882 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
883 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
884 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
885 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
886 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
887 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
888 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
892 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
893 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
894 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
895 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
896 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
897 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
898 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
899 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
903 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
904 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
905 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
906 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
907 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
908 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
909 * No Gnus:: Very punny. Gnus 5.12/5.13
910 * Ma Gnus:: Celebrating 25 years of Gnus.
914 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
915 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
916 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
917 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
921 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
922 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
923 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
924 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
925 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
926 * Group Info:: The group info format.
927 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
928 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
929 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
933 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
934 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
935 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
936 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
937 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
938 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
942 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
943 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
947 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
948 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
954 @chapter Starting Gnus
957 If you haven't used Emacs much before using Gnus, read @ref{Emacs for
962 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
963 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
964 your Emacs. If not, you should customize the variable
965 @code{gnus-select-method} as described in @ref{Finding the News}. For a
966 minimal setup for posting should also customize the variables
967 @code{user-full-name} and @code{user-mail-address}.
969 @findex gnus-other-frame
970 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
971 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
972 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
974 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
975 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
976 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
978 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
979 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
982 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
983 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
984 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
985 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
986 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
987 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
988 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
989 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
990 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
994 @node Finding the News
995 @section Finding the News
998 First of all, you should know that there is a special buffer called
999 @code{*Server*} that lists all the servers Gnus knows about. You can
1000 press @kbd{^} from the Group buffer to see it. In the Server buffer,
1001 you can press @kbd{RET} on a defined server to see all the groups it
1002 serves (subscribed or not!). You can also add or delete servers, edit
1003 a foreign server's definition, agentize or de-agentize a server, and
1004 do many other neat things. @xref{Server Buffer}.
1005 @xref{Foreign Groups}. @xref{Agent Basics}.
1007 @vindex gnus-select-method
1009 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
1010 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1011 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1012 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1013 secondary or foreign groups.
1015 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1016 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1019 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1022 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1025 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1028 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1029 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1030 server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
1031 server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1033 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1035 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1036 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1037 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1038 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1039 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1040 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1041 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1043 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1045 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1046 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1047 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1048 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1049 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1050 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1052 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1054 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1055 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1056 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1057 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1058 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1059 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1062 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1063 you would typically set this variable to
1066 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1071 @node The Server is Down
1072 @section The Server is Down
1073 @cindex server errors
1075 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1076 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1077 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1079 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1080 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1081 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1082 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1083 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1084 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1085 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1087 @findex gnus-no-server
1088 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1090 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1091 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1092 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1093 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1094 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1095 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1096 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1100 @section Slave Gnusae
1103 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1104 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1105 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1106 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1108 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1109 @file{.newsrc} file.
1111 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1112 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1113 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1114 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1115 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1116 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1117 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1120 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1121 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1122 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1123 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1124 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1125 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1126 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1127 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1129 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1130 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1132 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1133 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1134 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1135 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1136 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1143 @cindex subscription
1145 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1146 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1147 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1148 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1149 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1150 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1151 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1152 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1153 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1156 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1157 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1158 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1162 @node Checking New Groups
1163 @subsection Checking New Groups
1165 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing
1166 the list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of
1167 subscribed and dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method.
1168 If @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will
1169 ask the server for new groups since the last time. This is both
1170 faster and cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list
1171 of killed groups (@pxref{Group Levels}) altogether, so you may set
1172 @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to @code{nil}, which will save time both
1173 at startup, at exit, and all over. Saves disk space, too. Why isn't
1174 this the default, then? Unfortunately, not all servers support this
1177 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1178 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1179 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1180 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1181 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1182 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1183 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1184 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1185 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1186 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1187 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1189 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1190 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1191 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1192 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1193 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1194 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1197 @node Subscription Methods
1198 @subsection Subscription Methods
1200 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1201 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1202 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1204 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1205 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1207 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1211 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1212 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1213 Make all new groups zombies (@pxref{Group Levels}). This is the
1214 default. You can browse the zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either
1215 kill them all off properly (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them
1218 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1219 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1220 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1221 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1223 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1224 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1225 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1227 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1229 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1230 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1231 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1232 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1233 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1234 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1235 up. Or something like that.
1237 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1238 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1239 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1240 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1241 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1243 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1245 Kill all new groups.
1247 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1248 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1249 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1250 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1251 topic parameter that looks like
1257 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1260 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1265 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1266 A closely related variable is
1267 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1268 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1269 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1270 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1273 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1274 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1275 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1276 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1279 @node Filtering New Groups
1280 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1282 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1283 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1284 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1287 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1290 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1291 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1292 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1293 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1294 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1295 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1296 subscribing these groups.
1297 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1298 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1300 The ``options -n'' format is very simplistic. The syntax above is all
1301 that is supports -- you can force-subscribe hierarchies, or you can
1302 deny hierarchies, and that's it.
1304 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1305 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1306 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1307 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1308 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1309 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1310 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1311 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1313 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1314 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1315 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1316 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1317 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1318 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1319 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1320 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1321 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, @code{nnimap}, and
1322 @code{nnmaildir}) subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this
1323 variable to @code{nil}.
1325 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-categories
1326 As if that wasn't enough, @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-categories} also
1327 allows you to specify that new groups should be subscribed based on the
1328 category their select methods belong to. The default is @samp{(mail
1329 post-mail)}, meaning that all new groups from mail-like backends
1330 should be subscribed automatically.
1332 New groups that match these variables are subscribed using
1333 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1336 @node Changing Servers
1337 @section Changing Servers
1338 @cindex changing servers
1340 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1341 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1342 very flaky and you want to use another.
1344 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1345 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1349 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1350 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1351 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1352 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1355 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1356 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1357 You can use the @kbd{M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups}
1358 command to clear out all data that you have on your native groups.
1361 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1362 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1363 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1364 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1366 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1367 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1368 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1369 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1370 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1371 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1372 cache for all groups).
1376 @section Startup Files
1377 @cindex startup files
1382 Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
1383 @file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
1384 groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
1387 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1388 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1389 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1390 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1391 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1392 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1393 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1395 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1396 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1397 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1398 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1399 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1400 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1402 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1403 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1404 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1405 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1406 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1407 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1408 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1409 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1410 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
1411 convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
1412 want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
1415 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1416 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1417 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1418 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1419 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1420 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1421 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1422 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1423 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1424 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1425 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1426 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1428 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1429 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1430 @vindex version-control
1431 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1432 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1433 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1434 If you want to keep multiple numbered backups of this file, set
1435 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1436 @code{version-control} variable.
1438 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1439 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1440 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1441 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1442 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1443 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1444 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1445 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1446 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1447 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1450 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1451 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1453 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1454 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1457 @vindex gnus-init-file
1458 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1459 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1460 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus-init} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1461 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1462 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1463 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1464 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1465 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1466 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1467 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order). If Emacs was invoked with
1468 the @option{-q} or @option{--no-init-file} options (@pxref{Initial
1469 Options, ,Initial Options, emacs, The Emacs Manual}), Gnus doesn't read
1470 @code{gnus-init-file}.
1475 @cindex dribble file
1478 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1479 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1480 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1481 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1482 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1485 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1486 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1489 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1490 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1491 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1493 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1494 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1495 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1496 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1497 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1498 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1500 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1501 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1502 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1505 @node The Active File
1506 @section The Active File
1508 @cindex ignored groups
1510 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1511 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1512 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1514 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1515 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1516 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1517 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1518 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1519 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1520 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1523 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1524 @c if you set it to anything else.
1526 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1528 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1529 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1530 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1532 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1533 you actually subscribe to.
1535 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1536 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1537 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1538 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1540 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1541 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1542 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1543 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1544 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1545 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1547 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1548 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1549 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1552 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1553 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1554 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1555 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1556 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1557 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1559 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1560 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1562 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1563 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1565 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1566 secondary select methods.
1569 @node Startup Variables
1570 @section Startup Variables
1574 @item gnus-load-hook
1575 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1576 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1577 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1578 times you start Gnus.
1580 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1581 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1582 A hook called as the first thing when Gnus is started.
1584 @item gnus-startup-hook
1585 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1586 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1588 @item gnus-started-hook
1589 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1590 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1593 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1594 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1595 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1596 generating the group buffer.
1598 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1599 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1600 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1601 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1602 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1603 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1604 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1605 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1607 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1608 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1609 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1610 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1611 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1612 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1614 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1615 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1616 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1618 @item gnus-use-backend-marks
1619 @vindex gnus-use-backend-marks
1620 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will store article marks both in the
1621 @file{.newsrc.eld} file and in the backends. This will slow down
1622 group operation some.
1628 @chapter Group Buffer
1629 @cindex group buffer
1631 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1633 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1634 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1635 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1636 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1637 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1638 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1639 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1640 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1641 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1642 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1643 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1644 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1645 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1646 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1647 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1648 @c human rights at 9...
1651 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1652 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1653 long as Gnus is active.
1657 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1658 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1659 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1660 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1661 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1662 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1663 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1664 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1670 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1671 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1672 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1673 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1674 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1675 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1676 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1677 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1678 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1679 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1680 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1681 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1682 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1683 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1684 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1685 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1686 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
1687 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1691 @node Group Buffer Format
1692 @section Group Buffer Format
1695 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1696 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1697 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1700 You can customize the Group Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
1701 customize-apropos RET gnus-group-tool-bar}. This feature is only
1704 The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly depending on the
1705 cursor position. Therefore, moving around in the Group Buffer is
1706 slower. You can disable this via the variable
1707 @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}. Its default value depends on your
1710 @node Group Line Specification
1711 @subsection Group Line Specification
1712 @cindex group buffer format
1714 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1715 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1717 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1720 25: news.announce.newusers
1721 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1726 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1727 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1728 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1729 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1731 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1732 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1733 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1734 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1735 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1736 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1738 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1740 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1741 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1742 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1743 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1744 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1746 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1747 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1748 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1750 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1755 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1758 Whether the group is subscribed.
1761 Level of subscribedness.
1764 Number of unread articles.
1767 Number of dormant articles.
1770 Number of ticked articles.
1773 Number of read articles.
1776 Number of unseen articles.
1779 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1780 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1782 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1783 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1784 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1785 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1786 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1787 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1788 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job.
1790 The nnml backend (@pxref{Mail Spool}) has a feature called ``group
1791 compaction'' which circumvents this deficiency: the idea is to
1792 renumber all articles from 1, removing all gaps between numbers, hence
1793 getting a correct total count. Other backends may support this in the
1794 future. In order to keep your total article count relatively up to
1795 date, you might want to compact your groups (or even directly your
1796 server) from time to time. @xref{Misc Group Stuff}, @xref{Server Commands}.
1799 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1802 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1811 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1812 comment element in the group parameters.
1815 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1816 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1817 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1821 @samp{m} if moderated.
1824 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1830 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1836 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1840 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1843 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1844 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1845 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1846 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1847 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1850 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1852 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1856 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1859 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1863 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1864 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1865 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1866 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1869 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1870 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1871 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1872 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1873 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1874 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1879 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1880 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1881 group, or a bogus native group.
1884 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1885 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1886 @cindex group mode line
1888 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1889 The mode line can be changed by setting
1890 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1891 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1895 The native news server.
1897 The native select method.
1901 @node Group Highlighting
1902 @subsection Group Highlighting
1903 @cindex highlighting
1904 @cindex group highlighting
1906 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1907 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1908 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1909 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1910 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1912 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1916 (cond (window-system
1917 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1918 (defface my-group-face-1
1919 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1920 (defface my-group-face-2
1921 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1922 "Second group face")
1923 (defface my-group-face-3
1924 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1925 (defface my-group-face-4
1926 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1927 (defface my-group-face-5
1928 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1930 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1931 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1932 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1933 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1934 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1935 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1938 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1940 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1947 The number of unread articles in the group.
1951 Whether the group is a mail group.
1953 The level of the group.
1955 The score of the group.
1957 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1959 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1960 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1962 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1963 topic being inserted.
1966 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1967 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1968 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1970 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1971 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1972 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1973 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
1976 @node Group Maneuvering
1977 @section Group Maneuvering
1978 @cindex group movement
1980 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1981 expected, hopefully.
1987 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1988 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1989 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1995 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1996 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1997 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2001 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2002 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2006 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2007 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2011 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2012 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2013 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2017 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2018 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2019 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2022 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2028 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2029 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2030 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2035 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2036 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2037 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2041 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2042 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2043 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2046 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2047 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2048 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2049 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2052 @vindex gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit
2053 If @code{gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit} is @code{t}, when a summary is
2054 exited, the point in the group buffer is moved to the next unread group.
2055 Otherwise, the point is set to the group just exited. The default is
2058 @node Selecting a Group
2059 @section Selecting a Group
2060 @cindex group selection
2065 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2066 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2067 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2068 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2069 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2070 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2071 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2072 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2073 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2074 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2076 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2077 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2078 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2080 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2081 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2086 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2087 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2088 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2089 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2090 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2094 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2095 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2096 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2097 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2098 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2099 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2100 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2101 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2102 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2103 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2106 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2107 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2108 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2109 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2110 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2113 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2114 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2115 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2116 doing any processing of its contents
2117 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2118 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2119 manner will have no permanent effects.
2123 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2124 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2125 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2126 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2127 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2128 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2129 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2130 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2131 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2132 most recently will be fetched.
2134 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2135 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2136 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2139 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles
2140 In groups in some news servers, there might be a big gap between a few
2141 very old articles that will never be expired and the recent ones. In
2142 such a case, the server will return the data like @code{(1 . 30000000)}
2143 for the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, for example. Even if there
2144 are actually only the articles 1-10 and 29999900-30000000, Gnus doesn't
2145 know it at first and prepares for getting 30000000 articles. However,
2146 it will consume hundreds megabytes of memories and might make Emacs get
2147 stuck as the case may be. If you use such news servers, set the
2148 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} to a positive number.
2149 The value means that Gnus ignores articles other than this number of the
2150 latest ones in every group. For instance, the value 10000 makes Gnus
2151 get only the articles 29990001-30000000 (if the latest article number is
2152 30000000 in a group). Note that setting this variable to a number might
2153 prevent you from reading very old articles. The default value of the
2154 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} is @code{nil}, which
2155 means Gnus never ignores old articles.
2157 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2158 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2159 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2160 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2161 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2162 Which article this is controlled by the
2163 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2169 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2172 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2175 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2177 @item unseen-or-unread
2178 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2179 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2183 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2187 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2188 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2190 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2191 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2192 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2193 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2197 @node Subscription Commands
2198 @section Subscription Commands
2199 @cindex subscription
2201 The following commands allow for managing your subscriptions in the
2202 Group buffer. If you want to subscribe to many groups, it's probably
2203 more convenient to go to the @ref{Server Buffer}, and choose the
2204 server there using @kbd{RET} or @kbd{SPC}. Then you'll have the
2205 commands listed in @ref{Browse Foreign Server} at hand.
2213 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2214 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2215 Toggle subscription to the current group
2216 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2222 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2223 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2224 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2225 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2231 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2232 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2233 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2239 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2240 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2243 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2244 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2245 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2246 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2247 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2253 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2254 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2258 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2259 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2262 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2263 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2264 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2265 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2266 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2267 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2268 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2269 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2270 @file{.newsrc} file.
2274 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2284 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2285 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2286 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2287 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2288 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2289 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2294 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2295 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2296 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2300 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2301 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2302 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2304 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2305 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2306 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2307 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2308 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2309 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2316 @section Group Levels
2320 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2321 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2322 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2323 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2324 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2326 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2332 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2333 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2334 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2335 prompted for a level.
2338 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2339 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2340 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2341 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2342 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2343 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2344 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2345 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2346 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2347 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2348 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2349 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2350 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2351 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2352 reasons of efficiency.
2354 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2355 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2357 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2358 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2359 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2360 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2361 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2362 groups are hidden, in a way.
2364 @cindex zombie groups
2365 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2366 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2367 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2368 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2369 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2370 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2372 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2373 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2374 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2375 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2376 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2377 list of killed groups.)
2379 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2380 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2381 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2383 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2384 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2385 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2386 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2387 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2388 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2389 relevant valid ranges.
2391 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2392 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2393 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2394 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2395 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2396 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2399 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2400 one with the best level.
2402 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2403 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2404 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2406 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2407 be called and the result will be used as value.
2410 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2411 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2412 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2413 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2416 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2417 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2418 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2419 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2421 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2422 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2423 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2424 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2425 to 5. The default is 6.
2429 @section Group Score
2434 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2435 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2436 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2439 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2440 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2441 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2442 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2443 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2444 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2445 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2446 least significant part.))
2448 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2449 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2450 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2451 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2452 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2453 action after each summary exit, you can add
2454 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2455 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2456 slow things down somewhat.
2459 @node Marking Groups
2460 @section Marking Groups
2461 @cindex marking groups
2463 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2464 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2465 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2466 bidding on those groups.
2468 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2469 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2470 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2478 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2479 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2485 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2486 Remove the mark from the current group
2487 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2491 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2492 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2496 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2497 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2501 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2502 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2506 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2507 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2508 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2511 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2513 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2514 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2515 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2516 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2517 the command to be executed.
2520 @node Foreign Groups
2521 @section Foreign Groups
2522 @cindex foreign groups
2524 If you recall how to subscribe to servers (@pxref{Finding the News})
2525 you will remember that @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} and
2526 @code{gnus-select-method} let you write a definition in Emacs Lisp of
2527 what servers you want to see when you start up. The alternate
2528 approach is to use foreign servers and groups. ``Foreign'' here means
2529 they are not coming from the select methods. All foreign server
2530 configuration and subscriptions are stored only in the
2531 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file.
2533 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2534 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2535 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2536 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2539 Changes from the group editing commands are stored in
2540 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} (@code{gnus-startup-file}). An alternative is the
2541 variable @code{gnus-parameters}, @xref{Group Parameters}.
2547 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2548 @cindex making groups
2549 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2550 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2551 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2555 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2556 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2557 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2561 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2562 @cindex renaming groups
2563 Rename the current group to something else
2564 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2565 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2571 @findex gnus-group-customize
2572 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2576 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2577 @cindex renaming groups
2578 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2579 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2583 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2584 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2585 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2589 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2590 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2591 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2595 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2597 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2598 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2603 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2604 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2608 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2610 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2611 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2612 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2616 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2617 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2619 Make a group based on some file or other
2620 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2621 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2622 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2623 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2624 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2625 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2626 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2627 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2628 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2632 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2633 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2634 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2635 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2639 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2643 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2644 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2645 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2646 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2647 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2648 @xref{Web Searches}.
2650 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2651 to a particular group by using a match string like
2652 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2656 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2657 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2658 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2662 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2663 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2664 This function will delete the current group
2665 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2666 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2667 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2668 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2669 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2673 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2674 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2675 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2679 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2680 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2681 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2684 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2687 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2688 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2689 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2690 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2691 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2692 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2696 The following commands create ephemeral groups. They can be called not
2697 only from the Group buffer, but in any Gnus buffer.
2700 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2701 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2702 @vindex gnus-gmane-group-download-format
2703 Read an ephemeral group on Gmane.org. The articles are downloaded via
2704 HTTP using the URL specified by @code{gnus-gmane-group-download-format}.
2705 Gnus will prompt you for a group name, the start article number and an
2708 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2709 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2710 This command is similar to @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group}, but
2711 the group name and the article number and range are constructed from a
2712 given @acronym{URL}. Supported @acronym{URL} formats include e.g.
2713 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12300/focus=12399},
2714 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2715 @url{http://article.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2716 @url{http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/}, and
2717 @url{http://news.gmane.org/group/gmane.foo.bar/thread=12345}.
2719 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2720 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2721 Read an Emacs bug report in an ephemeral group. Gnus will prompt for a
2722 bug number. The default is the number at point. The @acronym{URL} is
2723 specified in @code{gnus-bug-group-download-format-alist}.
2725 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2726 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2727 Read a Debian bug report in an ephemeral group. Analog to
2728 @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group}.
2731 Some of these command are also useful for article buttons, @xref{Article
2739 '("#\\([0-9]+\\)\\>" 1
2740 (string-match "\\<emacs\\>" (or gnus-newsgroup-name ""))
2741 gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group 1))
2745 @node Group Parameters
2746 @section Group Parameters
2747 @cindex group parameters
2749 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2751 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2752 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2753 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2754 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2755 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2756 Additionally, you can set group parameters via the
2757 @code{gnus-parameters} variable, see below.
2759 Here's an example group parameter list:
2762 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2766 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2767 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2768 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2769 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2771 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2772 is an alist of regexps and values.
2774 The following group parameters can be used:
2779 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2782 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2785 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2786 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2787 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2788 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2789 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2791 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2792 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2793 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2794 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2795 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2796 list address instead.
2798 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2802 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2805 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2808 It is totally ignored
2809 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2810 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2812 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2813 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2814 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2815 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2816 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2818 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2819 @cindex mail list groups
2820 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2821 entering summary buffer.
2823 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2828 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2829 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2830 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2831 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2832 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2833 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2834 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2835 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2838 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2839 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2842 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2843 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2847 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2848 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2849 of whether it has any unread articles.
2851 This parameter cannot be set via @code{gnus-parameters}. See
2852 @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.
2854 @item broken-reply-to
2855 @cindex broken-reply-to
2856 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2857 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2858 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2859 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2860 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2861 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2865 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2866 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2870 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2871 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2872 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2877 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2878 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2879 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2880 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2881 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2882 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2883 (@pxref{Archived Messages}), with the exception for messages to resend.
2885 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2886 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2887 doesn't accept articles.
2891 @cindex expiring mail
2892 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2893 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2894 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2896 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2899 @cindex total-expire
2900 @cindex expiring mail
2901 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2902 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2903 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2904 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2907 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2911 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2912 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2913 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2914 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2915 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2916 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2917 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2920 @cindex expiry-target
2921 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2922 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2925 @cindex score file group parameter
2926 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2927 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2928 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2931 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2932 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2933 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2934 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2937 @cindex admin-address
2938 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2939 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2940 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2941 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2945 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2946 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2950 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2953 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2954 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2957 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2961 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2963 Here are some examples:
2967 Display only unread articles.
2970 Display everything except expirable articles.
2972 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2973 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2977 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2978 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2979 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2980 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2981 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, and @code{unseen}.
2985 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2986 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2987 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2991 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2992 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2993 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2997 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2998 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2999 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
3001 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
3003 @item ignored-charsets
3004 @cindex ignored-charset
3005 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
3006 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
3007 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
3009 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
3012 @cindex posting-style
3013 You can store additional posting style information for this group
3014 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
3015 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
3016 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
3017 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
3019 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
3020 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
3021 like this in the group parameters:
3026 ("X-Message-SMTP-Method" "smtp smtp.example.org 587")
3027 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
3028 (signature "Funky Signature"))
3031 If you're using topics to organize your group buffer
3032 (@pxref{Group Topics}), note that posting styles can also be set in
3033 the topics parameters. Posting styles in topic parameters apply to all
3034 groups in this topic. More precisely, the posting-style settings for a
3035 group result from the hierarchical merging of all posting-style
3036 entries in the parameters of this group and all the topics it belongs
3042 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
3043 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
3047 If it is set, and the setting of @code{mail-sources} includes a
3048 @code{group} mail source (@pxref{Mail Sources}), the value is a
3049 mail source for this group.
3053 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
3054 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
3055 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
3056 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
3057 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
3061 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
3062 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
3063 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
3064 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3066 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3067 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3068 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3069 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3072 if address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com" @{
3073 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3077 To generate tests for multiple email-addresses use a group parameter
3078 like @code{(sieve address "sender" ("name@@one.org" else@@two.org"))}.
3079 When generating a sieve script (@pxref{Sieve Commands}) Sieve code
3080 like the following is generated:
3083 if address "sender" ["name@@one.org", "else@@two.org"] @{
3084 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3088 See @pxref{Sieve Commands} for commands and variables that might be of
3089 interest in relation to the sieve parameter.
3091 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3092 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3094 @item (agent parameters)
3095 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of its parameters to
3096 control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3097 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3098 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3099 minimize the configuration effort.
3101 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3102 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3103 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3104 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3105 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3106 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3107 @code{eval}ed there.
3109 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer
3110 if and only if @var{variable} has been bound as a variable. Otherwise,
3111 only evaluating the form will take place. So, you may want to bind the
3112 variable in advance using @code{defvar} or other if the result of the
3113 form needs to be set to it.
3115 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3116 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3117 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3118 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3119 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3120 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3121 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3124 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3127 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3128 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3129 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3132 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3135 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3136 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3137 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3138 into the group parameters for the group.
3140 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function. If you want to
3141 hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put something like
3142 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group. If
3143 @code{dummy-variable} has been bound (see above), it will be set to the
3144 (meaningless) result of the @code{(ding)} form.
3146 Alternatively, since the VARIABLE becomes local to the group, this
3147 pattern can be used to temporarily change a hook. For example, if the
3148 following is added to a group parameter
3151 (gnus-summary-prepared-hook
3152 '(lambda nil (local-set-key "d" (local-key-binding "n"))))
3155 when the group is entered, the 'd' key will not mark the article as
3160 @vindex gnus-parameters
3161 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3162 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect (For this
3163 case see @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.).
3167 (setq gnus-parameters
3169 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3170 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3171 (gnus-summary-line-format
3172 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3176 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3180 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3184 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3187 All clauses that matches the group name will be used, but the last
3188 setting ``wins''. So if you have two clauses that both match the
3189 group name, and both set, say @code{display}, the last setting will
3192 Parameters that are strings will be subjected to regexp substitution,
3193 as the @code{to-group} example shows.
3195 @vindex gnus-parameters-case-fold-search
3196 By default, whether comparing the group name and one of those regexps
3197 specified in @code{gnus-parameters} is done in a case-sensitive manner
3198 or a case-insensitive manner depends on the value of
3199 @code{case-fold-search} at the time when the comparison is done. The
3200 value of @code{case-fold-search} is typically @code{t}; it means, for
3201 example, the element @code{("INBOX\\.FOO" (total-expire . t))} might be
3202 applied to both the @samp{INBOX.FOO} group and the @samp{INBOX.foo}
3203 group. If you want to make those regexps always case-sensitive, set the
3204 value of the @code{gnus-parameters-case-fold-search} variable to
3205 @code{nil}. Otherwise, set it to @code{t} if you want to compare them
3206 always in a case-insensitive manner.
3208 You can define different sorting to different groups via
3209 @code{gnus-parameters}. Here is an example to sort an @acronym{NNTP}
3210 group by reverse date to see the latest news at the top and an
3211 @acronym{RSS} group by subject. In this example, the first group is the
3212 Debian daily news group @code{gmane.linux.debian.user.news} from
3213 news.gmane.org. The @acronym{RSS} group corresponds to the Debian
3214 weekly news RSS feed
3215 @url{http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main.en.rdf},
3221 '(("nntp.*gmane\\.debian\\.user\\.news"
3222 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3223 (gnus-article-sort-functions '((not gnus-article-sort-by-date)))
3224 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3225 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
3227 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3228 (gnus-article-sort-functions 'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
3229 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3230 (gnus-use-scoring t)
3231 (gnus-score-find-score-files-function 'gnus-score-find-single)
3232 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s %]%)\n"))))
3236 @node Listing Groups
3237 @section Listing Groups
3238 @cindex group listing
3240 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3248 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3249 List all groups that have unread articles
3250 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3251 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3252 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3253 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3260 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3261 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3262 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3263 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3264 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3265 unsubscribed groups).
3269 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3270 List all unread groups on a specific level
3271 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3272 with no unread articles.
3276 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3277 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3278 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3279 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3284 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3285 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3289 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3290 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3291 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3295 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3296 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3300 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3301 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3302 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3303 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3304 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3305 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3306 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3307 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3311 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3312 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3313 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3317 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3318 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3319 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3323 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3324 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3328 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3329 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3333 @findex gnus-group-list-ticked
3334 List all groups with ticked articles (@code{gnus-group-list-ticked}).
3338 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3339 Further limit groups within the current selection
3340 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}). If you've first limited to groups
3341 with dormant articles with @kbd{A ?}, you can then further limit with
3342 @kbd{A / c}, which will then limit to groups with cached articles,
3343 giving you the groups that have both dormant articles and cached
3348 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3349 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3353 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3354 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3358 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3359 @cindex visible group parameter
3360 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3361 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3362 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3363 get the same effect.
3365 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3366 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3367 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3368 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3369 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3372 @node Sorting Groups
3373 @section Sorting Groups
3374 @cindex sorting groups
3376 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3377 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3378 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3379 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3380 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3381 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3386 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3387 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3388 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3390 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3391 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3392 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3394 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3395 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3396 Sort by group level.
3398 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3399 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3400 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3402 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3403 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3404 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3405 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3407 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3408 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3409 Sort by number of unread articles.
3411 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3412 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3413 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3415 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3416 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3417 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3422 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3423 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3427 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3428 some sorting criteria:
3432 @kindex G S a (Group)
3433 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3434 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3435 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3438 @kindex G S u (Group)
3439 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3440 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3441 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3444 @kindex G S l (Group)
3445 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3446 Sort the group buffer by group level
3447 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3450 @kindex G S v (Group)
3451 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3452 Sort the group buffer by group score
3453 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3456 @kindex G S r (Group)
3457 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3458 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3459 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3462 @kindex G S m (Group)
3463 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3464 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3465 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3468 @kindex G S n (Group)
3469 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3470 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3471 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3475 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3476 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3478 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3479 commands will sort in reverse order.
3481 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3485 @kindex G P a (Group)
3486 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3487 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3488 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3491 @kindex G P u (Group)
3492 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3493 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3494 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3497 @kindex G P l (Group)
3498 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3499 Sort the groups by group level
3500 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3503 @kindex G P v (Group)
3504 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3505 Sort the groups by group score
3506 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3509 @kindex G P r (Group)
3510 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3511 Sort the groups by group rank
3512 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3515 @kindex G P m (Group)
3516 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3517 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3518 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3521 @kindex G P n (Group)
3522 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3523 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3524 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3527 @kindex G P s (Group)
3528 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3529 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3533 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3537 @node Group Maintenance
3538 @section Group Maintenance
3539 @cindex bogus groups
3544 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3545 Find bogus groups and delete them
3546 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3550 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3551 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3552 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3553 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3554 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3558 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3559 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3560 @cindex expiring mail
3561 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3562 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3563 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3564 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3567 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3568 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3569 @cindex expiring mail
3570 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3571 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3576 @node Browse Foreign Server
3577 @section Browse Foreign Server
3578 @cindex foreign servers
3579 @cindex browsing servers
3584 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3585 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3586 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3587 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3590 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3591 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3592 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3593 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3595 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3600 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3601 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3605 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3606 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3609 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3610 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3611 Enter the current group and display the first article
3612 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3615 @kindex RET (Browse)
3616 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3617 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3621 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3622 @vindex gnus-browse-subscribe-newsgroup-method
3623 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3624 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}). You
3625 can affect the way the new group is entered into the Group buffer
3626 using the variable @code{gnus-browse-subscribe-newsgroup-method}. See
3627 @pxref{Subscription Methods} for available options.
3633 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3634 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3638 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3639 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3643 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3644 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3645 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3650 @section Exiting Gnus
3651 @cindex exiting Gnus
3653 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3658 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3659 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3660 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3661 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3665 @findex gnus-group-exit
3666 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3667 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3671 @findex gnus-group-quit
3672 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3673 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3676 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3677 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3678 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3679 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3680 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3681 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3687 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3688 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3689 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3695 @section Group Topics
3698 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3699 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3700 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3701 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3702 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3703 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3707 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3708 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3719 2: alt.religion.emacs
3722 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3724 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3725 13: comp.sources.unix
3728 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3730 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3731 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3732 is a toggling command.)
3734 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3735 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3736 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3737 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3740 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3741 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3742 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3745 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3749 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3750 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3751 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3752 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3753 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3757 @node Topic Commands
3758 @subsection Topic Commands
3759 @cindex topic commands
3761 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3762 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3763 definitions slightly.
3765 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3766 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3767 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3768 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3769 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3770 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3772 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3779 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3780 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3781 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3785 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3787 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3788 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3789 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3790 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3793 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3794 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3795 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3796 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3800 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3801 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3802 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3803 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3809 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3810 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3811 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3815 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3816 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3817 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3820 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3821 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3822 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3823 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3824 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3826 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3827 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3831 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3832 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3839 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3841 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3842 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3843 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3844 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3845 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3846 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3850 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3856 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3857 Move the current group to some other topic
3858 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3859 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3863 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3864 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3868 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3869 Copy the current group to some other topic
3870 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3871 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3875 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3876 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3877 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3881 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3882 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3883 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3887 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3888 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3889 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3890 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3891 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3892 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3893 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3896 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3897 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3901 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3902 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3903 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3907 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3908 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3909 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3913 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3914 Toggle hiding empty topics
3915 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3919 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3920 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3921 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3922 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3925 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3926 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3927 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3928 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3929 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3932 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3933 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3934 @cindex expiring mail
3935 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3936 expiry process (if any)
3937 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3941 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3942 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3945 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3946 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3947 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3951 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3952 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3953 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3956 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3957 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3958 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3961 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3962 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3963 Go to the previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3967 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3968 @cindex group parameters
3969 @cindex topic parameters
3971 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3972 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3977 @node Topic Variables
3978 @subsection Topic Variables
3979 @cindex topic variables
3981 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3982 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3984 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3985 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3986 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3999 Number of groups in the topic.
4001 Number of unread articles in the topic.
4003 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
4006 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
4007 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
4008 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
4011 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
4012 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
4014 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
4015 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
4016 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
4020 @subsection Topic Sorting
4021 @cindex topic sorting
4023 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
4029 @kindex T S a (Topic)
4030 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
4031 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
4032 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
4035 @kindex T S u (Topic)
4036 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
4037 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
4038 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
4041 @kindex T S l (Topic)
4042 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
4043 Sort the current topic by group level
4044 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
4047 @kindex T S v (Topic)
4048 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
4049 Sort the current topic by group score
4050 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
4053 @kindex T S r (Topic)
4054 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
4055 Sort the current topic by group rank
4056 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
4059 @kindex T S m (Topic)
4060 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
4061 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
4062 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
4065 @kindex T S e (Topic)
4066 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
4067 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
4068 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
4071 @kindex T S s (Topic)
4072 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
4073 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
4074 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
4075 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
4079 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
4080 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
4084 @node Topic Topology
4085 @subsection Topic Topology
4086 @cindex topic topology
4089 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
4096 2: alt.religion.emacs
4099 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4101 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4102 13: comp.sources.unix
4106 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
4107 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
4108 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
4113 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
4114 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
4118 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
4119 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
4120 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
4121 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
4122 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
4123 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
4125 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
4126 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
4127 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
4130 @node Topic Parameters
4131 @subsection Topic Parameters
4132 @cindex topic parameters
4134 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
4135 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
4136 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
4137 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
4138 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
4140 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
4145 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4146 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4147 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4150 @item subscribe-level
4151 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4152 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4153 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4157 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4158 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4159 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4160 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4167 2: alt.religion.emacs
4171 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4173 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4174 13: comp.sources.unix
4179 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4180 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4181 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4182 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4183 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4184 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4186 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4187 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4188 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4189 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4190 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4192 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4193 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4194 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4195 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4196 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4197 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4198 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4199 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4202 @node Non-ASCII Group Names
4203 @section Accessing groups of non-English names
4204 @cindex non-ascii group names
4206 There are some news servers that provide groups of which the names are
4207 expressed with their native languages in the world. For instance, in a
4208 certain news server there are some newsgroups of which the names are
4209 spelled in Chinese, where people are talking in Chinese. You can, of
4210 course, subscribe to such news groups using Gnus. Currently Gnus
4211 supports non-@acronym{ASCII} group names not only with the @code{nntp}
4212 back end but also with the @code{nnml} back end and the @code{nnrss}
4215 Every such group name is encoded by a certain charset in the server
4216 side (in an @acronym{NNTP} server its administrator determines the
4217 charset, but for groups in the other back ends it is determined by you).
4218 Gnus has to display the decoded ones for you in the group buffer and the
4219 article buffer, and needs to use the encoded ones when communicating
4220 with servers. However, Gnus doesn't know what charset is used for each
4221 non-@acronym{ASCII} group name. The following two variables are just
4222 the ones for telling Gnus what charset should be used for each group:
4225 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4226 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4227 An alist of select methods and charsets. The default value is
4228 @code{nil}. The names of groups in the server specified by that select
4229 method are all supposed to use the corresponding charset. For example:
4232 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4233 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4236 Charsets specified for groups with this variable are preferred to the
4237 ones specified for the same groups with the
4238 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} variable (see below).
4240 A select method can be very long, like:
4244 (nntp-address "news.gmane.org")
4245 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
4246 (nntp-open-connection-function
4247 nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
4248 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
4249 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
4250 ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
4251 (nntp-via-address @dots{}))
4254 In that case, you can truncate it into @code{(nntp "gmane")} in this
4255 variable. That is, it is enough to contain only the back end name and
4258 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4259 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4260 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4261 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
4262 @code{((".*" . utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported,
4263 otherwise the default is @code{nil}. For example:
4266 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4267 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)
4271 Note that this variable is ignored if the match is made with
4272 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist}.
4275 Those two variables are used also to determine the charset for encoding
4276 and decoding non-@acronym{ASCII} group names that are in the back ends
4277 other than @code{nntp}. It means that it is you who determine it. If
4278 you do nothing, the charset used for group names in those back ends will
4279 all be @code{utf-8} because of the last element of
4280 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4282 There is one more important variable for non-@acronym{ASCII} group
4286 @item nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4287 @vindex nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4288 The value of this variable should be a coding system or @code{nil}. The
4289 default is @code{nil} in Emacs, or is the aliasee of the coding system
4290 named @code{file-name} (a certain coding system of which an alias is
4291 @code{file-name}) in XEmacs.
4293 The @code{nnml} back end, the @code{nnrss} back end, the agent, and
4294 the cache use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names in those files and
4295 directories. This variable overrides the value of
4296 @code{file-name-coding-system} which specifies the coding system used
4297 when encoding and decoding those file names and directory names.
4299 In XEmacs (with the @code{mule} feature), @code{file-name-coding-system}
4300 is the only means to specify the coding system used to encode and decode
4301 file names. On the other hand, Emacs uses the value of
4302 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} if @code{file-name-coding-system}
4303 is @code{nil} or it is bound to the value of
4304 @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} which is @code{nil}.
4306 Normally the value of @code{default-file-name-coding-system} in Emacs or
4307 @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} in XEmacs is initialized according
4308 to the locale, so you will need to do nothing if the value is suitable
4309 to encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4311 The value of this variable (or @code{default-file-name-coding-system})
4312 does not necessarily need to be the same value that is determined by
4313 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} and
4314 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4316 If @code{default-file-name-coding-system} or this variable is
4317 initialized by default to @code{iso-latin-1} for example, although you
4318 want to subscribe to the groups spelled in Chinese, that is the most
4319 typical case where you have to customize
4320 @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}. The @code{utf-8} coding system is
4321 a good candidate for it. Otherwise, you may change the locale in your
4322 system so that @code{default-file-name-coding-system} or this variable
4323 may be initialized to an appropriate value.
4326 Note that when you copy or move articles from a non-@acronym{ASCII}
4327 group to another group, the charset used to encode and decode group
4328 names should be the same in both groups. Otherwise the Newsgroups
4329 header will be displayed incorrectly in the article buffer.
4332 @node Misc Group Stuff
4333 @section Misc Group Stuff
4336 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4337 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4338 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4339 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4340 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4347 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Group)
4348 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4349 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4352 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map (kbd "v j d")
4355 (gnus-group-jump-to-group "nndraft:drafts")))
4358 On keys reserved for users in Emacs and on keybindings in general
4359 @xref{Keymaps, Keymaps, , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.
4363 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4364 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4365 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4369 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4370 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4371 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4372 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4373 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4374 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4375 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4379 @findex gnus-group-mail
4380 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4381 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4382 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4383 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4387 @findex gnus-group-news
4388 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4389 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4390 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4392 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4393 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4394 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4395 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4396 for this to work though.
4400 @findex gnus-group-compact-group
4402 Compact the group under point (@code{gnus-group-compact-group}).
4403 Currently implemented only in nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes
4404 gaps between article numbers, hence getting a correct total article
4409 Variables for the group buffer:
4413 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4414 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4415 is called after the group buffer has been
4418 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4419 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4420 is called after the group buffer is
4421 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4424 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4425 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4426 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4427 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4429 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4430 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4431 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4432 whether they are empty or not.
4436 @node Scanning New Messages
4437 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4438 @cindex new messages
4439 @cindex scanning new news
4445 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4446 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4447 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4448 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4449 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4450 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4455 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4456 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4457 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4458 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4459 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4460 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4461 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4463 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4464 @cindex activating groups
4466 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4467 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4472 @findex gnus-group-restart
4473 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4474 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4475 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4479 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4480 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4482 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4483 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4487 @node Group Information
4488 @subsection Group Information
4489 @cindex group information
4490 @cindex information on groups
4497 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4499 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4500 @cindex describing groups
4501 @cindex group description
4502 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4503 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4504 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4508 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4509 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4510 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4517 @findex gnus-version
4518 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4522 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4523 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4526 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4529 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4530 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4534 @node Group Timestamp
4535 @subsection Group Timestamp
4537 @cindex group timestamps
4539 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4540 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4541 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4544 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4547 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4549 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4550 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4553 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4554 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4557 This will result in lines looking like:
4560 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4561 0: custom 19961002T012713
4564 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4565 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4569 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4570 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4573 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4574 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4578 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4579 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4580 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4581 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4583 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4589 @subsection File Commands
4590 @cindex file commands
4596 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4597 @vindex gnus-init-file
4598 @cindex reading init file
4599 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4600 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4604 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4605 @cindex saving .newsrc
4606 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4607 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4608 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4611 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4612 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4613 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4618 @node Sieve Commands
4619 @subsection Sieve Commands
4620 @cindex group sieve commands
4622 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4623 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4624 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4625 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4626 script that can be transferred to the server somehow.
4628 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4629 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4630 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4631 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4632 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4633 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4634 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4635 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4636 regenerate the Sieve script.
4638 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4639 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4640 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4641 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4642 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4643 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4644 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4645 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4646 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4647 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4650 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4651 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4656 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4662 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4663 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4664 @cindex generating sieve script
4665 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4666 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4670 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4671 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4672 @cindex updating sieve script
4673 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4674 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4675 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4680 @node Summary Buffer
4681 @chapter Summary Buffer
4682 @cindex summary buffer
4684 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4685 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4687 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4688 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4690 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4692 You can customize the Summary Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
4693 customize-apropos RET gnus-summary-tool-bar}. This feature is only
4697 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Summary)
4698 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4699 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4701 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map (kbd "v -") "LrS") ;; lower subthread
4705 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4706 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4707 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4708 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4709 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4710 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4711 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4712 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4713 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4714 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4715 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4716 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4717 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4718 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
4719 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4720 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4721 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4722 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4723 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4724 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4725 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4726 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4727 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4728 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4729 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4730 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4731 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4732 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4733 or reselecting the current group.
4734 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4735 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4736 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4737 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4741 @node Summary Buffer Format
4742 @section Summary Buffer Format
4743 @cindex summary buffer format
4747 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4748 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4749 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4755 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4756 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4757 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4758 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4761 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4762 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4763 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4764 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4765 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4766 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4767 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4768 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4769 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4770 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4771 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4774 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4775 'mail-extract-address-components)
4778 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4779 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4780 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4781 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4784 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4785 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4787 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4788 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4789 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4790 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4791 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4793 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4794 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4795 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4796 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4797 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4798 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4800 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4802 The following format specification characters and extended format
4803 specification(s) are understood:
4809 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4810 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4812 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4813 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4814 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4816 Full @code{From} header.
4818 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4820 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4823 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4824 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4825 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4826 may be more thorough.
4828 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4831 Number of lines in the article.
4833 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4834 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4836 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4837 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4839 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4841 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4842 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4855 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4856 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4857 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4858 line-drawing glyphs.
4860 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4861 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4862 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4863 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4865 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4866 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4867 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4868 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4870 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4871 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4872 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4873 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4875 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4876 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4877 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4879 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4880 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4881 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4883 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4884 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4885 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4887 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4888 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4889 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4894 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4895 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4897 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4898 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4900 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4901 for adopted articles.
4903 One space for each thread level.
4905 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4907 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4910 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4911 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4912 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4915 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4917 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4918 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4919 default level. If the difference between
4920 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4921 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4929 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4931 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4937 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4938 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4940 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4941 article has any children.
4947 Desired cursor position (instead of after first colon).
4949 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4950 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4952 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4953 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4954 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
4955 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4956 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4957 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4960 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4961 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4962 There can only be one such area.
4964 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4965 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4966 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4967 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4968 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4969 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4971 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4972 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4974 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4977 @node To From Newsgroups
4978 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4982 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4983 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4984 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4985 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4986 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4990 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4991 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4992 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4996 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4997 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
5000 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
5001 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
5004 @findex gnus-extra-header
5005 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
5006 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
5007 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
5010 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
5014 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5015 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
5016 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
5017 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
5018 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
5019 headers are used instead.
5021 To distinguish regular articles from those where the @code{From} field
5022 has been swapped, a string is prefixed to the @code{To} or
5023 @code{Newsgroups} header in the summary line. By default the string is
5024 @samp{-> } for @code{To} and @samp{=> } for @code{Newsgroups}, you can
5025 customize these strings with @code{gnus-summary-to-prefix} and
5026 @code{gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix}.
5030 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
5031 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
5032 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
5033 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
5034 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
5035 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
5038 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
5039 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
5040 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
5041 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
5043 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
5047 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5049 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
5050 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
5051 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
5052 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5056 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
5059 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
5060 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
5063 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
5064 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
5065 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
5071 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
5072 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
5075 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
5076 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
5078 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
5079 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
5080 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
5081 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
5083 Here are the elements you can play with:
5089 Unprefixed group name.
5091 Current article number.
5093 Current article score.
5097 Number of unread articles in this group.
5099 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
5102 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
5103 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
5104 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
5105 and no unselected ones.
5107 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
5108 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
5110 Subject of the current article.
5112 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
5114 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
5116 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5118 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5120 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
5122 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
5126 @node Summary Highlighting
5127 @subsection Summary Highlighting
5131 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5132 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5133 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
5134 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
5135 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5137 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
5138 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
5139 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
5140 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5142 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
5143 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
5144 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
5145 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
5147 @item gnus-summary-highlight
5148 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
5149 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
5150 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
5151 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
5152 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
5155 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
5156 ((> score default) . bold))
5158 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
5159 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
5163 @node Summary Maneuvering
5164 @section Summary Maneuvering
5165 @cindex summary movement
5167 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
5168 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
5170 None of these commands select articles.
5175 @kindex M-n (Summary)
5176 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
5178 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
5179 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
5183 @kindex M-p (Summary)
5184 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
5185 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
5186 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
5187 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
5190 @kindex G g (Summary)
5191 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
5192 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
5193 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
5196 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
5197 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
5198 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
5199 to the group buffer.
5201 Variables related to summary movement:
5205 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
5206 @item gnus-auto-select-next
5207 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
5208 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
5209 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
5210 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
5211 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
5212 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
5213 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
5214 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
5215 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
5216 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
5217 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
5218 @pxref{Group Levels}.
5220 @item gnus-auto-select-same
5221 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
5222 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
5223 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
5224 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
5225 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
5226 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
5228 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
5230 @item gnus-summary-check-current
5231 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
5232 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
5233 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
5234 Instead, they will choose the current article.
5236 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
5237 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
5238 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
5239 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
5240 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
5241 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
5242 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
5243 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
5246 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
5247 the given number of lines from the top.
5249 @item gnus-summary-stop-at-end-of-message
5250 @vindex gnus-summary-stop-at-end-of-message
5251 If non-@code{nil}, don't go to the next article when hitting
5252 @kbd{SPC}, and you're at the end of the article.
5257 @node Choosing Articles
5258 @section Choosing Articles
5259 @cindex selecting articles
5262 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5263 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5267 @node Choosing Commands
5268 @subsection Choosing Commands
5270 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5271 and they all select and display an article.
5273 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5274 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5278 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5279 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5280 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5281 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5283 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5284 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5285 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5290 @kindex G n (Summary)
5291 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5292 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5293 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5298 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5299 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5300 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5305 @kindex G N (Summary)
5306 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5307 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5312 @kindex G P (Summary)
5313 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5314 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5317 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5318 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5319 Go to the next article with the same subject
5320 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5323 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5324 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5325 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5326 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5330 @kindex G f (Summary)
5332 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5333 Go to the first unread article
5334 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5338 @kindex G b (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5341 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5342 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5343 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5348 @kindex G l (Summary)
5349 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5350 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5353 @kindex G o (Summary)
5354 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5356 @cindex article history
5357 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5358 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5359 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5360 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5361 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5362 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5367 @kindex G j (Summary)
5368 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5369 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5370 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5375 @node Choosing Variables
5376 @subsection Choosing Variables
5378 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5381 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5382 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5383 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5384 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5385 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5386 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5388 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5389 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5390 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. The default is
5391 @code{nil}. If you would like each article to be saved in the Agent as
5392 you read it, putting @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this
5395 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5396 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5397 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5398 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5399 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5400 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5401 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5402 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5403 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-read-mark}. The only
5404 articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5405 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5406 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5407 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5408 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5413 @node Paging the Article
5414 @section Scrolling the Article
5415 @cindex article scrolling
5420 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5421 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5422 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5423 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5424 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5426 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5427 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5428 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5429 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5430 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5431 what is considered uninteresting with
5432 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5433 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5436 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5437 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5438 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5441 @kindex RET (Summary)
5442 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5443 Scroll the current article one line forward
5444 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5447 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5448 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5449 Scroll the current article one line backward
5450 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5454 @kindex A g (Summary)
5456 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5457 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5458 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5459 given a prefix, show a completely ``raw'' article, just the way it
5460 came from the server. If given a prefix twice (i.e., @kbd{C-u C-u
5461 g'}), fetch the current article, but don't run any of the article
5462 treatment functions.
5464 @cindex charset, view article with different charset
5465 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5466 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5467 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5470 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5475 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5480 @kindex A < (Summary)
5481 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5482 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5483 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5488 @kindex A > (Summary)
5489 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5490 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5494 @kindex A s (Summary)
5496 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5497 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5498 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5502 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5503 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5508 @node Reply Followup and Post
5509 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5512 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5513 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5514 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5515 * Canceling and Superseding::
5519 @node Summary Mail Commands
5520 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5522 @cindex composing mail
5524 Commands for composing a mail message:
5530 @kindex S r (Summary)
5532 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5533 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5534 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5535 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5536 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5541 @kindex S R (Summary)
5542 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5543 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5544 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5545 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5546 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5549 @kindex S w (Summary)
5550 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5551 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5552 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5553 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5554 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5555 present, that's used instead.
5558 @kindex S W (Summary)
5559 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5560 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5561 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5562 the process/prefix convention, but only uses the headers from the
5563 first article to determine the recipients.
5566 @kindex S L (Summary)
5567 @findex gnus-summary-reply-to-list-with-original
5568 When replying to a message from a mailing list, send a reply to that
5569 message to the mailing list, and include the original message
5570 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-to-list-with-original}).
5573 @kindex S v (Summary)
5574 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5575 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5576 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5577 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5578 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5579 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5582 @kindex S V (Summary)
5583 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5584 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5585 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5586 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5589 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5590 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5591 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5592 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5593 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5594 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5595 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5596 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5599 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5600 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5601 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5602 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5603 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5607 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5608 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5609 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5610 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5611 Forward the current article to some other person
5612 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5613 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5614 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5615 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5616 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5617 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5618 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5619 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5620 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
5626 @kindex S m (Summary)
5627 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5628 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5629 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5630 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5631 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5634 @kindex S i (Summary)
5635 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5636 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5637 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5638 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5640 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5641 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5642 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5643 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5644 for this to work though.
5647 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5648 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5649 @cindex bouncing mail
5650 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5651 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5652 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5653 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5654 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5655 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5656 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5657 very well fail, though.
5660 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5661 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5662 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5663 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5664 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5665 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5666 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5667 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5668 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5669 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5671 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5672 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5673 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5674 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5675 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5677 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5678 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5681 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5682 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5684 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5685 if it were a new message before resending.
5688 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5689 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5690 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5691 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5692 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5695 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5696 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5697 @cindex crossposting
5698 @cindex excessive crossposting
5699 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5700 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5702 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5703 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5704 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5705 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5706 command understands the process/prefix convention
5707 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5711 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5712 Manual}, for more information.
5715 @node Summary Post Commands
5716 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5718 @cindex composing news
5720 Commands for posting a news article:
5726 @kindex S p (Summary)
5727 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5728 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5729 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5730 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5731 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5736 @kindex S f (Summary)
5737 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5738 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5739 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5743 @kindex S F (Summary)
5745 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5746 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5747 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5748 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5749 process/prefix convention.
5752 @kindex S n (Summary)
5753 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5754 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5755 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5758 @kindex S N (Summary)
5759 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5760 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5761 message through mail and include the original message
5762 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5763 the process/prefix convention.
5766 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5767 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5768 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5769 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5770 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5771 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5772 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5773 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5774 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5775 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5776 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5777 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5778 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
5781 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5782 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5784 @cindex making digests
5785 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5786 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5787 process/prefix convention.
5790 @kindex S u (Summary)
5791 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5792 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5793 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5794 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5797 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5798 Manual}, for more information.
5801 @node Summary Message Commands
5802 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5806 @kindex S y (Summary)
5807 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5808 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5809 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5810 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5811 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5816 @node Canceling and Superseding
5817 @subsection Canceling Articles
5818 @cindex canceling articles
5819 @cindex superseding articles
5821 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5822 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5824 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5826 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5828 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5829 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5830 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5831 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5832 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5833 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5835 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5836 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5839 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5840 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5841 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5843 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5844 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5845 message, Message Manual}).
5847 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5848 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5849 your original article.
5851 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5853 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5854 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5855 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5858 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5859 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5860 have posted almost the same article twice.
5862 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5863 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5864 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5865 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5866 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5867 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5868 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5869 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5870 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5871 canceled/superseded.
5873 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5875 @node Delayed Articles
5876 @section Delayed Articles
5877 @cindex delayed sending
5878 @cindex send delayed
5880 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5881 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5882 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5883 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5886 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5889 @findex gnus-delay-article
5890 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5891 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5892 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5893 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5897 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5898 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5899 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5900 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5903 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5904 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5905 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5908 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5909 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5910 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5911 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5912 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5913 that means a time tomorrow.
5916 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5917 couple of variables:
5920 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5921 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5922 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5923 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5925 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5926 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5927 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5928 formats described above.
5930 @item gnus-delay-group
5931 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5932 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5933 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5934 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5936 @item gnus-delay-header
5937 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5938 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5939 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5940 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5943 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5944 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5945 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5946 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5947 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5949 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5950 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5951 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5952 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5953 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5954 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5955 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5958 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5959 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5960 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5961 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5962 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5963 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5964 argument is ignored.
5966 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5967 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5968 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5971 When delaying an article with @kbd{C-c C-j}, Message mode will
5972 automatically add a @code{"Date"} header with the current time. In
5973 many cases you probably want the @code{"Date"} header to reflect the
5974 time the message is sent instead. To do this, you have to delete
5975 @code{Date} from @code{message-draft-headers}.
5978 @node Marking Articles
5979 @section Marking Articles
5980 @cindex article marking
5981 @cindex article ticking
5984 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5986 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5987 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5988 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5990 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5993 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks.
5997 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5998 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5999 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
6000 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
6001 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
6002 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
6006 @node Unread Articles
6007 @subsection Unread Articles
6009 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
6014 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
6015 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
6017 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
6018 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
6019 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
6020 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
6021 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
6022 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
6023 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
6026 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
6027 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
6029 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
6030 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
6031 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
6032 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
6036 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
6037 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
6039 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
6044 @subsection Read Articles
6045 @cindex expirable mark
6047 All the following marks mark articles as read.
6052 @vindex gnus-del-mark
6053 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
6054 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
6057 @vindex gnus-read-mark
6058 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
6061 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
6062 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
6063 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
6066 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
6067 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
6070 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
6071 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
6074 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
6075 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
6078 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
6079 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
6082 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
6083 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
6086 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
6087 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
6091 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
6092 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
6093 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
6097 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
6098 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
6100 One more special mark, though:
6104 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
6105 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
6107 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
6108 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
6109 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
6110 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
6116 @subsection Other Marks
6117 @cindex process mark
6120 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
6126 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
6127 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
6128 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
6129 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
6130 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
6133 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
6134 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
6135 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
6136 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
6139 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
6140 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
6141 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
6144 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
6145 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
6146 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6149 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
6150 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
6151 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
6152 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
6155 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
6156 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
6157 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
6160 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
6161 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
6162 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
6163 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
6164 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
6168 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
6169 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
6170 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
6171 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
6172 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
6173 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
6176 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
6177 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
6178 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
6179 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
6180 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
6181 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
6185 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
6186 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
6187 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
6188 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
6189 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
6192 @vindex gnus-process-mark
6193 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
6194 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
6195 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
6196 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
6197 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
6201 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
6202 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
6203 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
6205 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
6206 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
6207 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
6211 @subsection Setting Marks
6212 @cindex setting marks
6214 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
6219 @kindex M c (Summary)
6220 @kindex M-u (Summary)
6221 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
6222 @cindex mark as unread
6223 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
6224 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
6230 @kindex M t (Summary)
6231 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
6232 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
6233 @xref{Article Caching}.
6238 @kindex M ? (Summary)
6239 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
6240 Mark the current article as dormant
6241 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6245 @kindex M d (Summary)
6247 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
6248 Mark the current article as read
6249 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
6253 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
6254 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
6255 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6260 @kindex M k (Summary)
6261 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6262 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6263 and then select the next unread article
6264 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6268 @kindex M K (Summary)
6269 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6270 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6271 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6272 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6275 @kindex M C (Summary)
6276 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6277 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6278 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6281 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6282 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6283 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6284 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6287 @kindex M H (Summary)
6288 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6289 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6290 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6293 @kindex M h (Summary)
6294 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6295 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6296 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6299 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6301 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6302 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6305 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6306 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6307 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6308 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6312 @kindex M e (Summary)
6314 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6315 Mark the current article as expirable
6316 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6319 @kindex M b (Summary)
6320 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6321 Set a bookmark in the current article
6322 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6325 @kindex M B (Summary)
6326 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6327 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6328 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6331 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6332 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6333 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6334 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6337 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6338 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6339 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6340 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6343 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6344 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6345 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6346 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6347 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6350 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6351 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6352 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6353 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6354 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6355 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6356 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6357 The default is @code{t}.
6360 @node Generic Marking Commands
6361 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6363 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6364 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6365 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6366 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6367 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6370 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6371 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6374 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6375 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6376 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6377 to list in this manual.
6379 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6380 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6381 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6382 article, you could say something like:
6386 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6387 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6388 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6396 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6397 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6401 @node Setting Process Marks
6402 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6403 @cindex setting process marks
6405 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6406 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6407 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6408 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6409 articles into the cache. For more information,
6410 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6417 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6418 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6419 Mark the current article with the process mark
6420 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6421 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6425 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6426 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6427 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6428 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6431 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6432 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6433 Remove the process mark from all articles
6434 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6437 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6438 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6439 Invert the list of process marked articles
6440 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6443 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6444 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6445 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6446 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6449 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6450 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6451 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6452 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6455 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6456 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6457 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6460 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6461 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6462 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6465 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6466 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6467 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6468 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6471 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6472 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6473 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6474 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6477 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6478 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6479 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6480 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6483 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6484 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6485 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6488 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6489 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6490 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6491 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6494 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6495 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6496 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}).
6499 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6500 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6501 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6502 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6505 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6506 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6507 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6508 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6511 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6512 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6513 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6514 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6517 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6518 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6519 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6520 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6524 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6525 set process marks based on article body contents.
6532 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6533 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6534 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6537 Limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched from
6538 the servers. These commands don't query the server for additional
6545 @kindex / / (Summary)
6546 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6547 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6548 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6552 @kindex / a (Summary)
6553 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6554 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6555 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6559 @kindex / R (Summary)
6560 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient
6561 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some recipient
6562 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient}). If given a prefix, exclude
6566 @kindex / A (Summary)
6567 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-address
6568 Limit the summary buffer to articles in which contents of From, To or Cc
6569 header match a given address (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-address}). If
6570 given a prefix, exclude matching articles.
6573 @kindex / S (Summary)
6574 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons
6575 Limit the summary buffer to articles that aren't part of any displayed
6576 threads (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons}). If given a prefix,
6577 limit to articles that are part of displayed threads.
6580 @kindex / x (Summary)
6581 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6582 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6583 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6584 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6589 @kindex / u (Summary)
6591 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6592 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6593 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6594 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6595 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6598 @kindex / m (Summary)
6599 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6600 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6601 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6604 @kindex / t (Summary)
6605 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6606 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6607 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6608 articles younger than that number of days.
6611 @kindex / n (Summary)
6612 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6613 With prefix @samp{n}, limit the summary buffer to the next @samp{n}
6614 articles. If not given a prefix, use the process marked articles
6615 instead. (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}).
6618 @kindex / w (Summary)
6619 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6620 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6621 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6625 @kindex / . (Summary)
6626 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6627 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6628 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6631 @kindex / v (Summary)
6632 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6633 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6634 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6637 @kindex / p (Summary)
6638 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6639 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6640 group parameter predicate
6641 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6642 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6645 @kindex / r (Summary)
6646 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6647 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6648 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6653 @kindex M S (Summary)
6654 @kindex / E (Summary)
6655 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6656 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6657 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6660 @kindex / D (Summary)
6661 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6662 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6663 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6666 @kindex / * (Summary)
6667 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6668 Include all cached articles in the limit
6669 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6672 @kindex / d (Summary)
6673 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6674 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6675 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6678 @kindex / M (Summary)
6679 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6680 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6683 @kindex / T (Summary)
6684 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6685 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6688 @kindex / c (Summary)
6689 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6690 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6691 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6694 @kindex / C (Summary)
6695 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6696 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6697 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6698 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6701 @kindex / b (Summary)
6702 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies
6703 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have bodies that match a
6704 certain regexp (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies}). If given a
6705 prefix, reverse the limit. This command is quite slow since it
6706 requires selecting each article to find the matches.
6709 @kindex / h (Summary)
6710 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-headers
6711 Like the previous command, only limit to headers instead
6712 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-headers}).
6717 The following commands aren't limiting commands, but use the @kbd{/}
6722 @kindex / N (Summary)
6723 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6724 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6725 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6728 @kindex / o (Summary)
6729 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6730 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6731 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6739 @cindex article threading
6741 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6742 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6743 hierarchical fashion.
6745 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6746 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6747 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6748 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6749 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6750 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6751 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6753 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6757 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6760 A tree-like article structure.
6763 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6766 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6767 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6768 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6769 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6770 called loose threads.
6772 @item thread gathering
6773 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6775 @item sparse threads
6776 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6777 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6783 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6784 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6788 @node Customizing Threading
6789 @subsection Customizing Threading
6790 @cindex customizing threading
6793 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6794 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6795 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6796 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6801 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6804 @cindex loose threads
6807 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6808 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6809 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6810 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6811 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6812 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6814 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6815 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6816 There are four possible values:
6820 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6821 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6822 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6823 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6824 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6829 @cindex adopting articles
6834 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6835 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6836 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6837 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6840 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6841 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6842 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6843 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6844 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6845 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6846 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6847 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6848 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6849 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6852 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6853 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6854 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6858 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6859 display them after one another.
6862 Don't gather loose threads.
6865 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6866 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6867 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6868 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6869 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6870 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6871 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6872 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6873 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6874 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6875 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6877 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6878 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6879 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6882 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6883 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6884 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6885 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6886 simplification is used.
6888 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6889 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6890 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6891 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6893 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6895 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6901 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6902 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6903 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6904 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6909 (mapconcat 'identity
6910 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6912 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6915 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6918 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6919 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6920 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6921 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6922 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6923 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6925 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6928 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6929 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6930 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6932 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6933 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6936 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6937 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6938 Remove excessive whitespace.
6940 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6941 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6942 Remove all whitespace.
6945 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6948 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6949 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6950 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6951 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6952 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6953 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6954 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6955 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6957 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6958 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6959 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6960 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6961 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6962 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6963 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6964 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6965 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6969 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6970 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6971 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6972 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6974 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6975 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6976 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6979 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6983 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6984 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6990 @node Filling In Threads
6991 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6994 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6995 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6996 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6997 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
6998 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
6999 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
7000 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
7001 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
7002 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
7003 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
7004 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
7005 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
7008 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
7009 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
7010 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
7012 The server has to support @acronym{NOV} for any of this to work.
7014 @cindex Gmane, gnus-fetch-old-headers
7015 This feature can seriously impact performance it ignores all locally
7016 cached header entries. Setting it to @code{t} for groups for a server
7017 that doesn't expire articles (such as news.gmane.org), leads to very
7018 slow summary generation.
7020 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7021 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7022 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
7025 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
7026 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
7027 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
7028 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
7029 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
7030 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
7031 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
7032 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
7033 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
7034 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
7035 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
7036 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
7037 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
7038 @code{nil} by default.
7040 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
7041 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
7042 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
7043 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
7044 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
7045 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
7048 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
7049 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
7050 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
7055 @node More Threading
7056 @subsubsection More Threading
7059 @item gnus-show-threads
7060 @vindex gnus-show-threads
7061 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
7062 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
7063 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
7064 slower and more awkward.
7066 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7067 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7068 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
7071 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
7072 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
7073 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
7078 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7079 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
7080 gnus-article-unseen-p))
7083 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
7084 unread, but you get my drift.)
7087 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
7088 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
7089 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
7090 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
7091 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
7092 threads are expunged.
7094 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
7095 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
7096 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
7099 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7100 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7101 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
7102 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
7103 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
7104 result in a new thread.
7106 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
7107 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
7108 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
7111 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7112 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7113 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
7114 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
7115 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
7116 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
7117 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
7118 Setting this variable to an alternate value
7119 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
7120 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
7121 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
7126 @node Low-Level Threading
7127 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
7131 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
7132 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
7133 Hook run before parsing any headers.
7135 @item gnus-alter-header-function
7136 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
7137 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
7138 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
7139 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
7140 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
7141 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
7142 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
7143 meaningful. Here's one example:
7146 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
7148 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
7149 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
7151 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
7153 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
7160 @node Thread Commands
7161 @subsection Thread Commands
7162 @cindex thread commands
7168 @kindex T k (Summary)
7169 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
7170 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
7171 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
7172 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
7173 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
7178 @kindex T l (Summary)
7179 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
7180 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
7181 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
7182 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
7185 @kindex T i (Summary)
7186 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
7187 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
7188 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
7191 @kindex T # (Summary)
7192 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
7193 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
7194 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
7197 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
7198 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7199 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
7200 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7203 @kindex T T (Summary)
7204 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
7205 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
7208 @kindex T s (Summary)
7209 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
7210 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
7211 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
7214 @kindex T h (Summary)
7215 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
7216 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
7219 @kindex T S (Summary)
7220 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
7221 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
7224 @kindex T H (Summary)
7225 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
7226 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
7229 @kindex T t (Summary)
7230 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
7231 Re-thread the current article's thread
7232 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
7233 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
7236 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
7237 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
7238 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
7239 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
7242 @kindex T M-^ (Summary)
7243 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-children
7244 Make the current article the parent of the marked articles
7245 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-children}).
7249 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
7250 understand the numeric prefix.
7255 @kindex T n (Summary)
7257 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
7259 @kindex M-down (Summary)
7260 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
7261 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
7264 @kindex T p (Summary)
7266 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
7268 @kindex M-up (Summary)
7269 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
7270 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
7273 @kindex T d (Summary)
7274 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
7275 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
7278 @kindex T u (Summary)
7279 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
7280 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
7283 @kindex T o (Summary)
7284 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
7285 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
7288 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
7289 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
7290 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
7291 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
7292 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
7293 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
7294 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
7295 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
7296 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
7297 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
7298 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
7299 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
7303 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
7304 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
7306 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
7307 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
7308 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
7309 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7310 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
7311 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient
7312 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7313 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
7314 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
7315 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
7316 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
7317 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
7318 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
7319 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7320 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7322 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7323 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7324 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient},
7325 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7326 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date},
7327 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7328 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7329 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7330 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7331 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7333 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7334 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7335 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. Exceptions
7336 to this rule are @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number} and
7337 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date}.
7339 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7340 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7341 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7342 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7343 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7344 ascending article order.
7346 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7347 by number, you could do something like:
7350 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7351 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7352 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7353 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7356 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7357 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7358 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7359 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7360 which the articles arrived.
7362 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7366 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7367 '((not gnus-thread-sort-by-number)
7368 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7371 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7372 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7373 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7374 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7377 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7378 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7379 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-most-recent-date
7380 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7381 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7382 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7383 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7384 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7385 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-most-recent-number
7386 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7387 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7388 variable. It is very similar to the
7389 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7390 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7391 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7392 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7393 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7394 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7395 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7397 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7401 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7402 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7403 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7406 You can define group specific sorting via @code{gnus-parameters},
7407 @xref{Group Parameters}.
7410 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7411 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7412 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7413 @cindex article pre-fetch
7416 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7417 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7418 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7419 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7420 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7422 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7423 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
7425 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7426 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7427 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7428 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7429 connection is blocked.
7431 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7432 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7433 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7434 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
7436 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7437 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7438 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7439 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7442 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7445 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7446 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7447 happen automatically.
7449 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7450 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7451 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7452 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7453 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7454 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7455 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7457 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7458 @findex gnus-async-unread-p
7459 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7460 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7461 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7462 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7463 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-unread-p}, which
7464 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7465 article data structure as the only parameter.
7467 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7468 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7471 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7472 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7473 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7474 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7477 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7480 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7481 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7482 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7484 @vindex gnus-async-post-fetch-function
7485 @findex gnus-html-prefetch-images
7486 After an article has been prefetched, this
7487 @code{gnus-async-post-fetch-function} will be called. The buffer will
7488 be narrowed to the region of the article that was fetched. A useful
7489 value would be @code{gnus-html-prefetch-images}, which will prefetch
7490 and store images referenced in the article, so that you don't have to
7491 wait for them to be fetched when you read the article. This is useful
7492 for @acronym{HTML} messages that have external images.
7494 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7495 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7496 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7497 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7501 Remove articles when they are read.
7504 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7507 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7509 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7510 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7511 @c from the next group.
7514 @node Article Caching
7515 @section Article Caching
7516 @cindex article caching
7519 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7520 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7521 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7522 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7523 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7525 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7527 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7528 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7529 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7530 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7531 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7532 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7533 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7534 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7536 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7537 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7538 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7539 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7540 as dormant, and don't worry.
7542 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7544 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7545 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7546 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7547 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7548 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7549 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7550 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7551 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7552 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7553 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7555 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7556 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7557 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7558 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7559 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7560 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7561 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7562 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7563 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7564 not then be downloaded by this command.
7566 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7567 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7568 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7569 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7570 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7571 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7573 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7574 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7575 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7576 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7577 variables, the group is not cached.
7579 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7580 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7581 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7582 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7583 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7584 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7585 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7586 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7587 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7590 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7591 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7592 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7593 where, isn't that cool?
7595 @node Persistent Articles
7596 @section Persistent Articles
7597 @cindex persistent articles
7599 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7600 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7601 useful in my opinion.
7603 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7604 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7605 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7606 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7607 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7608 the expiry going on at the news server.
7610 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7611 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7612 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7618 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7619 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7622 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7623 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7624 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7625 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7629 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7631 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7632 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7633 interested in persistent articles:
7636 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7639 @node Sticky Articles
7640 @section Sticky Articles
7641 @cindex sticky articles
7643 When you select an article the current article buffer will be reused
7644 according to the value of the variable
7645 @code{gnus-single-article-buffer}. If its value is non-@code{nil} (the
7646 default) all articles reuse the same article buffer. Else each group
7647 has its own article buffer.
7649 This implies that it's not possible to have more than one article buffer
7650 in a group at a time. But sometimes you might want to display all the
7651 latest emails from your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle and
7652 your 17 cousins to coordinate the next Christmas party.
7654 That's where sticky articles come in handy. A sticky article buffer
7655 basically is a normal article buffer, but it won't be reused when you
7656 select another article. You can make an article sticky with:
7660 @kindex A S (Summary)
7661 @findex gnus-sticky-article
7662 Make the current article sticky. If a prefix arg is given, ask for a
7663 name for this sticky article buffer.
7666 To close a sticky article buffer you can use these commands:
7672 Puts this sticky article buffer at the end of the list of all buffers.
7676 @findex gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffer
7677 Kills this sticky article buffer.
7680 To kill all sticky article buffers you can use:
7682 @defun gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffers ARG
7683 Kill all sticky article buffers.
7684 If a prefix ARG is given, ask for confirmation.
7687 @node Article Backlog
7688 @section Article Backlog
7690 @cindex article backlog
7692 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7693 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7694 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7695 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7696 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7697 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7698 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7699 increase memory usage some.
7701 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7702 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7703 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7704 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7705 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7706 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7707 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7709 The default value is 20.
7712 @node Saving Articles
7713 @section Saving Articles
7714 @cindex saving articles
7716 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7717 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7718 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7719 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7720 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7722 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7723 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7724 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7726 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7727 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7728 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7730 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7731 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7732 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7733 deleted before saving.
7739 @kindex O o (Summary)
7741 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7742 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7743 Save the current article using the default article saver
7744 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7747 @kindex O m (Summary)
7748 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7749 Save the current article in a Unix mail box (mbox) file
7750 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7753 @kindex O r (Summary)
7754 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7755 Save the current article in Rmail format
7756 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}). This is mbox since Emacs 23,
7757 Babyl in older versions.
7760 @kindex O f (Summary)
7761 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7762 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7763 Save the current article in plain file format
7764 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7767 @kindex O F (Summary)
7768 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7769 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7770 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7773 @kindex O b (Summary)
7774 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7775 Save the current article body in plain file format
7776 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7779 @kindex O h (Summary)
7780 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7781 Save the current article in mh folder format
7782 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7785 @kindex O v (Summary)
7786 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7787 Save the current article in a VM folder
7788 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7792 @kindex O p (Summary)
7794 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7795 @vindex gnus-summary-pipe-output-default-command
7796 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7797 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7798 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7799 complete headers in the piped output. The symbolic prefix @code{r} is
7800 special; it lets this command pipe a raw article including all headers.
7801 The @code{gnus-summary-pipe-output-default-command} variable can be set
7802 to a string containing the default command and options (default
7806 @kindex O P (Summary)
7807 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7808 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7809 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7810 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7811 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7812 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7813 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7817 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7818 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7819 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7820 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7821 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7822 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7823 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7824 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7825 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7826 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7827 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7828 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7832 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7833 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7834 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the eight ready-made
7835 functions below, or you can create your own.
7839 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7840 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7841 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7842 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7843 This is the default format, that used by the Rmail package. Since Emacs
7844 23, Rmail uses standard mbox format. Before this, it used the
7845 @dfn{Babyl} format. Accordingly, this command writes mbox format since
7846 Emacs 23, unless appending to an existing Babyl file. In older versions
7847 of Emacs, it always uses Babyl format. Uses the function in the
7848 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7849 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7851 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7852 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7853 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7854 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7855 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7856 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7858 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7859 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7860 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7861 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7862 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7863 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7864 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7866 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7867 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7868 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7869 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7870 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7871 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7873 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7874 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7875 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7876 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7877 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7879 @item gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7880 @findex gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7881 Write the article body straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7882 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7883 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7884 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7886 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7887 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7888 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7889 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7890 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7893 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7894 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7895 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7896 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7897 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7899 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7900 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7901 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7902 reader to use this setting.
7904 @item gnus-summary-save-in-pipe
7905 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-pipe
7906 Pipe the article to a shell command. This function takes optional two
7907 arguments COMMAND and RAW. Valid values for COMMAND include:
7911 The executable command name and possibly arguments.
7913 You will be prompted for the command in the minibuffer.
7914 @item the symbol @code{default}@*
7915 It will be replaced with the command which the variable
7916 @code{gnus-summary-pipe-output-default-command} holds or the command
7917 last used for saving.
7920 Non-@code{nil} value for RAW overrides @code{:decode} and
7921 @code{:headers} properties (see below) and the raw article including all
7922 headers will be piped.
7925 The symbol of each function may have the following properties:
7929 The value non-@code{nil} means save decoded articles. This is
7930 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-save-in-file},
7931 @code{gnus-summary-save-body-in-file},
7932 @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file},
7933 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}, and
7934 @code{gnus-summary-save-in-pipe}.
7937 The value specifies an alternative function which appends, not
7938 overwrites, articles to a file. This implies that when saving many
7939 articles at a time, @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} is bound to
7940 @code{t} and all articles are saved in a single file. This is
7941 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file} and
7942 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7945 The value specifies the symbol of a variable of which the value
7946 specifies headers to be saved. If it is omitted,
7947 @code{gnus-save-all-headers} and @code{gnus-saved-headers} control what
7948 headers should be saved.
7951 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7952 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7953 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7954 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7957 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7958 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7959 available functions that generate names:
7963 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7964 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7965 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7967 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7968 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7969 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7971 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7972 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7973 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7975 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7976 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7977 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7979 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7980 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7981 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7984 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7985 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7986 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7987 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7988 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7992 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7993 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7994 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7995 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7998 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7999 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
8000 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
8001 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
8002 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
8003 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
8004 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
8005 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
8006 called returns a string or a list of strings.
8008 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
8009 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
8010 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
8011 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
8013 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
8014 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
8015 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
8018 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
8019 lots of mail groups called things like
8020 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
8021 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
8022 following will do just that:
8025 (defun my-save-name (group)
8026 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
8027 (substring group (match-end 0))))
8029 (setq gnus-split-methods
8030 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
8035 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
8036 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
8037 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
8038 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
8039 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
8040 all the files in the top level directory
8041 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
8042 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
8043 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
8044 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
8046 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
8047 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
8048 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
8049 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
8050 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
8053 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
8057 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
8058 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
8059 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
8062 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
8063 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
8064 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
8065 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
8068 @node Decoding Articles
8069 @section Decoding Articles
8070 @cindex decoding articles
8072 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
8073 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
8076 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
8077 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
8078 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
8079 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
8080 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
8081 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
8085 @cindex article series
8086 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
8087 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
8088 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
8089 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
8090 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
8092 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
8093 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
8094 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
8096 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
8097 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
8098 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
8100 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
8101 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
8102 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
8105 @node Uuencoded Articles
8106 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
8108 @cindex uuencoded articles
8113 @kindex X u (Summary)
8114 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
8115 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
8116 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
8119 @kindex X U (Summary)
8120 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
8121 Uudecodes and saves the current series
8122 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8125 @kindex X v u (Summary)
8126 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
8127 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
8130 @kindex X v U (Summary)
8131 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
8132 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
8133 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
8137 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
8138 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
8139 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
8140 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
8141 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8143 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
8144 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
8145 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
8146 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
8149 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
8150 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
8151 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
8152 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
8153 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
8154 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
8158 @node Shell Archives
8159 @subsection Shell Archives
8161 @cindex shell archives
8162 @cindex shared articles
8164 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
8165 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
8166 some commands to deal with these:
8171 @kindex X s (Summary)
8172 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
8173 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
8176 @kindex X S (Summary)
8177 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
8178 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
8181 @kindex X v s (Summary)
8182 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
8183 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
8186 @kindex X v S (Summary)
8187 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
8188 Unshars, views and saves the current series
8189 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
8193 @node PostScript Files
8194 @subsection PostScript Files
8200 @kindex X p (Summary)
8201 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
8202 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
8205 @kindex X P (Summary)
8206 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
8207 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
8208 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
8211 @kindex X v p (Summary)
8212 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
8213 View the current PostScript series
8214 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
8217 @kindex X v P (Summary)
8218 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
8219 View and save the current PostScript series
8220 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
8225 @subsection Other Files
8229 @kindex X o (Summary)
8230 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
8231 Save the current series
8232 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
8235 @kindex X b (Summary)
8236 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
8237 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
8238 doesn't really work yet.
8241 @kindex X Y (Summary)
8242 @findex gnus-uu-decode-yenc
8243 yEnc-decode the current series and save it (@code{gnus-uu-decode-yenc}).
8247 @node Decoding Variables
8248 @subsection Decoding Variables
8250 Adjective, not verb.
8253 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
8254 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
8255 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
8259 @node Rule Variables
8260 @subsubsection Rule Variables
8261 @cindex rule variables
8263 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
8264 variables are of the form
8267 (list '(regexp1 command2)
8274 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8275 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8277 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
8278 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
8281 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8282 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
8285 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8286 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8287 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
8288 user and default view rules.
8290 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8291 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8292 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
8297 @node Other Decode Variables
8298 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
8301 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8303 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8304 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
8305 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
8306 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
8307 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
8311 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
8312 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
8315 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
8316 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
8317 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
8320 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8321 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8322 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
8323 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
8324 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
8327 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8328 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8329 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
8331 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8332 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8333 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
8334 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
8335 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
8338 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8339 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8340 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
8342 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8343 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8344 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
8345 looking for files to display.
8347 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
8348 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
8349 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
8352 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8353 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8354 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
8357 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8358 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8359 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
8362 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8363 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8364 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
8367 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8368 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8369 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
8370 decoded articles as unread.
8372 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8373 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8374 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
8375 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
8377 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8378 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8379 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
8381 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8382 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8384 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
8385 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
8386 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
8387 @code{metamail} for viewing.
8389 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8390 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8391 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
8392 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
8393 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
8394 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
8395 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
8396 simply dropped them.
8401 @node Uuencoding and Posting
8402 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
8406 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8407 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8408 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
8409 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
8410 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
8411 for you when you post the article.
8413 @item gnus-uu-post-length
8414 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
8415 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
8416 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
8418 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
8419 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
8420 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
8421 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
8422 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
8423 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
8424 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
8426 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8427 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8428 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
8429 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
8430 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
8431 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
8432 Default is @code{t}.
8438 @subsection Viewing Files
8439 @cindex viewing files
8440 @cindex pseudo-articles
8442 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
8443 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
8444 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
8445 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
8446 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
8447 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
8448 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
8450 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
8451 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8452 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8453 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8455 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8456 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8457 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8459 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8460 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8461 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8462 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8463 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8465 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8466 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8467 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8468 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8469 a list of parameters to that command.
8471 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8472 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8473 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8475 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8476 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8477 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8480 @node Article Treatment
8481 @section Article Treatment
8483 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8484 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8485 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8486 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8487 these articles easier.
8490 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8491 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8492 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8493 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8494 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8495 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8496 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8497 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8498 * Article Display:: Display various stuff:
8499 X-Face, Picons, Gravatars, Smileys.
8500 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8501 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8505 @node Article Highlighting
8506 @subsection Article Highlighting
8507 @cindex highlighting
8509 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8510 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8515 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8516 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8517 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8518 Do much highlighting of the current article
8519 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8520 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8523 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8524 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8525 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8526 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8527 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8528 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8529 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8530 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8531 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8532 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8533 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8534 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8537 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8538 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8539 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8541 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8544 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8546 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8547 If the article size in bytes is bigger than this variable (which is
8548 25000 by default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8550 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8551 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8552 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8554 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8555 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8556 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8557 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8558 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8559 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8561 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8562 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8563 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8565 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8566 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8567 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8569 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8570 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8571 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8572 that it's a citation.
8574 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8575 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8576 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8578 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8579 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8580 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8582 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8583 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8584 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8585 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8587 @item gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8588 @vindex gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8589 If non-@code{nil}, no citation highlighting will be performed on lines
8590 beginning with @samp{>From }. Those lines may have been quoted by MTAs
8591 in order not to mix up with the envelope From line. The default value
8598 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8599 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8600 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8601 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8602 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8603 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8604 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8605 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8610 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8613 @node Article Fontisizing
8614 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8616 @cindex article emphasis
8618 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8619 @kindex W e (Summary)
8620 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8621 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8622 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8623 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8625 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8626 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8627 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8628 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8629 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8630 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8631 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8632 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8636 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8637 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8638 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8647 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8648 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8649 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8650 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8651 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8652 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8653 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8654 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8655 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8656 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8657 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8658 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8659 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8661 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8662 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8663 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8667 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8670 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8672 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8673 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8674 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8675 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8677 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8680 @node Article Hiding
8681 @subsection Article Hiding
8682 @cindex article hiding
8684 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8685 too much cruft in most articles.
8690 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8691 @findex gnus-article-hide
8692 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8693 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8694 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8697 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8698 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8699 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8703 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8704 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8705 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8706 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8709 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8710 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8711 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8715 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8716 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8717 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8718 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8719 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8720 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8721 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8722 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8726 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8727 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8728 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8729 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8734 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8735 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8736 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8737 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8740 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8741 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8742 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8743 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8746 @cindex stripping advertisements
8747 @cindex advertisements
8748 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8749 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8750 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8751 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8752 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8753 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8754 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8755 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8756 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8757 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8763 (setq gnus-article-banner-alist
8765 "^\n*--~--~---------\\(.+\n\\)+")))
8768 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8769 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8770 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8774 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8775 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8776 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8777 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8778 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8779 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8780 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8781 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8782 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8783 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8784 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8787 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8788 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8794 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8795 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8796 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8797 customizing the hiding:
8801 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8802 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8803 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8804 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8805 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8806 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8807 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8812 Starting point of the hidden text.
8814 Ending point of the hidden text.
8816 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8818 Number of lines of hidden text.
8821 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8822 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8823 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8824 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8825 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8830 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8831 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8833 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8834 following two variables:
8837 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8838 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8839 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8840 50), hide the cited text.
8842 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8843 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8844 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8849 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8850 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8851 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8852 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8853 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8854 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8858 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8859 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8860 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8862 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8863 citation customization.
8865 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8869 @node Article Washing
8870 @subsection Article Washing
8872 @cindex article washing
8874 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8875 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8877 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8878 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8881 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8882 articles by default.
8887 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8888 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8892 Force redisplaying of the current article
8893 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8894 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8895 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8896 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8899 @kindex W l (Summary)
8900 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8901 Remove page breaks from the current article
8902 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8906 @kindex W r (Summary)
8907 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8908 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8909 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8910 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8911 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8912 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8914 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8915 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8916 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8917 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8920 @kindex W m (Summary)
8921 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8922 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8925 @kindex W i (Summary)
8926 @findex gnus-summary-idna-message
8927 Decode IDNA encoded domain names in the current articles. IDNA
8928 encoded domain names looks like @samp{xn--bar}. If a string remain
8929 unencoded after running invoking this, it is likely an invalid IDNA
8930 string (@samp{xn--bar} is invalid). You must have GNU Libidn
8931 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}) installed for this command
8936 @kindex W t (Summary)
8938 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8939 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8940 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8943 @kindex W v (Summary)
8944 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8945 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8946 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8949 @kindex W o (Summary)
8950 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8951 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8954 @kindex W d (Summary)
8955 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8956 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8958 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8960 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8961 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8962 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8963 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8966 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8967 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8968 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8969 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8972 @kindex W U (Summary)
8973 @findex gnus-article-treat-non-ascii
8975 @cindex Non-@acronym{ASCII}
8976 Translate many non-@acronym{ASCII} characters into their
8977 @acronym{ASCII} equivalents (@code{gnus-article-treat-non-ascii}).
8978 This is mostly useful if you're on a terminal that has a limited font
8979 and doesn't show accented characters, ``advanced'' punctuation, and the
8980 like. For instance, @samp{»} is translated into @samp{>>}, and so on.
8983 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8984 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8985 @cindex Outlook Express
8986 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8987 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8988 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8991 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8992 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8993 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8994 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8995 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8996 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8997 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8998 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8999 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
9000 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
9003 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
9004 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
9005 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
9006 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
9009 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
9010 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
9011 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
9012 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
9015 @kindex W w (Summary)
9016 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
9017 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
9019 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
9023 @kindex W Q (Summary)
9024 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
9025 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
9028 @kindex W C (Summary)
9029 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
9030 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
9031 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
9034 @kindex W c (Summary)
9035 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
9036 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
9037 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
9038 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
9039 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
9042 @kindex W q (Summary)
9043 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
9044 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
9045 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
9046 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
9047 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
9048 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
9049 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9050 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9051 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9054 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
9055 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
9056 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
9057 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
9058 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
9059 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9060 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9061 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9064 @kindex W Z (Summary)
9065 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
9066 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
9067 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
9068 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
9071 @kindex W A (Summary)
9072 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
9073 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
9074 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
9075 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
9076 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
9079 @kindex W u (Summary)
9080 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
9081 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
9082 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
9083 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
9084 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
9087 @kindex W h (Summary)
9088 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
9089 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
9090 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9091 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
9093 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for. If it is a number,
9094 the charset defined in @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist}
9095 (@pxref{Paging the Article}) will be used.
9097 The default is to use the function specified by
9098 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
9099 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
9100 @acronym{HTML}. Pre-defined functions you can use include:
9104 Use Gnus simple html renderer.
9107 Use Gnus rendered based on w3m.
9113 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
9115 @item w3m-standalone
9116 Use @uref{http://w3m.sourceforge.net/, w3m}.
9119 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
9122 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
9125 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
9130 @kindex W b (Summary)
9131 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
9132 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
9133 @xref{Article Buttons}.
9136 @kindex W B (Summary)
9137 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
9138 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
9139 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
9142 @kindex W p (Summary)
9143 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
9144 Verify a signed control message
9145 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
9146 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
9147 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
9148 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
9149 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
9150 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
9153 @kindex W s (Summary)
9154 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
9155 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
9156 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
9157 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
9160 @kindex W a (Summary)
9161 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
9162 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
9163 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
9166 @kindex W E l (Summary)
9167 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
9168 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
9169 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
9172 @kindex W E m (Summary)
9173 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
9174 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
9175 lines with a single empty line.
9176 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
9179 @kindex W E t (Summary)
9180 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
9181 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
9182 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
9185 @kindex W E a (Summary)
9186 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
9187 Do all the three commands above
9188 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
9191 @kindex W E A (Summary)
9192 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
9193 Remove all blank lines
9194 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
9197 @kindex W E s (Summary)
9198 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
9199 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
9200 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
9203 @kindex W E e (Summary)
9204 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
9205 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
9206 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
9210 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
9213 @node Article Header
9214 @subsection Article Header
9216 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
9221 @kindex W G u (Summary)
9222 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
9223 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
9226 @kindex W G n (Summary)
9227 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
9228 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
9229 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
9232 @kindex W G f (Summary)
9233 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
9234 Fold all the message headers
9235 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
9238 @kindex W E w (Summary)
9239 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
9240 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
9241 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
9246 @node Article Buttons
9247 @subsection Article Buttons
9250 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
9251 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
9252 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
9253 button on these references.
9255 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9256 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
9257 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
9258 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
9259 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
9263 @item gnus-button-alist
9264 @vindex gnus-button-alist
9265 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
9268 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9274 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
9275 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
9276 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
9277 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
9278 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
9281 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
9282 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
9283 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
9286 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
9287 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
9288 avoid false matches. Often variables named
9289 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
9290 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
9292 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
9295 This function will be called when you click on this button.
9298 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
9299 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
9303 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
9306 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
9309 @item gnus-header-button-alist
9310 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
9311 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
9312 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
9313 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
9316 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9319 @var{header} is a regular expression.
9322 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
9325 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
9326 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
9328 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
9330 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
9331 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
9332 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
9333 default values of the variables above.
9335 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
9337 @item gnus-button-man-handler
9338 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9339 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
9340 argument with a string naming the man page.
9342 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
9344 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9345 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9346 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
9348 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9349 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9350 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
9351 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
9352 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
9353 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
9354 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
9355 @code{ask}, always query the user what to do. If it is a function, this
9356 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
9357 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
9358 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
9359 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9361 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9362 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9363 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
9364 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
9365 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
9368 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9369 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9370 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
9371 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9375 @item gnus-article-button-face
9376 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
9377 Face used on buttons.
9379 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
9380 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
9381 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
9385 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
9388 @node Article Button Levels
9389 @subsection Article button levels
9390 @cindex button levels
9391 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
9392 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
9393 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
9394 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
9395 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
9396 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
9397 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
9398 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
9401 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
9402 (setq gnus-parameters
9403 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
9404 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
9405 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
9410 @item gnus-button-browse-level
9411 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
9412 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
9413 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
9414 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
9415 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
9417 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
9418 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
9419 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
9420 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
9421 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
9422 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
9423 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
9424 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
9425 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
9426 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
9427 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
9428 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
9429 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
9431 @item gnus-button-man-level
9432 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
9433 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
9434 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
9436 @item gnus-button-message-level
9437 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
9438 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
9439 Related variables and functions include
9440 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
9441 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
9442 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
9443 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
9449 @subsection Article Date
9451 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
9452 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
9453 when the article was sent.
9458 @kindex W T u (Summary)
9459 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
9460 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
9461 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
9464 @kindex W T i (Summary)
9465 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
9467 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
9468 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
9471 @kindex W T l (Summary)
9472 @findex gnus-article-date-local
9473 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9476 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9477 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9478 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9479 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9482 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9483 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9484 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9485 @findex format-time-string
9486 Display the date using a user-defined format
9487 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9488 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9489 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9490 for a list of possible format specs.
9493 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9494 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9495 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9496 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9497 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9498 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9501 Date: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9504 This line is updated continually by default. The frequency (in
9505 seconds) is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-update-date-headers}
9508 If you wish to switch updating off, say:
9510 @vindex gnus-article-update-date-headers
9512 (setq gnus-article-update-date-headers nil)
9515 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9518 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9519 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9520 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9521 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9522 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9523 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9524 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9528 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9529 preferred format automatically.
9532 @node Article Display
9533 @subsection Article Display
9539 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9540 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9542 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9543 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9545 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9546 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9548 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9549 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9551 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9552 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9554 Gravatars reside on-line and are fetched from
9555 @uref{http://www.gravatar.com/} (@pxref{Gravatars}).
9557 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9562 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9563 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9564 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9565 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9568 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9569 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9570 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9571 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9574 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9575 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9576 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9579 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9580 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9581 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9584 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9585 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9586 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9587 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9590 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9591 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9592 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9593 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9596 @kindex W D g (Summary)
9597 @findex gnus-treat-from-gravatar
9598 Gravatarify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-gravatar}).
9601 @kindex W D h (Summary)
9602 @findex gnus-treat-mail-gravatar
9603 Gravatarify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9604 (@code{gnus-treat-from-gravatar}).
9607 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9608 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9609 Remove all images from the article buffer
9610 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9613 @kindex W D W (Summary)
9614 @findex gnus-html-show-images
9615 If you're reading an @acronym{HTML} article rendered with
9616 @code{gnus-article-html}, then you can insert any blocked images in
9617 the buffer with this command.
9618 (@code{gnus-html-show-images}).
9624 @node Article Signature
9625 @subsection Article Signature
9627 @cindex article signature
9629 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9630 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9631 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9632 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9633 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9634 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9635 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9636 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9637 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9640 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9641 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9642 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9643 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9644 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9645 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9646 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9647 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9650 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9653 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9654 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9655 signature when displaying articles.
9659 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9662 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9665 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9666 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9668 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9669 in question is not a signature.
9672 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9673 listed above. Here's an example:
9676 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9677 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9680 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9681 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9682 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9683 signature after all.
9686 @node Article Miscellanea
9687 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9691 @kindex A t (Summary)
9692 @findex gnus-article-babel
9693 Translate the article from one language to another
9694 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9700 @section MIME Commands
9701 @cindex MIME decoding
9703 @cindex viewing attachments
9705 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9706 instance, @kbd{3 K v} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9712 @kindex K v (Summary)
9713 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9716 @kindex K o (Summary)
9717 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9720 @kindex K O (Summary)
9721 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} part and strip it
9722 from the article. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred
9723 via the message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
9726 @kindex K r (Summary)
9727 Replace the @acronym{MIME} part with an external body.
9730 @kindex K d (Summary)
9731 Delete the @acronym{MIME} part and add some information about the
9735 @kindex K c (Summary)
9736 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9739 @kindex K e (Summary)
9740 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9743 @kindex K i (Summary)
9744 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9747 @kindex K | (Summary)
9748 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9751 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9756 @kindex K H (Summary)
9757 @findex gnus-article-browse-html-article
9758 View @samp{text/html} parts of the current article with a WWW browser.
9759 Inline images embedded in a message using the @code{cid} scheme, as they
9760 are generally considered to be safe, will be processed properly. The
9761 message header is added to the beginning of every @acronym{HTML} part
9762 unless the prefix argument is given.
9764 Warning: Spammers use links to images (using the @code{http} scheme) in
9765 @acronym{HTML} articles to verify whether you have read the message. As
9766 this command passes the @acronym{HTML} content to the browser without
9767 eliminating these ``web bugs'' you should only use it for mails from
9770 If you always want to display @acronym{HTML} parts in the browser, set
9771 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} to @code{nil}.
9773 This command creates temporary files to pass @acronym{HTML} contents
9774 including images if any to the browser, and deletes them when exiting
9775 the group (if you want).
9778 @kindex K b (Summary)
9779 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9780 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9784 @kindex K m (Summary)
9785 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9786 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9787 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9788 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9789 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9792 @kindex X m (Summary)
9793 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9794 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9795 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9796 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9799 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9800 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9801 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9802 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9805 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9806 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9807 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9808 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9811 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9812 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9813 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9814 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9816 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9817 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9818 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9819 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9820 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9821 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9824 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9825 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9826 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9827 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9834 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9835 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9836 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9837 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9840 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9843 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9847 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9848 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9849 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9850 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9851 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9852 default is @code{t}.
9854 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9855 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9858 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9859 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9860 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9861 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9862 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}. Only
9863 single-part yEnc encoded attachments can be decoded. There's no support
9864 for encoding in Gnus.
9866 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9867 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9868 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9869 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9870 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9871 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9872 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9873 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9875 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9876 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9877 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9878 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9879 displayed. This variable overrides
9880 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9881 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9884 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9885 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9886 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9888 You could also add @code{"multipart/alternative"} to this list to
9889 display radio buttons that allow you to choose one of two media types
9890 those mails include. See also @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}
9891 (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The
9892 Emacs MIME Manual}).
9894 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9895 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9896 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9897 default value is @code{nil}.
9899 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9900 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9901 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9902 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9903 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9904 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9905 save all jpegs into some directory).
9907 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9910 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9911 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9913 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9914 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9915 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9916 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9917 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9920 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9921 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9922 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9924 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9925 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9926 Display "multipart/alternative" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9928 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9929 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9930 Display "multipart/related" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9932 If displaying @samp{text/html} is discouraged, see
9933 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}, images or other material inside a
9934 "multipart/related" part might be overlooked when this variable is
9935 @code{nil}. @ref{Display Customization, Display Customization, ,
9936 emacs-mime, Emacs-Mime Manual}.
9938 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9939 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9940 Display "multipart" parts as "multipart/mixed". If @code{t}, it
9941 overrides @code{nil} values of
9942 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed} and
9943 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed}.
9945 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9946 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9947 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9948 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9950 Ready-made functions include@*
9951 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9952 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9953 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9954 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9955 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9956 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9957 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9958 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9959 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9960 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9961 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9962 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9964 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9965 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9967 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9968 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9969 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9972 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9973 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9974 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9975 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9979 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9988 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9989 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9990 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9991 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9992 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9993 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9994 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp}.
9996 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9997 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9998 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9999 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
10001 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
10002 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
10003 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
10004 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
10005 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
10006 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
10007 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
10008 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
10009 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
10011 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
10012 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
10013 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
10014 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
10015 quoted-printable header encoding.
10017 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
10018 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
10019 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
10023 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
10026 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
10027 means encode all charsets),
10029 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
10030 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
10031 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
10038 @cindex coding system aliases
10039 @cindex preferred charset
10041 @xref{Encoding Customization, , Encoding Customization, emacs-mime,
10042 The Emacs MIME Manual}, for additional variables that control which
10043 MIME charsets are used when sending messages.
10045 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
10047 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
10048 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
10051 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
10052 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
10055 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
10056 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
10058 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
10061 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
10064 This will almost do the right thing.
10066 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
10070 (codepage-setup 1251)
10071 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
10075 @node Article Commands
10076 @section Article Commands
10083 @kindex A P (Summary)
10084 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
10085 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
10086 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
10087 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
10088 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
10089 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
10092 @vindex gnus-fetch-partial-articles
10093 @findex gnus-summary-show-complete-article
10094 If @code{<backend>-fetch-partial-articles} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
10095 fetch partial articles, if the backend it fetches them from supports
10096 it. Currently only @code{nnimap} does. If you're looking at a
10097 partial article, and want to see the complete article instead, then
10098 the @kbd{A C} command (@code{gnus-summary-show-complete-article}) will
10104 @node Summary Sorting
10105 @section Summary Sorting
10106 @cindex summary sorting
10108 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
10109 can't really see why you'd want that.
10114 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10115 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
10116 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
10118 @item C-c C-s C-m C-n
10119 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10120 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-number
10121 Sort by most recent article number
10122 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-number}).
10125 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
10126 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
10127 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
10130 @kindex C-c C-s C-t (Summary)
10131 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient
10132 Sort by recipient (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient}).
10135 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
10136 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
10137 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
10140 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
10141 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
10142 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
10144 @item C-c C-s C-m C-d
10145 @kindex C-c C-s C-m C-d (Summary)
10146 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-date
10147 Sort by most recent date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-most-recent-date}).
10150 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
10151 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
10152 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
10155 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
10156 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
10157 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
10160 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
10161 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
10162 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
10165 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
10166 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
10167 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
10170 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
10171 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
10172 Sort using the default sorting method
10173 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
10176 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
10177 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
10178 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
10179 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
10180 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
10183 If a prefix argument if given, the sort order is reversed.
10186 @node Finding the Parent
10187 @section Finding the Parent
10188 @cindex parent articles
10189 @cindex referring articles
10193 @kindex ^ (Summary)
10194 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
10195 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
10196 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
10197 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
10198 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
10199 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
10200 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
10201 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
10202 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
10204 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
10205 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
10206 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
10207 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
10208 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
10211 @item A R (Summary)
10212 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
10213 @kindex A R (Summary)
10214 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
10215 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
10217 @item A T (Summary)
10218 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
10219 @kindex A T (Summary)
10220 Display the full thread where the current article appears
10221 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
10222 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
10223 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
10224 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
10225 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
10226 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
10228 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
10229 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
10230 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
10231 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
10232 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
10233 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
10235 @item M-^ (Summary)
10236 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
10237 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
10239 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
10240 You can also ask Gnus for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it
10241 belongs to. @kbd{M-^} (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you
10242 for a @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read
10243 thingies that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}.
10244 You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
10246 Gnus looks for the @code{Message-ID} in the headers that have already
10247 been fetched, but also tries all the select methods specified by
10248 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} if it is not found.
10251 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
10252 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
10253 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
10254 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
10255 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
10256 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
10259 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
10260 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
10261 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
10264 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
10265 then ask Google if that fails:
10268 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
10270 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
10273 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
10274 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
10275 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
10276 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
10277 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
10278 group. @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
10280 Fortunately, the special @code{nnregistry} back end is able to locate
10281 articles in any groups, regardless of their back end (@pxref{Registry
10282 Article Refer Method, fetching by @code{Message-ID} using the
10285 @node Alternative Approaches
10286 @section Alternative Approaches
10288 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
10289 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
10292 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
10293 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
10297 @node Pick and Read
10298 @subsection Pick and Read
10299 @cindex pick and read
10301 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
10302 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
10303 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
10304 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
10306 @findex gnus-pick-mode
10307 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
10308 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
10309 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
10310 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
10311 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
10313 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
10318 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
10319 Pick the article or thread on the current line
10320 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10321 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
10322 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
10323 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
10324 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
10325 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
10328 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
10329 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
10330 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
10331 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
10335 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
10336 Unpick the thread or article
10337 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10338 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
10339 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
10340 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
10341 the thread or article at that line.
10345 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
10346 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
10347 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
10348 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
10349 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
10350 will still be visible when you are reading.
10354 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
10355 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
10356 which is mapped to the same function
10357 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
10359 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
10362 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
10365 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
10366 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
10368 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
10369 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
10370 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
10372 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
10373 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
10374 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
10375 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
10376 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
10377 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
10378 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
10381 @node Binary Groups
10382 @subsection Binary Groups
10383 @cindex binary groups
10385 @findex gnus-binary-mode
10386 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
10387 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
10388 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
10389 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
10390 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
10391 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
10394 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
10395 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
10396 command, when you have turned on this mode
10397 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
10399 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
10400 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
10404 @section Tree Display
10407 @vindex gnus-use-trees
10408 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
10409 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
10410 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
10411 in the tree buffer.
10413 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
10416 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
10417 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
10418 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
10420 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10421 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10422 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
10423 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
10424 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
10426 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
10427 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
10428 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
10429 default is @code{modeline}.
10431 @item gnus-tree-line-format
10432 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
10433 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
10434 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
10435 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
10436 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
10437 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
10443 The name of the poster.
10445 The @code{From} header.
10447 The number of the article.
10449 The opening bracket.
10451 The closing bracket.
10456 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
10458 Variables related to the display are:
10461 @item gnus-tree-brackets
10462 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
10463 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
10464 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
10466 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
10467 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
10468 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
10470 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
10472 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10473 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10474 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
10475 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
10479 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
10480 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
10481 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
10482 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
10483 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
10484 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
10485 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
10486 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
10487 other windows displayed next to it.
10489 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
10493 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
10494 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
10497 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
10498 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
10499 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10500 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
10501 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
10502 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
10503 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
10507 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
10510 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
10520 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
10525 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
10526 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
10528 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
10530 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
10536 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
10537 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
10538 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
10541 (setq gnus-use-trees t
10542 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10543 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
10544 (gnus-add-configuration
10548 (summary 0.75 point)
10553 @xref{Window Layout}.
10556 @node Mail Group Commands
10557 @section Mail Group Commands
10558 @cindex mail group commands
10560 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
10561 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
10563 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
10564 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10569 @kindex B e (Summary)
10570 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
10571 @cindex expiring mail
10572 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
10573 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
10574 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
10575 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
10578 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
10579 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
10580 @cindex expiring mail
10581 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
10582 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
10583 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
10584 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
10587 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
10588 @cindex deleting mail
10589 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
10590 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
10591 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
10592 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
10593 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
10596 @kindex B m (Summary)
10598 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10599 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10600 Move the article from one mail group to another
10601 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10602 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10605 @kindex B c (Summary)
10607 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10608 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10609 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10610 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10611 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10614 @kindex B B (Summary)
10615 @cindex crosspost mail
10616 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10617 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10618 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10619 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10620 be properly updated.
10623 @kindex B i (Summary)
10624 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10625 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10626 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10627 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10630 @kindex B I (Summary)
10631 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10632 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10633 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10634 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10637 @kindex B r (Summary)
10638 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10639 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10640 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10641 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10642 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10643 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10644 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10645 (which is the default).
10649 @kindex B w (Summary)
10650 @kindex e (Summary)
10651 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10652 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10653 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10654 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10655 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10656 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10657 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10660 @kindex B q (Summary)
10661 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10662 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10663 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10664 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10667 @kindex B t (Summary)
10668 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10669 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10670 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10673 @kindex B p (Summary)
10674 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10675 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10676 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10677 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10678 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10679 article from your news server (or rather, from
10680 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10681 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10682 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10683 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10684 just not have arrived yet.
10687 @kindex K E (Summary)
10688 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10689 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10690 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10691 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10692 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10696 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10697 @cindex moving articles
10698 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
10699 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10700 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10701 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10702 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10703 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10704 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10707 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10708 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10709 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10710 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10714 @node Various Summary Stuff
10715 @section Various Summary Stuff
10718 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10719 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10720 * Summary Generation Commands::
10721 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10725 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10726 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10727 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10728 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10729 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10730 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10732 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10733 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10734 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10737 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10738 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10739 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10741 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10742 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10743 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10744 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10745 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10746 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10749 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10750 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10751 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10752 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10753 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10755 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10756 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10757 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10760 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10761 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10762 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10763 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10764 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10765 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10766 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10767 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10768 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10769 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10771 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10772 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10773 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10774 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10775 list of articles to be selected.
10777 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10778 the list in one particular group:
10781 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10782 (if (string= group "some.group")
10783 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10787 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10788 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10789 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10790 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
10791 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
10794 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
10795 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
10796 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
10797 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
10798 variable will be used instead.
10800 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10801 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10802 buffers. For example:
10805 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10806 '(message-use-followup-to
10807 (gnus-visible-headers .
10808 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10811 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
10816 @node Summary Group Information
10817 @subsection Summary Group Information
10822 @kindex H d (Summary)
10823 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10824 Give a brief description of the current group
10825 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10826 rereading the description from the server.
10829 @kindex H h (Summary)
10830 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10831 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10832 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10835 @kindex H i (Summary)
10836 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10837 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10841 @node Searching for Articles
10842 @subsection Searching for Articles
10847 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10848 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10849 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10850 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10853 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10854 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10855 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10856 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10859 @kindex M-S (Summary)
10860 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward
10861 Repeat the previous search forwards
10862 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward}).
10865 @kindex M-R (Summary)
10866 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward
10867 Repeat the previous search backwards
10868 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward}).
10871 @kindex & (Summary)
10872 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10873 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10874 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10875 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10876 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10877 search backward instead.
10879 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10880 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10883 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10884 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10885 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10886 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10889 @node Summary Generation Commands
10890 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10895 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10896 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10897 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10900 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10901 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10902 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10903 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10906 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10907 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10908 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10909 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10912 @kindex Y t (Summary)
10913 @findex gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles
10914 Pull all ticked articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10915 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles}).
10920 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10921 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10927 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10928 @kindex A D (Summary)
10929 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10930 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10931 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10932 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10933 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10934 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10935 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10936 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10939 @vindex gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit
10940 The variable @code{gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit} controls what
10941 article should be selected after exiting a digest group. Valid values
10946 Select the next article.
10949 Select the next unread article.
10951 @item next-noselect
10952 Move the cursor to the next article. This is the default.
10954 @item next-unread-noselect
10955 Move the cursor to the next unread article.
10958 If it has any other value or there is no next (unread) article, the
10959 article selected before entering to the digest group will appear.
10962 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10963 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10964 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10965 several documents into one biiig group
10966 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10967 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10968 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10969 command understands the process/prefix convention
10970 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10973 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10974 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10975 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10976 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10977 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10978 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10981 @kindex = (Summary)
10982 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10983 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10984 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10987 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10988 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10989 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10990 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10993 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10994 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10995 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10996 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
11001 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
11002 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
11003 @cindex summary exit
11004 @cindex exiting groups
11006 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
11007 group and return you to the group buffer.
11014 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
11015 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
11016 @kindex q (Summary)
11017 @findex gnus-summary-exit
11018 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
11019 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
11020 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
11021 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
11022 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
11023 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
11024 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
11025 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
11026 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
11027 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
11028 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
11032 @kindex Z E (Summary)
11033 @kindex Q (Summary)
11034 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
11035 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
11036 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
11040 @kindex Z c (Summary)
11041 @kindex c (Summary)
11042 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
11043 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
11044 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
11045 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
11048 @kindex Z C (Summary)
11049 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
11050 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
11051 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
11054 @kindex Z n (Summary)
11055 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
11056 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
11057 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
11060 @kindex Z p (Summary)
11061 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group
11062 Mark all articles as read and go to the previous group
11063 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group}).
11067 @kindex Z R (Summary)
11068 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
11069 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
11070 Exit this group, and then enter it again
11071 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
11072 all articles, both read and unread.
11076 @kindex Z G (Summary)
11077 @kindex M-g (Summary)
11078 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
11079 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
11080 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
11081 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
11082 articles, both read and unread.
11085 @kindex Z N (Summary)
11086 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
11087 Exit the group and go to the next group
11088 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
11091 @kindex Z P (Summary)
11092 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
11093 Exit the group and go to the previous group
11094 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
11097 @kindex Z s (Summary)
11098 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
11099 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
11100 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
11101 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
11102 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
11105 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
11106 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
11107 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
11108 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
11110 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
11111 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
11112 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
11113 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
11114 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
11115 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
11116 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
11117 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
11118 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
11119 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
11120 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
11121 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
11123 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
11125 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
11126 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
11127 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
11128 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
11129 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
11130 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
11131 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
11132 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
11133 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
11136 @node Crosspost Handling
11137 @section Crosspost Handling
11141 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
11142 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
11143 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
11144 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
11145 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
11148 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
11149 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
11150 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
11151 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
11152 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
11154 @cindex cross-posting
11156 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
11157 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
11158 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
11159 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
11160 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
11161 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
11162 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
11163 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
11164 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
11165 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
11166 the cross reference mechanism.
11168 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
11169 @cindex overview.fmt
11170 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
11171 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
11172 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
11173 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
11174 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
11175 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
11178 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
11179 set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
11180 considerably. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
11184 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
11187 @node Duplicate Suppression
11188 @section Duplicate Suppression
11190 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
11191 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
11192 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
11193 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
11198 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
11199 is evil and not very common.
11202 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
11203 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
11206 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
11207 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
11210 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
11213 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
11214 well, but these four are the most common situations.
11216 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
11217 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
11218 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
11219 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
11220 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
11221 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
11222 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
11225 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
11226 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
11227 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
11228 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
11229 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
11230 saw the article in.
11233 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
11234 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
11235 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
11237 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
11238 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
11239 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
11240 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
11241 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
11242 session are suppressed.
11244 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
11245 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
11246 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
11247 suppression list. The default is 10000.
11249 @item gnus-duplicate-file
11250 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
11251 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
11252 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
11255 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
11256 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
11257 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
11258 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
11259 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
11260 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
11261 to you to figure out, I think.
11266 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
11267 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
11268 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
11273 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
11274 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
11275 to GnuPG included with Emacs is called EasyPG (@pxref{Top, ,EasyPG,
11276 epa, EasyPG Assistant user's manual}), but PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg,
11277 PGG Manual}), and Mailcrypt are also supported.
11280 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
11281 or newer is recommended.
11285 The variables that control security functionality on reading/composing
11289 @item mm-verify-option
11290 @vindex mm-verify-option
11291 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
11292 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
11293 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11295 @item mm-decrypt-option
11296 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
11297 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
11298 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
11299 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11301 @item mm-sign-option
11302 @vindex mm-sign-option
11303 Option of creating signed parts. @code{nil}, use default signing
11304 keys; @code{guided}, ask user to select signing keys from the menu.
11306 @item mm-encrypt-option
11307 @vindex mm-encrypt-option
11308 Option of creating encrypted parts. @code{nil}, use the first
11309 public-key matching the @samp{From:} header as the recipient;
11310 @code{guided}, ask user to select recipient keys from the menu.
11313 @vindex mml1991-use
11314 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11315 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{epg}, but @code{pgg},
11316 and @code{mailcrypt} are also supported although
11317 deprecated. By default, Gnus uses the first available interface in
11321 @vindex mml2015-use
11322 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11323 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{epg}, but
11324 @code{pgg}, and @code{mailcrypt} are also supported
11325 although deprecated. By default, Gnus uses the first available
11326 interface in this order.
11330 By default the buttons that display security information are not
11331 shown, because they clutter reading the actual e-mail. You can type
11332 @kbd{K b} manually to display the information. Use the
11333 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types} and
11334 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} variables to control this
11335 permanently. @ref{MIME Commands} for further details, and hints on
11336 how to customize these variables to always display security
11339 @cindex snarfing keys
11340 @cindex importing PGP keys
11341 @cindex PGP key ring import
11342 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
11343 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
11344 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
11345 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
11346 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
11347 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
11348 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
11349 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
11350 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
11353 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
11356 This happens to also be the default action defined in
11357 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
11359 More information on how to set things for sending outgoing signed and
11360 encrypted messages up can be found in the message manual
11361 (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
11364 @section Mailing List
11365 @cindex mailing list
11368 @kindex A M (summary)
11369 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
11370 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
11371 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
11372 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
11375 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
11380 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
11381 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
11382 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
11385 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
11386 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
11387 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
11390 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
11391 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
11392 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
11396 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
11397 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
11398 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
11401 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
11402 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
11403 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
11406 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
11407 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
11408 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
11413 @node Article Buffer
11414 @chapter Article Buffer
11415 @cindex article buffer
11417 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
11418 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
11419 tell Gnus otherwise.
11422 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
11423 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
11424 * HTML:: Reading @acronym{HTML} messages.
11425 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
11426 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
11427 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
11431 @node Hiding Headers
11432 @section Hiding Headers
11433 @cindex hiding headers
11434 @cindex deleting headers
11436 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
11437 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
11439 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
11440 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
11441 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
11442 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
11443 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
11444 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
11445 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
11446 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
11447 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
11449 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
11453 @item gnus-visible-headers
11454 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
11455 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
11456 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
11457 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
11459 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
11460 the article and the subject, you'd say:
11463 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
11466 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11469 @item gnus-ignored-headers
11470 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
11471 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
11472 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
11473 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
11474 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
11476 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
11477 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
11480 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
11483 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11486 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
11487 variable will have no effect.
11491 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
11492 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
11493 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
11494 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
11495 the headers are to be displayed.
11497 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
11498 and then the subject, you might say something like:
11501 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
11504 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
11505 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
11507 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
11508 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
11509 You can hide further boring headers by setting
11510 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
11511 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
11512 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
11513 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
11516 These conditions are:
11519 Remove all empty headers.
11521 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
11522 @code{Newsgroups} header.
11524 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
11525 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
11528 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
11531 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11532 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
11534 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11535 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11537 Remove the @code{Cc} header if it only contains the address identical to
11538 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11540 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
11543 Remove the @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} header if it is very long.
11545 Remove all @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} headers if there are more than one.
11548 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
11551 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
11552 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
11555 This is also the default value for this variable.
11559 @section Using MIME
11560 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11562 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
11563 while people stand around yawning.
11565 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
11566 while all newsreaders die of fear.
11568 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
11569 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
11570 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
11572 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
11573 @findex gnus-display-mime
11574 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
11575 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
11576 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
11577 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
11579 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
11580 @acronym{MIME} button:
11583 @findex gnus-article-press-button
11584 @item RET (Article)
11585 @kindex RET (Article)
11586 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
11587 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
11588 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
11589 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
11590 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
11591 object is displayed inline.
11593 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
11594 @item M-RET (Article)
11595 @kindex M-RET (Article)
11597 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11598 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
11600 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
11602 @kindex t (Article)
11603 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
11604 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
11606 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
11608 @kindex C (Article)
11609 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11610 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
11612 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
11614 @kindex o (Article)
11615 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
11616 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
11618 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
11619 @item C-o (Article)
11620 @kindex C-o (Article)
11621 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
11622 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
11623 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
11624 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
11625 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
11626 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
11628 @findex gnus-mime-replace-part
11630 @kindex r (Article)
11631 Prompt for a file name, replace the @acronym{MIME} object with an
11632 external body referring to the file via the message/external-body
11633 @acronym{MIME} type. (@code{gnus-mime-replace-part}).
11635 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
11637 @kindex d (Article)
11638 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
11639 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
11640 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
11642 @c FIXME: gnus-auto-select-part should be documented here
11644 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
11646 @kindex c (Article)
11647 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
11648 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). If given a prefix, copy the raw contents
11649 without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual
11650 charset stuff (see @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in
11651 @ref{Paging the Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
11652 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
11653 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
11654 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11656 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
11658 @kindex p (Article)
11659 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
11660 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
11661 @file{.mailcap} file.
11663 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
11665 @kindex i (Article)
11666 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
11667 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as @samp{text/plain}. If given a prefix, insert
11668 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
11669 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
11670 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
11671 Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and @file{.bz2} are
11672 automatically decompressed depending on @code{jka-compr} regardless of
11673 @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed Files,, Accessing
11674 Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11676 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
11678 @kindex E (Article)
11679 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
11680 viewer is available, use an external viewer
11681 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
11683 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
11685 @kindex e (Article)
11686 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
11687 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
11689 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
11691 @kindex | (Article)
11692 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
11694 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
11696 @kindex . (Article)
11697 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
11698 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
11702 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
11703 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
11704 @acronym{MIME} manual.
11706 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
11707 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
11708 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
11709 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
11710 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
11711 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
11712 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
11713 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
11714 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
11716 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
11718 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
11722 @section @acronym{HTML}
11723 @cindex @acronym{HTML}
11725 If you have @code{w3m} installed on your system, Gnus can display
11726 @acronym{HTML} articles in the article buffer. There are many Gnus
11727 add-ons for doing this, using various approaches, but there's one
11728 (sort of) built-in method that's used by default.
11730 For a complete overview, consult @xref{Display Customization,
11731 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. This
11732 section only describes the default method.
11735 @item mm-text-html-renderer
11736 @vindex mm-text-html-renderer
11737 If set to @code{gnus-article-html}, Gnus will use the built-in method,
11738 that's based on @code{w3m}.
11740 @item gnus-blocked-images
11741 @vindex gnus-blocked-images
11742 External images that have @acronym{URL}s that match this regexp won't
11743 be fetched and displayed. For instance, do block all @acronym{URL}s
11744 that have the string ``ads'' in them, do the following:
11747 (setq gnus-blocked-images "ads")
11750 This can also be a function to be evaluated. If so, it will be
11751 called with the group name as the parameter. The default value is
11752 @code{gnus-block-private-groups}, which will return @samp{"."} for
11753 anything that isn't a newsgroup. This means that no external images
11754 will be fetched as a result of reading mail, so that nobody can use
11755 web bugs (and the like) to track whether you've read email.
11757 Also @pxref{Misc Article} for @code{gnus-inhibit-images}.
11759 @item gnus-html-cache-directory
11760 @vindex gnus-html-cache-directory
11761 Gnus will download and cache images according to how
11762 @code{gnus-blocked-images} is set. These images will be stored in
11765 @item gnus-html-cache-size
11766 @vindex gnus-html-cache-size
11767 When @code{gnus-html-cache-size} bytes have been used in that
11768 directory, the oldest files will be deleted. The default is 500MB.
11770 @item gnus-html-frame-width
11771 @vindex gnus-html-frame-width
11772 The width to use when rendering HTML. The default is 70.
11774 @item gnus-max-image-proportion
11775 @vindex gnus-max-image-proportion
11776 How big pictures displayed are in relation to the window they're in.
11777 A value of 0.7 (the default) means that they are allowed to take up
11778 70% of the width and height of the window. If they are larger than
11779 this, and Emacs supports it, then the images will be rescaled down to
11780 fit these criteria.
11784 To use this, make sure that you have @code{w3m} and @code{curl}
11785 installed. If you have, then Gnus should display @acronym{HTML}
11790 @node Customizing Articles
11791 @section Customizing Articles
11792 @cindex article customization
11794 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
11795 exist. You can call these functions interactively
11796 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
11797 called automatically when you select the articles.
11799 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
11800 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
11801 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
11802 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
11804 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
11805 for sensible values.
11809 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
11812 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
11815 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
11818 @code{first}: Do this treatment on the first body part.
11821 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last body part.
11824 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
11828 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
11829 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
11830 regexps in the list.
11833 A list where the first element is not a string:
11835 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
11836 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
11837 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
11841 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
11846 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11847 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11848 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11849 considered to contain just a single part.
11851 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11852 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11853 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11854 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11855 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11856 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11857 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11860 @c Avoid sort of redundant entries in the same section for the printed
11861 @c manual, but add them in info to allow `i gnus-treat-foo-bar RET' or
11863 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize
11864 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize-head
11865 @vindex gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
11866 @vindex gnus-treat-overstrike
11867 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-cr
11868 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
11869 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
11870 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
11871 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-pem
11872 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
11873 @vindex gnus-treat-unsplit-urls
11874 @vindex gnus-treat-wash-html
11875 @vindex gnus-treat-date
11876 @vindex gnus-treat-from-picon
11877 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-picon
11878 @vindex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
11879 @vindex gnus-treat-from-gravatar
11880 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-gravatar
11881 @vindex gnus-treat-display-smileys
11882 @vindex gnus-treat-body-boundary
11883 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11884 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11885 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11886 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
11887 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
11888 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
11889 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
11890 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
11891 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
11892 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
11893 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
11894 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
11895 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
11896 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
11897 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
11898 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
11899 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
11900 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
11901 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
11902 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
11903 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
11906 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11907 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11908 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11909 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11912 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11913 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11915 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11917 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11918 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11919 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11920 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11921 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, first, integer)
11922 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11923 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11924 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11925 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11926 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11928 @xref{Article Washing}.
11930 @item gnus-treat-date (head)
11932 This will transform/add date headers according to the
11933 @code{gnus-article-date-headers} variable. This is a list of Date
11934 headers to display. The formats available are:
11938 Universal time, aka GMT, aka ZULU.
11941 The user's local time zone.
11944 A semi-readable English sentence.
11947 The time elapsed since the message was posted.
11949 @item combined-lapsed
11950 Both the original date header and a (shortened) elapsed time.
11953 The original date header.
11956 ISO8601 format, i.e., ``2010-11-23T22:05:21''.
11959 A format done according to the @code{gnus-article-time-format}
11964 @xref{Article Date}.
11966 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11967 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11968 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11972 @item gnus-treat-from-gravatar (head)
11973 @item gnus-treat-mail-gravatar (head)
11977 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
11979 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11981 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11982 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11983 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11987 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11988 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
11992 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11993 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
11997 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11998 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11999 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
12000 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
12001 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
12002 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
12003 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
12004 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
12005 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
12006 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
12007 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
12008 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
12009 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
12010 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
12011 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
12012 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
12013 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
12014 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
12015 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
12016 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
12018 @xref{Article Hiding}.
12020 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
12021 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
12022 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
12023 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
12024 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
12025 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
12027 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
12029 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
12030 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
12031 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
12032 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
12033 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
12035 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
12036 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
12037 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
12038 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
12039 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
12040 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
12041 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
12042 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
12044 @xref{Article Header}.
12049 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
12050 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
12051 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
12052 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
12053 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
12057 @node Article Keymap
12058 @section Article Keymap
12060 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
12061 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
12062 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
12063 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
12066 @kindex v (Article)
12067 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Article)
12068 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
12069 command or better use it as a prefix key.
12071 A few additional keystrokes are available:
12076 @kindex SPACE (Article)
12077 @findex gnus-article-next-page
12078 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
12079 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
12082 @kindex DEL (Article)
12083 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
12084 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
12085 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
12088 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
12089 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
12090 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
12091 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
12092 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
12095 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
12096 @findex gnus-article-mail
12097 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
12098 given a prefix, include the mail.
12101 @kindex s (Article)
12102 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
12103 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
12104 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
12107 @kindex ? (Article)
12108 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
12109 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
12110 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
12113 @kindex TAB (Article)
12114 @findex gnus-article-next-button
12115 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
12116 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
12119 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
12120 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
12121 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
12124 @kindex R (Article)
12125 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
12126 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
12127 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If the region is active,
12128 only yank the text in the region.
12131 @kindex S W (Article)
12132 @findex gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original
12133 Send a wide reply to the current article and yank the current article
12134 (@code{gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original}). If the region is
12135 active, only yank the text in the region.
12138 @kindex F (Article)
12139 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
12140 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
12141 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If the region is active,
12142 only yank the text in the region.
12149 @section Misc Article
12153 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
12154 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
12155 @cindex article buffers, several
12156 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
12157 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
12160 @item gnus-widen-article-window
12161 @cindex gnus-widen-article-window
12162 If non-@code{nil}, selecting the article buffer with the @kbd{h}
12163 command will ``widen'' the article window to take the entire frame.
12165 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
12166 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
12167 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
12168 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
12169 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
12171 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
12172 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
12173 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
12174 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
12175 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
12176 the contents of the article buffer.
12178 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
12179 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
12180 Hook called in article mode buffers.
12182 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12183 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12184 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
12185 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
12187 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
12188 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
12189 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
12190 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
12192 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
12193 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
12194 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
12195 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
12196 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
12197 with two extensions:
12202 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
12203 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
12204 performed. The characters and their meaning:
12209 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
12212 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
12215 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
12216 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
12217 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
12220 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
12223 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
12226 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasized strings in the article buffer.
12231 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
12235 @vindex gnus-break-pages
12237 @item gnus-break-pages
12238 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
12239 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
12240 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
12241 paging will not be done.
12243 @item gnus-page-delimiter
12244 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
12245 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
12249 @cindex internationalized domain names
12250 @vindex gnus-use-idna
12251 @item gnus-use-idna
12252 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
12253 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
12254 @samp{Cc} headers. @xref{IDNA, ,IDNA,message, The Message Manual},
12255 for how to compose such messages. This requires
12256 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
12257 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
12259 @vindex gnus-inhibit-images
12260 @item gnus-inhibit-images
12261 If this is non-@code{nil}, inhibit displaying of images inline in the
12262 article body. It is effective to images that are in articles as
12263 @acronym{MIME} parts, and images in @acronym{HTML} articles rendered
12264 when @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization,
12265 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) is
12266 @code{shr} or @code{gnus-w3m}.
12271 @node Composing Messages
12272 @chapter Composing Messages
12273 @cindex composing messages
12276 @cindex sending mail
12281 @cindex using s/mime
12282 @cindex using smime
12284 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
12285 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
12286 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
12287 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
12288 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
12289 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
12292 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
12293 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
12294 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
12295 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
12296 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
12297 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
12298 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
12299 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
12300 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
12303 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
12304 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
12310 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
12313 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
12314 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
12315 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
12316 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
12317 @code{nil} include all headers.
12319 @item gnus-add-to-list
12320 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
12321 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
12322 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
12324 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12325 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12326 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you for a confirmation when you are
12327 about to reply to news articles by mail. If it is @code{nil}, nothing
12328 interferes in what you want to do. This can also be a function
12329 receiving the group name as the only parameter which should return
12330 non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is needed, or a regular expression
12331 matching group names, where confirmation should be asked for.
12333 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
12334 press @kbd{R} anyway, this variable might be for you.
12336 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12337 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12338 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
12339 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
12340 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
12345 @node Posting Server
12346 @section Posting Server
12348 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
12349 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
12351 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
12353 It can be quite complicated.
12355 @vindex gnus-post-method
12356 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
12357 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
12358 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
12359 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
12360 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
12361 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
12362 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
12363 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
12364 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
12367 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
12370 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
12371 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
12372 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
12373 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
12375 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
12376 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
12378 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
12379 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
12382 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
12383 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
12385 @vindex message-send-mail-function
12386 When sending mail, Message invokes the function specified by the
12387 variable @code{message-send-mail-function}. Gnus tries to set it to a
12388 value suitable for your system.
12389 @xref{Mail Variables, ,Mail Variables,message,Message manual}, for more
12392 @node POP before SMTP
12393 @section POP before SMTP
12394 @cindex pop before smtp
12395 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
12396 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
12398 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
12399 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
12400 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
12401 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
12402 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12405 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
12406 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
12410 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
12411 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
12412 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
12413 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
12414 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
12415 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
12416 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
12417 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
12419 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
12420 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
12421 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
12422 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
12423 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
12424 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
12427 (setq mail-source-primary-source
12428 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12429 :password "secret"))
12433 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
12434 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
12437 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
12439 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
12440 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12441 :password "secret")))
12442 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
12445 @node Mail and Post
12446 @section Mail and Post
12448 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
12452 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
12453 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
12454 @cindex mailing lists
12456 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
12457 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
12458 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
12459 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
12460 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
12461 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
12462 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
12463 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
12464 still a pain, though.
12466 @item gnus-user-agent
12467 @vindex gnus-user-agent
12470 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
12471 User-Agent header. It can be a list of symbols or a string. Valid
12472 symbols are @code{gnus} (show Gnus version) and @code{emacs} (show Emacs
12473 version). In addition to the Emacs version, you can add @code{codename}
12474 (show (S)XEmacs codename) or either @code{config} (show system
12475 configuration) or @code{type} (show system type). If you set it to a
12476 string, be sure to use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
12480 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
12481 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
12482 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
12485 @findex ispell-message
12487 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
12490 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
12491 you're in, you could say something like the following:
12494 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
12498 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
12499 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
12501 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
12504 Modify to suit your needs.
12506 @vindex gnus-message-highlight-citation
12507 If @code{gnus-message-highlight-citation} is t, different levels of
12508 citations are highlighted like in Gnus article buffers also in message
12511 @node Archived Messages
12512 @section Archived Messages
12513 @cindex archived messages
12514 @cindex sent messages
12516 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
12517 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
12518 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
12519 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
12522 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
12523 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
12526 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
12527 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
12528 use to store sent messages. The default is @code{"archive"}, and when
12529 actually being used it is expanded into:
12532 (nnfolder "archive"
12533 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
12534 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
12535 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
12536 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
12540 @vindex gnus-update-message-archive-method
12541 Note: a server like this is saved in the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file first
12542 so that it may be used as a real method of the server which is named
12543 @code{"archive"} (that is, for the case where
12544 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} is set to @code{"archive"}) ever
12545 since. If it once has been saved, it will never be updated by default
12546 even if you change the value of @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12547 afterward. Therefore, the server @code{"archive"} doesn't necessarily
12548 mean the @code{nnfolder} server like this at all times. If you want the
12549 saved method to reflect always the value of
12550 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, set the
12551 @code{gnus-update-message-archive-method} variable to a non-@code{nil}
12552 value. The default value of this variable is @code{nil}.
12555 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
12556 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
12557 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
12558 directory chosen, you could say something like:
12561 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
12562 '(nnfolder "archive"
12563 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
12564 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
12565 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
12568 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
12570 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
12571 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
12572 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
12574 This variable can be used to do the following:
12578 Messages will be saved in that group.
12580 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
12581 message will not be stored in the select method given by
12582 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
12583 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12584 has the default value shown above. Then setting
12585 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
12586 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
12587 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
12590 @item a list of strings
12591 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
12593 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
12594 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
12597 No message archiving will take place.
12602 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
12604 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
12607 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
12609 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
12612 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
12614 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12615 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
12616 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
12617 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
12620 More complex stuff:
12622 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12623 '((if (message-news-p)
12628 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
12629 messages in one file per month:
12632 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12633 '((if (message-news-p)
12635 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
12638 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
12639 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
12640 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
12641 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
12642 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
12643 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
12644 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
12645 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
12646 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
12647 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
12650 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12651 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12652 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
12654 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12655 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12656 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
12657 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
12658 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
12659 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
12660 changed in the future.
12662 @item gnus-gcc-self-resent-messages
12663 @vindex gnus-gcc-self-resent-messages
12664 Like the @code{gcc-self} group parameter, applied only for unmodified
12665 messages that @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} (@pxref{Summary Mail
12666 Commands}) resends. Non-@code{nil} value of this variable takes
12667 precedence over any existing @code{Gcc} header.
12669 If this is @code{none}, no @code{Gcc} copy will be made. If this is
12670 @code{t}, messages resent will be @code{Gcc} copied to the current
12671 group. If this is a string, it specifies a group to which resent
12672 messages will be @code{Gcc} copied. If this is @code{nil}, @code{Gcc}
12673 will be done according to existing @code{Gcc} header(s), if any. If
12674 this is @code{no-gcc-self}, that is the default, resent messages will be
12675 @code{Gcc} copied to groups that existing @code{Gcc} header specifies,
12676 except for the current group.
12681 @node Posting Styles
12682 @section Posting Styles
12683 @cindex posting styles
12686 All them variables, they make my head swim.
12688 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
12689 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
12690 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
12693 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
12694 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
12695 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
12696 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
12697 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
12702 (signature "Peace and happiness")
12703 (organization "What me?"))
12705 (signature "Death to everybody"))
12706 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
12707 (organization "Emacs is it")))
12710 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
12711 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
12712 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
12713 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
12714 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
12715 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
12716 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
12717 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
12719 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
12720 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
12721 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
12722 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
12723 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
12724 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
12725 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
12726 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
12727 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
12728 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
12729 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
12730 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
12731 said to @dfn{match}.
12733 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
12734 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. In
12735 addition, you can also use the @code{(@var{name} :file @var{value})}
12736 form or the @code{(@var{name} :value @var{value})} form. Where
12737 @code{:file} signifies @var{value} represents a file name and its
12738 contents should be used as the attribute value, @code{:value} signifies
12739 @var{value} does not represent a file name explicitly. The attribute
12740 name can be one of:
12743 @item @code{signature}
12744 @item @code{signature-file}
12745 @item @code{x-face-file}
12746 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
12747 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
12751 Note that the @code{signature-file} attribute honors the variable
12752 @code{message-signature-directory}.
12754 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
12755 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
12756 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
12757 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
12758 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
12760 The attribute value can be a string, a function with zero arguments
12761 (the return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used)
12762 or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be
12763 used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
12764 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current
12765 article are available through the @code{message-reply-headers}
12766 variable, which is a vector of the following headers: number subject
12767 from date id references chars lines xref extra.
12769 In the case of a string value, if the @code{match} is a regular
12770 expression, a @samp{gnus-match-substitute-replacement} is proceed on
12771 the value to replace the positional parameters @samp{\@var{n}} by the
12772 corresponding parenthetical matches (see @xref{Replacing Match,,
12773 Replacing the Text that Matched, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}.)
12775 @vindex message-reply-headers
12777 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
12778 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
12779 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
12781 @findex message-mail-p
12782 @findex message-news-p
12784 So here's a new example:
12787 (setq gnus-posting-styles
12789 (signature-file "~/.signature")
12791 (x-face-file "~/.xface")
12792 (x-url (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
12793 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
12795 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
12796 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
12797 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
12798 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
12799 (signature my-news-signature))
12800 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
12801 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
12802 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
12803 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
12804 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
12805 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
12806 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
12807 (address "user@@bar.foo")
12808 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
12809 ("X-Message-SMTP-Method" "smtp smtp.example.org 587")
12810 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
12812 (From (with-current-buffer gnus-article-buffer
12813 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
12815 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
12818 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
12819 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
12820 if you fill many roles.
12821 You may also use @code{message-alternative-emails} instead.
12822 @xref{Message Headers, ,Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
12824 Of particular interest in the ``work-mail'' style is the
12825 @samp{X-Message-SMTP-Method} header. It specifies how to send the
12826 outgoing email. You may want to sent certain emails through certain
12827 @acronym{SMTP} servers due to company policies, for instance.
12828 @xref{Mail Variables, ,Message Variables, message, Message Manual}.
12835 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
12836 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
12837 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
12838 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
12839 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
12841 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
12842 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
12843 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
12844 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
12845 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
12849 @vindex nndraft-directory
12850 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
12851 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
12852 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
12853 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
12854 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
12855 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
12857 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
12858 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
12859 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
12860 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
12861 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
12862 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
12863 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
12864 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
12865 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
12867 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
12868 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
12869 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
12870 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
12871 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
12872 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
12873 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
12874 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
12875 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
12876 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
12877 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
12878 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
12879 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
12880 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
12882 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
12883 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
12884 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
12886 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
12887 @kindex D e (Draft)
12888 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
12889 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
12890 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
12892 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
12895 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
12896 @kindex D s (Draft)
12897 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
12898 @kindex D S (Draft)
12899 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
12900 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
12901 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
12902 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
12903 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
12906 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
12907 @kindex D t (Draft)
12908 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
12909 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
12910 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
12912 Finally, if you want to delete a draft, use the normal @kbd{B DEL}
12913 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12916 @node Rejected Articles
12917 @section Rejected Articles
12918 @cindex rejected articles
12920 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
12921 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
12922 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
12923 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
12925 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
12926 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
12927 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
12928 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
12929 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
12931 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
12932 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
12933 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
12935 @node Signing and encrypting
12936 @section Signing and encrypting
12938 @cindex using s/mime
12939 @cindex using smime
12941 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
12942 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
12943 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
12944 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
12946 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
12947 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
12948 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
12949 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
12950 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
12951 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
12952 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
12953 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
12954 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
12955 automatically encrypted messages.
12957 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
12958 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
12959 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
12964 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
12965 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
12967 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12970 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
12971 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12973 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12976 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
12977 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12979 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12982 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
12983 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
12985 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12988 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
12989 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
12991 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12994 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
12995 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
12997 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
13000 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
13001 @findex mml-unsecure-message
13002 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
13006 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
13008 @node Select Methods
13009 @chapter Select Methods
13010 @cindex foreign groups
13011 @cindex select methods
13013 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
13014 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
13015 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
13016 personal mail group.
13018 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
13019 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
13020 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
13021 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
13022 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
13023 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
13025 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
13026 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
13028 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
13031 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
13032 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
13033 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
13034 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
13035 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
13037 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
13040 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
13041 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
13042 * Using IMAP:: Reading mail from @acronym{IMAP}.
13043 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
13044 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
13045 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files.
13046 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
13047 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
13048 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
13052 @node Server Buffer
13053 @section Server Buffer
13055 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
13056 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
13057 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
13058 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
13059 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
13060 back end represents a virtual server.
13062 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
13063 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
13064 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
13065 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
13067 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
13068 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
13069 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
13070 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
13071 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
13072 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
13073 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
13075 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
13076 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
13079 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
13080 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
13081 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
13082 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
13083 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
13084 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
13085 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
13088 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
13089 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
13092 @node Server Buffer Format
13093 @subsection Server Buffer Format
13094 @cindex server buffer format
13096 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
13097 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
13098 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
13099 variable, with some simple extensions:
13104 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
13107 The name of this server.
13110 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
13113 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
13116 Whether this server is agentized.
13119 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
13120 The mode line can also be customized by using the
13121 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
13122 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
13132 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
13135 @node Server Commands
13136 @subsection Server Commands
13137 @cindex server commands
13143 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Server)
13144 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
13145 command or better use it as a prefix key.
13149 @findex gnus-server-add-server
13150 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
13154 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
13155 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
13159 @findex gnus-server-show-server
13160 Show the definition of a server (@code{gnus-server-show-server}).
13163 @kindex SPACE (Server)
13164 @findex gnus-server-read-server
13165 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
13169 @findex gnus-server-exit
13170 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
13174 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
13175 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
13179 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
13180 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
13184 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13185 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
13189 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
13190 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
13194 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
13195 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
13196 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
13201 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
13202 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
13203 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
13204 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
13208 @findex gnus-server-compact-server
13210 Compact all groups in the server under point
13211 (@code{gnus-server-compact-server}). Currently implemented only in
13212 nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes gaps between article numbers,
13213 hence getting a correct total article count.
13217 Some more commands for closing, disabling, and re-opening servers are
13218 listed in @ref{Unavailable Servers}.
13221 @node Example Methods
13222 @subsection Example Methods
13224 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
13227 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
13230 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
13236 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
13237 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
13240 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
13241 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
13243 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
13244 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
13248 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
13251 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
13252 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
13254 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
13255 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
13256 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
13260 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
13263 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
13266 Here's the method for a public spool:
13270 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
13271 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
13277 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
13278 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
13279 on the firewall machine and connect with
13280 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} from there to the
13281 @acronym{NNTP} server.
13282 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
13283 should probably look something like this:
13287 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat)
13288 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
13289 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host"))
13292 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
13293 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
13294 configuration to the example above:
13297 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13300 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}. Here's an example for
13301 an indirect connection:
13304 (setq gnus-select-method
13306 (nntp-address "news.server.example")
13307 (nntp-via-user-name "intermediate_user_name")
13308 (nntp-via-address "intermediate.host.example")
13309 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13310 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches ("-C"))
13311 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat)))
13314 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
13315 provide automatic authorization, of course.
13317 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
13318 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
13319 netcat connection to the news server as follows:
13323 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13324 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-netcat-stream)
13325 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13329 @node Creating a Virtual Server
13330 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
13332 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
13333 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
13335 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
13336 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
13337 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
13339 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
13341 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
13342 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
13343 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
13344 will contain the following:
13354 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
13355 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
13358 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
13359 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
13360 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
13363 @node Server Variables
13364 @subsection Server Variables
13365 @cindex server variables
13366 @cindex server parameters
13368 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
13369 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
13370 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
13371 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
13372 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
13374 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
13375 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
13376 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
13377 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
13378 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
13379 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
13380 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
13381 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
13382 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
13386 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
13387 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
13388 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
13391 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
13393 @node Servers and Methods
13394 @subsection Servers and Methods
13396 Wherever you would normally use a select method
13397 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
13398 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
13399 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
13403 @node Unavailable Servers
13404 @subsection Unavailable Servers
13406 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
13407 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
13408 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
13409 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
13410 actually the case or not.
13412 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
13413 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
13414 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
13415 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
13416 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
13417 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
13418 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
13419 it will regard that server as ``down''.
13421 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
13422 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
13424 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
13425 with the following commands:
13431 @findex gnus-server-open-server
13432 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
13433 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
13437 @findex gnus-server-close-server
13438 Close the connection (if any) to the server
13439 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
13443 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
13444 Mark the current server as unreachable
13445 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
13448 @kindex M-o (Server)
13449 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
13450 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
13451 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
13454 @kindex M-c (Server)
13455 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
13456 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
13457 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
13461 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
13462 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
13463 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
13467 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13468 Copy a server and give it a new name
13469 (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}). This can be useful if you have a
13470 complex method definition, and want to use the same definition towards
13471 a different (physical) server.
13475 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
13476 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
13482 @section Getting News
13483 @cindex reading news
13484 @cindex news back ends
13486 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
13487 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
13488 or it can read from a local spool.
13491 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13492 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
13500 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
13501 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
13502 server as the, uhm, address.
13504 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
13505 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
13506 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
13507 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13509 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
13510 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
13511 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
13513 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
13518 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
13519 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
13520 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
13522 @cindex authentication
13523 @cindex nntp authentication
13524 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13525 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
13526 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
13527 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
13528 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
13529 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
13530 present in this hook.
13532 @item nntp-authinfo-function
13533 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
13534 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13535 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
13536 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
13537 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
13538 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
13539 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
13540 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
13541 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
13542 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
13543 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
13547 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
13550 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
13552 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
13553 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
13554 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
13555 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
13556 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
13557 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
13558 @samp{force} is explained below.
13562 Here's an example file:
13565 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
13566 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
13569 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
13570 have to be first, for instance.
13572 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
13573 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
13574 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
13575 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
13576 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
13577 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
13578 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
13580 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
13581 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
13587 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
13588 previously mentioned.
13590 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
13592 @item nntp-server-action-alist
13593 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
13594 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
13595 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
13596 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
13599 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
13600 '(("innd" (ding))))
13603 You probably don't want to do that, though.
13605 The default value is
13608 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
13609 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
13610 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
13613 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
13614 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
13616 @item nntp-maximum-request
13617 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
13618 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
13619 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
13620 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
13621 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
13622 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
13623 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
13625 @item nntp-connection-timeout
13626 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
13627 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
13628 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
13629 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
13630 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
13631 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
13632 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
13633 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
13634 no timeouts are done.
13636 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
13637 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
13638 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
13639 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
13642 @item nntp-xover-commands
13643 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
13644 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
13646 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
13647 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
13651 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
13652 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
13653 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
13654 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
13655 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
13656 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
13657 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
13658 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
13659 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
13660 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
13661 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
13663 @item nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13664 @vindex nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13665 When Gnus refers to an article having the @code{Message-ID} that a user
13666 specifies or having the @code{Message-ID} of the parent article of the
13667 current one (@pxref{Finding the Parent}), Gnus sends a @code{HEAD}
13668 command to the @acronym{NNTP} server to know where it is, and the server
13669 returns the data containing the pairs of a group and an article number
13670 in the @code{Xref} header. Gnus normally uses the article number to
13671 refer to the article if the data shows that that article is in the
13672 current group, while it uses the @code{Message-ID} otherwise. However,
13673 some news servers, e.g., ones running Diablo, run multiple engines
13674 having the same articles but article numbers are not kept synchronized
13675 between them. In that case, the article number that appears in the
13676 @code{Xref} header varies by which engine is chosen, so you cannot refer
13677 to the parent article that is in the current group, for instance. If
13678 you connect to such a server, set this variable to a non-@code{nil}
13679 value, and Gnus never uses article numbers. For example:
13682 (setq gnus-select-method
13684 (nntp-address "newszilla.example.com")
13685 (nntp-xref-number-is-evil t)
13689 The default value of this server variable is @code{nil}.
13691 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
13692 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
13693 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13695 @item nntp-record-commands
13696 @vindex nntp-record-commands
13697 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
13698 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
13699 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
13700 that doesn't seem to work.
13702 @item nntp-open-connection-function
13703 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
13704 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
13705 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
13706 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
13707 Seven pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped
13708 in two categories: direct connection functions (four pre-made), and
13709 indirect ones (three pre-made).
13711 @item nntp-never-echoes-commands
13712 @vindex nntp-never-echoes-commands
13713 Non-@code{nil} means the nntp server never echoes commands. It is
13714 reported that some nntps server doesn't echo commands. So, you may want
13715 to set this to non-@code{nil} in the method for such a server setting
13716 @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream} for
13717 example. The default value is @code{nil}. Note that the
13718 @code{nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands} variable
13719 overrides the @code{nil} value of this variable.
13721 @item nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13722 @vindex nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13723 List of functions that never echo commands. Add or set a function which
13724 you set to @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to this list if it does
13725 not echo commands. Note that a non-@code{nil} value of the
13726 @code{nntp-never-echoes-commands} variable overrides this variable. The
13727 default value is @code{(nntp-open-network-stream)}.
13729 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
13730 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
13731 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
13732 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
13733 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
13734 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
13735 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
13738 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
13741 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
13742 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
13744 @item nntp-server-list-active-group
13745 If @code{nil}, then always use @samp{GROUP} instead of @samp{LIST
13746 ACTIVE}. This is usually slower, but on misconfigured servers that
13747 don't update their active files often, this can help.
13753 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
13754 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
13755 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
13759 @node Direct Functions
13760 @subsubsection Direct Functions
13761 @cindex direct connection functions
13763 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
13764 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
13765 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
13766 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13769 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
13770 @item nntp-open-network-stream
13771 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
13772 remote system. If both Emacs and the server supports it, the
13773 connection will be upgraded to an encrypted @acronym{STARTTLS}
13774 connection automatically.
13777 The same as the above, but don't do automatic @acronym{STARTTLS} upgrades.
13779 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
13780 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
13781 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13782 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GnuTLS}
13783 installed. You then define a server as follows:
13786 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13787 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
13789 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13790 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
13791 (nntp-port-number 563)
13792 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13795 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
13796 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
13797 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13798 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
13799 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
13800 then define a server as follows:
13803 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13804 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
13806 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13807 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
13808 (nntp-port-number 563)
13809 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13812 @findex nntp-open-netcat-stream
13813 @item nntp-open-netcat-stream
13814 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server using the @code{netcat}
13815 program. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have
13816 the default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
13817 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
13818 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
13819 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
13823 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13824 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-netcat-stream)
13825 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13828 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
13829 session, which is not a good idea.
13831 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
13832 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
13833 Like @code{nntp-open-netcat-stream}, but uses @code{telnet} rather than
13834 @code{netcat}. @code{telnet} is a bit less robust because of things
13835 like line-end-conversion, but sometimes netcat is simply
13836 not available. The previous example would turn into:
13840 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13841 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
13842 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
13843 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
13848 @node Indirect Functions
13849 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
13850 @cindex indirect connection functions
13852 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
13853 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13854 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
13855 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
13856 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
13857 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13860 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13861 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13862 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then uses @code{netcat} to connect
13863 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
13864 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
13866 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
13869 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13870 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13871 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13872 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13874 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13875 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13876 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13877 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
13878 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
13879 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections.
13882 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13883 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13884 Does essentially the same, but uses @code{telnet} instead of @samp{netcat}
13885 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
13886 @code{telnet} is a bit less robust because of things like
13887 line-end-conversion, but sometimes @code{netcat} is simply not available.
13889 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13892 @item nntp-telnet-command
13893 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
13894 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
13895 intermediate host. The default is @samp{telnet}.
13897 @item nntp-telnet-switches
13898 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
13899 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13900 @code{nntp-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{("-8")}.
13902 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13903 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13904 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13905 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13907 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13908 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13909 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13910 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. If you use @samp{ssh}, you may need to set
13911 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
13912 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
13913 host. The default is @code{nil}.
13916 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13917 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13919 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13920 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13921 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
13922 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
13924 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13927 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
13928 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
13929 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
13932 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
13933 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
13934 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13935 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
13937 @item nntp-via-user-password
13938 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
13939 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
13941 @item nntp-via-envuser
13942 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
13943 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
13944 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
13945 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
13947 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
13948 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
13949 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
13950 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
13954 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13955 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13959 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
13964 @item nntp-via-user-name
13965 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
13966 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
13968 @item nntp-via-address
13969 @vindex nntp-via-address
13970 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
13975 @node Common Variables
13976 @subsubsection Common Variables
13978 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
13979 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
13980 affected (the values of the following variables will be used as the
13981 default if each virtual @code{nntp} server doesn't specify those server
13982 variables individually).
13986 @item nntp-pre-command
13987 @vindex nntp-pre-command
13988 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
13989 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
13990 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}). This is
13991 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
13994 @vindex nntp-address
13995 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13997 @item nntp-port-number
13998 @vindex nntp-port-number
13999 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
14000 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
14001 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
14002 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
14003 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
14004 not work with named ports.
14006 @item nntp-end-of-line
14007 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
14008 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
14009 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
14010 using a non native telnet connection function.
14012 @item nntp-netcat-command
14013 @vindex nntp-netcat-command
14014 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
14015 @samp{netcat}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
14016 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
14019 @item nntp-netcat-switches
14020 @vindex nntp-netcat-switches
14021 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-netcat-command}. The default
14027 @subsection News Spool
14031 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
14032 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
14033 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
14036 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
14037 anything else) as the address.
14039 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
14040 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
14041 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
14042 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
14046 @item nnspool-inews-program
14047 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
14048 Program used to post an article.
14050 @item nnspool-inews-switches
14051 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
14052 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
14054 @item nnspool-spool-directory
14055 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
14056 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
14057 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
14059 @item nnspool-nov-directory
14060 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
14061 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
14062 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
14064 @item nnspool-lib-dir
14065 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
14066 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
14068 @item nnspool-active-file
14069 @vindex nnspool-active-file
14070 The name of the active file.
14072 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
14073 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
14074 The name of the group descriptions file.
14076 @item nnspool-history-file
14077 @vindex nnspool-history-file
14078 The name of the news history file.
14080 @item nnspool-active-times-file
14081 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
14082 The name of the active date file.
14084 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
14085 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
14086 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
14089 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
14090 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
14092 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
14093 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
14094 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
14101 @section Using IMAP
14104 The most popular mail backend is probably @code{nnimap}, which
14105 provides access to @acronym{IMAP} servers. @acronym{IMAP} servers
14106 store mail remotely, so the client doesn't store anything locally.
14107 This means that it's a convenient choice when you're reading your mail
14108 from different locations, or with different user agents.
14111 * Connecting to an IMAP Server:: Getting started with @acronym{IMAP}.
14112 * Customizing the IMAP Connection:: Variables for @acronym{IMAP} connection.
14113 * Client-Side IMAP Splitting:: Put mail in the correct mail box.
14117 @node Connecting to an IMAP Server
14118 @subsection Connecting to an IMAP Server
14120 Connecting to an @acronym{IMAP} can be very easy. Type @kbd{B} in the
14121 group buffer, or (if your primary interest is reading email), say
14125 (setq gnus-select-method
14126 '(nnimap "imap.gmail.com"))
14129 You'll be prompted for a user name and password. If you grow tired of
14130 that, then add the following to your @file{~/.authinfo} file:
14133 machine imap.gmail.com login <username> password <password> port imap
14136 That should basically be it for most users.
14139 @node Customizing the IMAP Connection
14140 @subsection Customizing the IMAP Connection
14142 Here's an example method that's more complex:
14145 (nnimap "imap.gmail.com"
14146 (nnimap-inbox "INBOX")
14147 (nnimap-split-methods default)
14149 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14153 @item nnimap-address
14154 The address of the server, like @samp{imap.gmail.com}.
14156 @item nnimap-server-port
14157 If the server uses a non-standard port, that can be specified here. A
14158 typical port would be @code{"imap"} or @code{"imaps"}.
14160 @item nnimap-stream
14161 How @code{nnimap} should connect to the server. Possible values are:
14165 This is the default, and this first tries the @code{ssl} setting, and
14166 then tries the @code{network} setting.
14169 This uses standard @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14172 Non-encrypted and unsafe straight socket connection, but will upgrade
14173 to encrypted @acronym{STARTTLS} if both Emacs and the server
14177 Encrypted @acronym{STARTTLS} over the normal @acronym{IMAP} port.
14180 If you need to tunnel via other systems to connect to the server, you
14181 can use this option, and customize @code{nnimap-shell-program} to be
14186 @item nnimap-authenticator
14187 Some @acronym{IMAP} servers allow anonymous logins. In that case,
14188 this should be set to @code{anonymous}.
14190 @item nnimap-expunge
14191 If non-@code{nil}, expunge articles after deleting them. This is always done
14192 if the server supports UID EXPUNGE, but it's not done by default on
14193 servers that doesn't support that command.
14195 @item nnimap-streaming
14196 Virtually all @acronym{IMAP} server support fast streaming of data.
14197 If you have problems connecting to the server, try setting this to
14200 @item nnimap-fetch-partial-articles
14201 If non-@code{nil}, fetch partial articles from the server. If set to
14202 a string, then it's interpreted as a regexp, and parts that have
14203 matching types will be fetched. For instance, @samp{"text/"} will
14204 fetch all textual parts, while leaving the rest on the server.
14206 @item nnimap-record-commands
14207 If non-@code{nil}, record all @acronym{IMAP} commands in the
14208 @samp{"*imap log*"} buffer.
14213 @node Client-Side IMAP Splitting
14214 @subsection Client-Side IMAP Splitting
14216 Many people prefer to do the sorting/splitting of mail into their mail
14217 boxes on the @acronym{IMAP} server. That way they don't have to
14218 download the mail they're not all that interested in.
14220 If you do want to do client-side mail splitting, then the following
14221 variables are relevant:
14225 This is the @acronym{IMAP} mail box that will be scanned for new mail.
14227 @item nnimap-split-methods
14228 Uses the same syntax as @code{nnmail-split-methods} (@pxref{Splitting
14229 Mail}), except the symbol @code{default}, which means that it should
14230 use the value of the @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable.
14232 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14233 Uses the same syntax as @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14235 @item nnimap-unsplittable-articles
14236 List of flag symbols to ignore when doing splitting. That is,
14237 articles that have these flags won't be considered when splitting.
14238 The default is @samp{(%Deleted %Seen)}.
14242 Here's a complete example @code{nnimap} backend with a client-side
14243 ``fancy'' splitting method:
14246 (nnimap "imap.example.com"
14247 (nnimap-inbox "INBOX")
14248 (nnimap-split-methods
14249 (| ("MailScanner-SpamCheck" "spam" "spam.detected")
14250 (to "foo@@bar.com" "foo")
14256 @section Getting Mail
14257 @cindex reading mail
14260 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
14264 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
14265 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
14266 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
14267 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
14268 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
14269 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
14270 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
14271 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
14272 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
14273 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
14274 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
14275 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
14276 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
14280 @node Mail in a Newsreader
14281 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
14283 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
14284 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
14285 of a culture shock.
14287 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
14288 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
14290 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
14291 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
14292 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
14293 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
14295 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
14297 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
14298 deleted? How awful!
14300 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
14301 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
14302 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
14303 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
14306 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
14307 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
14308 they want to treat a message.
14310 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
14311 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
14312 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
14313 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
14314 archived somewhere else.
14316 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
14317 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
14318 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
14319 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
14320 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
14322 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
14323 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
14324 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
14326 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
14327 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
14330 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
14331 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
14332 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
14333 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
14334 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
14336 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
14337 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
14338 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
14339 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
14340 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
14341 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
14345 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
14346 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
14348 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
14349 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
14350 and things will happen automatically.
14352 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
14353 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14356 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14359 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
14360 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
14361 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
14362 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
14363 like any other group.
14365 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
14368 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14369 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14370 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14374 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
14375 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
14376 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
14379 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
14380 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
14381 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
14384 @node Splitting Mail
14385 @subsection Splitting Mail
14386 @cindex splitting mail
14387 @cindex mail splitting
14388 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
14390 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
14391 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
14392 to be split into groups.
14395 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14396 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14397 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14398 ("mail.other" "")))
14401 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
14402 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
14403 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
14404 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
14405 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
14406 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
14407 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
14410 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
14414 In that case, @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether
14415 the inserted text should be made lowercase. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14417 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14418 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
14419 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
14420 mail belongs in that group.
14422 @cindex @samp{bogus} group
14423 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
14424 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{""} so that it matches any mails
14425 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
14426 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first rule
14427 to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled. In
14428 that case, all matching rules will ``win''.) If no rule matched, the mail
14429 will end up in the @samp{bogus} group. When new groups are created by
14430 splitting mail, you may want to run @code{gnus-group-find-new-groups} to
14431 see the new groups. This also applies to the @samp{bogus} group.
14433 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
14434 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
14435 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
14436 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
14437 thinks should carry this mail message.
14439 This variable can also be a fancy split method. For the syntax,
14440 see @ref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14442 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
14443 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
14444 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
14445 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
14447 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
14448 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
14449 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
14450 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
14451 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{""}) group.
14453 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
14456 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
14457 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
14458 links. If that's the case for you, set
14459 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
14460 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
14462 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
14463 @findex nnmail-split-history
14464 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
14465 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
14466 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
14467 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
14470 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
14471 Header lines longer than the value of
14472 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
14475 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
14476 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
14477 By default, splitting does not decode headers, so you can not match on
14478 non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. But it is useful if you want to match
14479 articles based on the raw header data. To enable it, set the
14480 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} variable to a non-@code{nil} value.
14481 In addition, the value of the @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
14482 variable is used for decoding non-@acronym{MIME} encoded string when
14483 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} is non-@code{nil}. The default
14484 value is @code{nil} which means not to decode non-@acronym{MIME} encoded
14485 string. A suitable value for you will be @code{undecided} or be the
14486 charset used normally in mails you are interested in.
14488 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14489 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
14490 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
14491 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
14492 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
14493 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
14494 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
14495 other kinds of entries.)
14497 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
14498 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
14499 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
14500 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
14501 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
14502 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
14503 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
14504 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
14505 month's rent money.
14509 @subsection Mail Sources
14511 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
14512 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
14513 maildir, for instance.
14516 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
14517 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
14518 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
14522 @node Mail Source Specifiers
14523 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
14525 @cindex mail server
14528 @cindex mail source
14530 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
14531 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
14536 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
14539 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
14540 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
14541 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
14544 The @code{mail-sources} is global for all mail groups. You can specify
14545 an additional mail source for a particular group by including the
14546 @code{group} mail specifier in @code{mail-sources}, and setting a
14547 @code{mail-source} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) specifying
14548 a single mail source. When this is used, @code{mail-sources} is
14549 typically just @code{(group)}; the @code{mail-source} parameter for a
14550 group might look like this:
14553 (mail-source . (file :path "home/user/spools/foo.spool"))
14556 This means that the group's (and only this group's) messages will be
14557 fetched from the spool file @samp{/user/spools/foo.spool}.
14559 The following mail source types are available:
14563 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
14569 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
14570 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
14571 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
14575 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14578 An example file mail source:
14581 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
14584 Or using the default file name:
14590 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
14591 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
14592 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
14593 mail spool while moving the mail.
14595 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
14599 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
14602 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
14606 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
14609 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
14611 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
14614 Alter this script to fit the @samp{movemail} and temporary
14615 file you want to use.
14619 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
14620 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
14621 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
14622 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
14623 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
14624 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
14625 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
14626 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
14627 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
14628 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
14630 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14631 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
14632 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
14633 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
14639 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
14643 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
14647 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
14648 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
14649 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
14650 predicate are considered.
14654 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14658 An example directory mail source:
14661 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
14666 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14672 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
14673 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14676 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
14677 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
14678 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
14679 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
14680 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
14683 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
14687 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
14688 the user is prompted.
14691 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
14692 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
14695 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
14698 The valid format specifier characters are:
14702 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
14703 included in this string.
14706 The name of the server.
14709 The port number of the server.
14712 The user name to use.
14715 The password to use.
14718 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14719 corresponding keywords.
14722 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14723 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14725 One popular way to use this is to set up an SSH tunnel to access the
14726 @acronym{POP} server. Here's an example:
14729 (pop :server "127.0.0.1"
14734 "nohup ssh -f -L 1234:pop.server:110 remote.host sleep 3600 &")
14738 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14739 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14742 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
14743 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
14744 mail should be moved to.
14746 @item :authentication
14747 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
14748 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
14753 @vindex pop3-movemail
14754 @vindex pop3-leave-mail-on-server
14755 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
14756 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used. If @code{pop3-leave-mail-on-server}
14757 is non-@code{nil} the mail is to be left on the @acronym{POP} server
14758 after fetching when using @code{pop3-movemail}. Note that POP servers
14759 maintain no state information between sessions, so what the client
14760 believes is there and what is actually there may not match up. If they
14761 do not, then you may get duplicate mails or the whole thing can fall
14762 apart and leave you with a corrupt mailbox.
14764 Here are some examples for getting mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14765 Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server, using the default user
14766 name, and default fetcher:
14772 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
14775 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
14776 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
14779 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
14782 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
14786 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
14787 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
14788 contains exactly one mail.
14794 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
14795 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
14798 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
14799 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
14801 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
14802 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
14803 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
14806 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
14807 from locking problems).
14811 Two example maildir mail sources:
14814 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
14815 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
14819 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
14824 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
14825 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
14826 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
14827 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
14828 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{Using IMAP}, for more information.
14834 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
14835 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14838 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
14839 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14842 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
14846 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
14850 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
14851 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
14852 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
14853 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
14855 @item :authentication
14856 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
14857 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
14858 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
14859 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
14862 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
14863 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
14864 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
14870 Make sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g.,
14871 don't forget to redirect the error output to the void. The valid format
14872 specifier characters are:
14876 The name of the server.
14879 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
14882 The port number of the server.
14885 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14886 corresponding keywords.
14889 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
14890 which normally is the mailbox which receives incoming mail.
14893 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
14894 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
14895 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
14896 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
14897 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
14898 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
14901 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
14902 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
14903 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
14904 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
14907 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
14908 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
14912 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
14915 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
14917 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
14921 Get the actual mail source from the @code{mail-source} group parameter,
14922 @xref{Group Parameters}.
14927 @item Common Keywords
14928 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
14934 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
14935 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
14940 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
14945 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
14946 useful when you use local mail and news.
14951 @subsubsection Function Interface
14953 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
14954 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
14955 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
14956 consider the following mail-source setting:
14959 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
14960 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
14963 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
14964 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
14965 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
14966 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
14967 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
14969 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
14972 @node Mail Source Customization
14973 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
14975 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
14976 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
14980 @item mail-source-crash-box
14981 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
14982 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
14983 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
14986 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
14987 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
14988 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
14989 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
14990 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
14991 (the deletion will only happen when receiving new mail). You may also
14992 set @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
14993 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
14994 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{10} in alpha Gnusae
14995 and @code{2} in released Gnusae. @xref{Gnus Development}.
14997 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14998 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14999 If non-@code{nil}, ask for confirmation before deleting old incoming
15000 files. This variable only applies when
15001 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
15003 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
15004 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
15005 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
15007 @item mail-source-directory
15008 @vindex mail-source-directory
15009 Directory where incoming mail source files (if any) will be stored. The
15010 default is @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for
15011 is to say where the incoming files will be stored if the variable
15012 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a number.
15014 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
15015 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
15016 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
15017 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
15018 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
15019 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a
15022 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
15023 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
15024 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is @code{#o600}.
15026 @item mail-source-movemail-program
15027 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
15028 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
15029 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
15034 @node Fetching Mail
15035 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
15037 @vindex mail-sources
15038 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
15039 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
15040 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
15042 If this variable is @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to
15043 fetch mail by themselves.
15045 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
15046 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
15051 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
15052 :password "secret")))
15055 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
15059 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
15060 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
15063 :password "secret")))
15067 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
15068 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
15069 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
15070 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
15071 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
15072 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
15076 @node Mail Back End Variables
15077 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
15079 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
15083 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
15084 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
15085 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
15086 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
15088 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
15089 @item nnmail-split-hook
15090 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
15091 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
15092 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
15093 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
15094 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
15095 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
15096 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
15097 in the buffer will show up in any files.
15098 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
15101 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15102 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15103 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15104 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15105 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
15106 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
15107 starting to handle the new mail) and
15108 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
15109 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
15110 default file modes the new mail files get:
15113 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15114 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes #o700)))
15116 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15117 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes #o775)))
15120 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
15121 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
15122 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
15123 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
15124 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
15125 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
15126 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
15128 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
15129 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
15130 @findex delete-file
15131 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
15133 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15134 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15135 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
15136 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
15137 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
15139 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
15140 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
15141 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
15142 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
15143 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
15145 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
15146 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
15147 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
15152 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
15153 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
15154 @cindex mail splitting
15155 @cindex fancy mail splitting
15157 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
15158 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
15159 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
15160 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
15161 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
15162 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
15164 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
15167 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
15168 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
15169 ;; @r{from real errors.}
15170 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
15172 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
15173 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
15174 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
15175 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
15176 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
15177 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
15178 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
15179 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
15180 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
15181 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
15182 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
15183 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
15184 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
15185 (any "mypackage@@somewhere" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
15186 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
15187 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
15188 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
15192 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
15193 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
15194 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
15199 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
15200 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
15202 @c Don't fold this line.
15203 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split} [@var{invert-partial}])
15204 The split can be a list containing at least three elements. If the
15205 first element @var{field} (a regexp matching a header) contains
15206 @var{value} (also a regexp) then store the message as specified by
15209 If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
15210 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
15211 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
15212 @var{split} is processed.
15214 The last element @var{invert-partial} is optional. If it is
15215 non-@code{nil}, the match-partial-words behavior controlled by the
15216 variable @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} (see below) is
15217 be inverted. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15219 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
15220 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
15221 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
15222 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
15223 stored in one or more groups.
15225 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
15226 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
15227 process all @var{split}s in the list.
15230 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
15231 this message. Use with extreme caution.
15233 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
15234 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
15235 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
15236 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
15239 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
15240 body of the messages:
15243 (defun split-on-body ()
15247 (goto-char (point-min))
15248 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
15252 The buffer is narrowed to the header of the message in question when
15253 @var{function} is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called
15254 after @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
15255 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
15256 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
15257 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
15258 (@pxref{Client-Side IMAP Splitting}).
15260 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
15261 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
15262 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
15263 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
15264 should return a split.
15267 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
15271 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
15273 Normally, @var{value} in these splits must match a complete @emph{word}
15274 according to the fundamental mode syntax table. In other words, all
15275 @var{value}'s will be implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers,
15276 which are word delimiters. Therefore, if you use the following split,
15280 (any "joe" "joemail")
15284 messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will normally not be filed
15285 in @samp{joemail}. If you want to alter this behavior, you can use any
15286 of the following three ways:
15290 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
15291 You can set the @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} variable
15292 to non-@code{nil} in order to ignore word boundaries and instead the
15293 match becomes more like a grep. This variable controls whether partial
15294 words are matched during fancy splitting. The default value is
15297 Note that it influences all @var{value}'s in your split rules.
15300 @var{value} beginning with @code{.*} ignores word boundaries in front of
15301 a word. Similarly, if @var{value} ends with @code{.*}, word boundaries
15302 in the rear of a word will be ignored. For example, the @var{value}
15303 @code{"@@example\\.com"} does not match @samp{foo@@example.com} but
15304 @code{".*@@example\\.com"} does.
15307 You can set the @var{invert-partial} flag in your split rules of the
15308 @samp{(@var{field} @var{value} @dots{})} types, aforementioned in this
15309 section. If the flag is set, word boundaries on both sides of a word
15310 are ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15311 @code{nil}. Contrarily, if the flag is set, word boundaries are not
15312 ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15313 non-@code{nil}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15316 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
15317 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
15318 they are expanded as specified by the variable
15319 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
15320 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
15321 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
15322 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
15326 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
15328 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
15329 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
15331 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
15334 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
15335 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
15336 when all this splitting is performed.
15338 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
15339 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
15340 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
15343 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
15346 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
15347 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
15349 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
15350 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
15351 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
15352 groupings 1 through 9.
15354 @vindex nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded
15355 Where @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether the
15356 lowercase of the matched string should be used for the substitution.
15357 Setting it as non-@code{nil} is useful to avoid the creation of multiple
15358 groups when users send to an address using different case
15359 (i.e. mailing-list@@domain vs Mailing-List@@Domain). The default value
15362 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
15363 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
15364 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
15365 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
15366 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
15367 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
15368 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
15369 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
15370 it once per thread.
15372 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
15373 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
15374 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
15375 using the colon feature, like so:
15377 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
15378 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
15380 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
15381 ;; @r{other splits go here}
15385 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
15386 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
15387 in the file specified by the variable
15388 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
15389 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
15390 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
15391 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
15392 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
15393 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
15394 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
15395 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
15396 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
15397 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
15398 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
15399 300 kBytes in size.)
15400 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15401 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
15402 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
15403 messages goes into the new group.
15405 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
15406 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
15407 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
15408 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
15409 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
15410 ``outgoing'' group.
15413 @node Group Mail Splitting
15414 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
15415 @cindex mail splitting
15416 @cindex group mail splitting
15418 @findex gnus-group-split
15419 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
15420 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
15421 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
15422 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
15423 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
15424 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
15425 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
15426 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
15428 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
15429 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
15430 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
15431 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
15433 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
15434 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
15435 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
15436 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
15437 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
15438 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
15439 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
15441 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
15442 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
15443 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
15444 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
15445 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
15446 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
15447 @code{gnus-group-split}.
15449 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
15450 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
15451 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
15452 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
15453 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
15454 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
15455 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
15456 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
15457 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
15458 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
15459 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
15460 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
15461 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
15463 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
15468 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
15469 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
15471 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
15472 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
15473 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
15474 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
15476 ((split-spec . catch-all))
15479 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
15480 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
15481 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
15484 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
15485 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
15486 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
15490 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
15491 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
15492 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15496 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
15499 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
15500 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
15501 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
15502 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
15503 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
15504 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
15505 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
15506 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
15507 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
15509 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
15510 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
15511 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
15512 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
15513 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
15514 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
15515 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
15516 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
15517 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
15519 @findex gnus-group-split-update
15520 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
15521 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
15522 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
15523 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
15524 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
15527 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
15530 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
15531 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
15532 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
15533 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
15534 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
15537 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
15538 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
15539 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
15540 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
15542 @node Incorporating Old Mail
15543 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
15544 @cindex incorporating old mail
15545 @cindex import old mail
15547 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
15548 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
15549 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
15552 Doing so can be quite easy.
15554 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
15555 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
15556 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
15557 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
15558 your @code{nnml} groups.
15564 Go to the group buffer.
15567 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
15568 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15571 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
15574 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
15575 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15578 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
15579 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
15582 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
15583 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
15584 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
15585 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
15586 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
15588 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
15589 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
15590 using the new mail back end.
15593 @node Expiring Mail
15594 @subsection Expiring Mail
15595 @cindex article expiry
15596 @cindex expiring mail
15598 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
15599 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
15600 different approach to mail reading.
15602 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
15603 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
15604 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
15605 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
15606 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
15607 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
15610 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
15611 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
15612 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
15613 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
15614 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
15615 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
15616 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
15617 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
15618 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
15620 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-marks
15621 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
15622 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
15623 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
15624 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
15625 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
15626 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
15627 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} (and so on) are considered
15628 expirable. @code{gnus-auto-expirable-marks} has the full list of
15631 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
15632 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
15633 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
15634 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
15635 into its own group.)
15637 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
15638 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
15639 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
15640 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
15641 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
15642 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
15643 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
15644 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
15647 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15648 Groups that match the regular expression
15649 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
15650 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
15651 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
15653 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
15654 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
15655 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
15656 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
15657 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15659 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
15661 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
15662 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
15663 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
15666 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
15667 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
15668 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
15669 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
15670 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
15672 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
15673 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
15676 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15677 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
15680 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
15681 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
15683 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
15684 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
15685 don't really mix very well.
15687 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
15688 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
15689 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
15690 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
15693 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
15694 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
15695 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
15696 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
15699 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15701 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15703 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
15705 ((string= group "mail.junk")
15707 ((string= group "important")
15713 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
15714 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
15716 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
15717 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
15718 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
15721 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
15722 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
15724 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
15725 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
15726 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
15727 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
15728 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
15729 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
15730 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
15731 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
15732 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
15733 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
15734 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
15735 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
15736 name or @code{delete}.
15738 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
15740 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
15743 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15744 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15745 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
15746 expire mail to groups according to the variable
15747 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
15750 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15751 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15752 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
15753 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
15754 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
15757 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
15758 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
15759 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
15760 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
15761 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
15762 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
15764 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
15765 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
15766 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
15767 easier for procmail users.
15769 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
15770 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
15771 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
15772 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
15773 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
15774 caution. Even more dangerous is the
15775 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
15776 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
15777 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
15778 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
15779 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
15780 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
15781 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
15784 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
15786 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
15787 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
15788 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
15789 auto-expire turned on.
15791 @vindex gnus-mark-copied-or-moved-articles-as-expirable
15792 The expirable marks of articles will be removed when copying or moving
15793 them to a group in which auto-expire is not turned on. This is for
15794 preventing articles from being expired unintentionally. On the other
15795 hand, to a group that has turned auto-expire on, the expirable marks of
15796 articles that are copied or moved will not be changed by default. I.e.,
15797 when copying or moving to such a group, articles that were expirable
15798 will be left expirable and ones that were not expirable will not be
15799 marked as expirable. So, even though in auto-expire groups, some
15800 articles will never get expired (unless you read them again). If you
15801 don't side with that behavior that unexpirable articles may be mixed
15802 into auto-expire groups, you can set
15803 @code{gnus-mark-copied-or-moved-articles-as-expirable} to a
15804 non-@code{nil} value. In that case, articles that have been read will
15805 be marked as expirable automatically when being copied or moved to a
15806 group that has auto-expire turned on. The default value is @code{nil}.
15810 @subsection Washing Mail
15811 @cindex mail washing
15812 @cindex list server brain damage
15813 @cindex incoming mail treatment
15815 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
15816 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
15817 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
15818 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
15819 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
15820 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
15822 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
15823 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
15824 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
15827 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
15828 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
15829 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
15830 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
15833 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15834 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15835 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
15836 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
15837 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
15840 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15841 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15842 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
15843 Emacs running on MS machines.
15847 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15848 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15849 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
15850 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
15853 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15854 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15855 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
15856 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
15858 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
15859 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
15860 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
15861 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
15862 into a feature by documenting it.)
15864 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15865 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15866 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
15867 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
15868 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
15869 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
15870 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
15873 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
15874 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
15877 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
15878 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
15881 This can also be done non-destructively with
15882 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
15884 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
15885 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
15886 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
15888 @item nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15889 @findex nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15890 @c @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
15893 Some mail user agents (e.g. Eudora and Pegasus) produce broken
15894 @code{References} headers, but correct @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This
15895 function will get rid of the @code{References} header if the headers
15896 contain a line matching the regular expression
15897 @code{nnmail-broken-references-mailers}.
15901 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15902 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15903 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
15907 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
15908 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
15909 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
15916 @subsection Duplicates
15918 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
15919 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
15920 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
15921 @cindex duplicate mails
15922 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
15923 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
15924 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
15925 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
15926 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
15927 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
15928 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
15929 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
15930 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
15931 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
15932 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
15933 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
15934 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
15936 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
15937 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
15938 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
15939 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
15941 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
15944 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
15945 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
15949 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
15950 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
15951 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
15952 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
15953 (any mail "mail.misc")
15954 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15960 (setq nnmail-split-methods
15961 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
15962 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15966 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
15967 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
15968 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
15969 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
15970 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
15973 @node Not Reading Mail
15974 @subsection Not Reading Mail
15976 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
15977 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
15978 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
15980 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
15981 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
15982 mail, which should help.
15984 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15985 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15986 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15987 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15988 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15989 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
15990 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old (pre-Emacs
15991 23) Rmail file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
15992 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
15993 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
15994 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
15996 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
15997 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
16001 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
16002 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
16004 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
16005 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
16006 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
16008 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
16009 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
16010 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
16014 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
16015 * Babyl:: Babyl was used by older versions of Rmail.
16016 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
16017 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
16018 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
16019 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
16020 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
16025 @node Unix Mail Box
16026 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
16028 @cindex unix mail box
16030 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
16031 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
16032 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
16033 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
16034 which group it belongs in.
16036 Virtual server settings:
16039 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
16040 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
16041 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
16044 @item nnmbox-active-file
16045 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
16046 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
16047 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
16049 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
16050 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
16051 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
16052 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
16057 @subsubsection Babyl
16060 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
16061 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
16062 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box to store mail.
16063 @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail article to say which
16064 group it belongs in.
16066 Virtual server settings:
16069 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
16070 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
16071 The name of the Babyl file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
16073 @item nnbabyl-active-file
16074 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
16075 The name of the active file for the Babyl file. The default is
16076 @file{~/.rmail-active}
16078 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16079 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16080 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
16086 @subsubsection Mail Spool
16088 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
16090 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
16091 format. It should be used with some caution.
16093 @vindex nnml-directory
16094 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
16095 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
16096 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
16097 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
16099 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
16102 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
16103 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
16104 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
16105 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
16106 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
16107 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
16108 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
16109 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
16111 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
16112 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
16113 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
16114 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
16116 Virtual server settings:
16119 @item nnml-directory
16120 @vindex nnml-directory
16121 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
16122 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
16125 @item nnml-active-file
16126 @vindex nnml-active-file
16127 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
16128 @file{~/Mail/active}.
16130 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
16131 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
16132 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16133 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
16135 @item nnml-get-new-mail
16136 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
16137 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
16140 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
16141 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
16142 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16143 default is @code{nil}.
16145 @item nnml-nov-file-name
16146 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
16147 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
16149 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
16150 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
16151 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
16153 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
16154 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
16155 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
16156 files. This requires @code{auto-compression-mode} to be enabled
16157 (@pxref{Compressed Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
16158 If the value of @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is a string, it is used
16159 as the file extension specifying the compression program. You can set it
16160 to @samp{.bz2} if your Emacs supports it. A value of @code{t} is
16161 equivalent to @samp{.gz}.
16163 @item nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
16164 @vindex nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
16165 Default size threshold for compressed message files. Message files with
16166 bodies larger than that many characters will be automatically compressed
16167 if @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil}.
16171 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
16172 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
16173 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
16174 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
16175 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
16176 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
16177 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
16182 @subsubsection MH Spool
16184 @cindex mh-e mail spool
16186 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
16187 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
16188 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
16189 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
16192 Virtual server settings:
16195 @item nnmh-directory
16196 @vindex nnmh-directory
16197 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
16198 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
16201 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
16202 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
16203 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
16207 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
16208 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
16209 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
16210 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
16211 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
16212 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
16213 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
16218 @subsubsection Maildir
16222 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
16223 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
16224 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
16225 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
16226 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
16229 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
16230 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
16231 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
16232 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
16233 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
16234 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
16235 that appear as group in Gnus.
16237 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
16238 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
16239 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
16241 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
16242 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
16243 another, and you will keep your marks.
16245 Virtual server settings:
16249 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
16250 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
16251 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
16252 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
16253 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
16254 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
16255 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
16256 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
16257 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
16258 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
16260 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
16261 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
16262 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
16263 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
16264 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
16265 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
16266 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
16267 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
16268 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
16269 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
16272 @item target-prefix
16273 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
16274 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
16275 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
16278 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
16279 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
16280 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
16281 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
16282 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
16283 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
16284 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
16285 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
16286 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
16288 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
16289 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
16290 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
16291 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
16292 symlinks pointing to them will be).
16294 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
16295 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
16296 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
16297 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
16298 @code{force} argument.
16300 @item directory-files
16301 This should be a function with the same interface as
16302 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
16303 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
16304 parameter is optional; the default is
16305 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
16306 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
16307 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
16308 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
16309 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
16310 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
16313 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
16314 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
16315 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
16316 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
16317 value is @code{nil}.
16319 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
16320 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
16321 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
16322 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
16323 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
16326 @subsubsection Group parameters
16328 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
16329 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
16330 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
16331 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
16332 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
16333 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
16336 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
16337 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
16338 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
16339 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
16340 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
16341 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
16342 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
16343 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
16344 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
16348 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
16349 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
16350 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
16351 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
16352 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (the
16353 @code{expiry-wait} group parameter overrides @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}
16354 and makes @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} ineffective). If you
16355 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
16356 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
16357 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
16358 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
16359 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
16360 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
16363 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
16365 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
16367 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
16368 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
16369 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
16370 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
16371 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
16372 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
16373 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
16374 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
16375 article. So that form can refer to
16376 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
16377 article. @emph{Even if this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir}
16378 does not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
16379 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
16382 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
16383 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
16384 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
16385 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
16386 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
16387 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
16388 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
16389 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
16390 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
16391 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
16392 contain extra copies of the articles.
16394 @item directory-files
16395 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
16396 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
16397 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
16398 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
16400 @item distrust-Lines:
16401 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
16402 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
16403 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
16406 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
16407 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16408 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
16409 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
16410 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
16411 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16414 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
16415 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16416 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
16417 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
16418 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
16419 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
16420 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16422 @item nov-cache-size
16423 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
16424 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
16425 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
16426 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
16427 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
16428 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
16429 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
16430 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
16431 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
16432 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
16433 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
16436 @subsubsection Article identification
16437 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
16438 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
16439 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
16440 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
16441 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
16442 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
16443 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
16444 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
16445 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
16446 request the article in the summary buffer.
16448 @subsubsection NOV data
16449 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
16450 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
16451 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
16452 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
16453 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
16454 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
16455 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
16456 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
16457 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
16458 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
16459 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
16461 @subsubsection Article marks
16462 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
16463 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
16464 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16465 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
16466 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16467 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
16468 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
16469 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
16471 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
16472 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
16473 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
16474 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
16475 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
16476 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
16477 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
16478 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
16479 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
16483 @subsubsection Mail Folders
16485 @cindex mbox folders
16486 @cindex mail folders
16488 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
16489 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
16490 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
16491 numbers and arrival dates.
16493 Virtual server settings:
16496 @item nnfolder-directory
16497 @vindex nnfolder-directory
16498 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
16499 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
16500 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
16502 @item nnfolder-active-file
16503 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
16504 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
16506 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16507 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16508 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16509 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
16511 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
16512 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16513 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
16514 default is @code{t}
16516 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16517 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16518 @cindex backup files
16519 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
16520 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
16521 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
16522 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
16525 (defun turn-off-backup ()
16526 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
16528 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
16531 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16532 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16533 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
16534 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
16535 extract some information from it before removing it.
16537 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16538 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16539 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16540 default is @code{nil}.
16542 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16543 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16544 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
16546 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
16547 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
16548 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
16549 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16554 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
16555 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
16556 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
16557 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
16558 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
16559 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
16562 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
16563 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
16565 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
16566 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
16567 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
16568 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
16569 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
16571 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
16572 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
16573 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
16574 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
16575 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
16576 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
16577 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
16578 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
16581 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
16582 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
16583 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
16584 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
16589 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
16590 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
16591 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
16592 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
16593 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
16594 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
16595 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
16596 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
16597 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
16598 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
16599 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
16600 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
16601 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
16606 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
16607 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
16608 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
16609 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
16610 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
16611 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
16612 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
16613 Rmail was Emacs's first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
16614 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
16615 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
16616 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
16617 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
16618 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
16619 course, and is still maintained within Emacs. Since Emacs 23, it
16620 uses standard mbox format rather than Babyl.
16622 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
16623 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
16628 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
16629 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
16630 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
16631 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
16632 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
16633 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
16634 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
16635 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
16636 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
16637 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
16638 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
16639 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
16640 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
16641 provided by the active file and overviews.
16643 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
16644 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
16645 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
16646 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
16647 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
16650 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
16651 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
16656 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
16657 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
16658 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
16659 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
16660 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
16661 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
16662 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
16666 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
16667 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
16668 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
16669 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
16670 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
16671 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
16672 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
16673 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
16674 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
16676 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
16677 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
16678 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
16679 friendly mail back end all over.
16683 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
16684 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
16687 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
16688 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
16689 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
16690 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
16691 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}.
16692 (Use @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this
16693 slows you down or takes up very much space, a non-block-structured
16696 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
16697 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
16698 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
16699 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
16700 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
16701 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
16702 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
16703 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
16704 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
16705 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
16706 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
16708 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
16709 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
16710 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
16711 else, and still have your marks.
16713 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
16714 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
16715 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
16716 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
16717 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
16718 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
16719 removed in the future.
16721 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
16722 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
16723 on your file system.
16725 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
16726 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
16731 @node Browsing the Web
16732 @section Browsing the Web
16734 @cindex browsing the web
16738 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
16739 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
16740 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
16741 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
16742 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
16743 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
16744 even know what a news group is.
16746 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
16747 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
16748 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
16749 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
16750 you mad in the end.
16752 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
16755 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
16756 interfaces to these sources.
16760 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
16761 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
16762 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
16765 All the web sources require Emacs/W3 and the url library or those
16766 alternatives to work.
16768 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
16769 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
16770 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
16771 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
16772 though, you should be ok.
16774 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
16775 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
16776 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
16777 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
16778 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
16780 @node Archiving Mail
16781 @subsection Archiving Mail
16782 @cindex archiving mail
16783 @cindex backup of mail
16785 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
16786 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
16787 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
16788 marks is fairly simple.
16790 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
16791 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
16794 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
16795 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
16796 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
16797 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
16798 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
16799 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
16800 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
16801 before you restore the data.
16804 @subsection Web Searches
16809 @cindex Usenet searches
16810 @cindex searching the Usenet
16812 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
16813 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
16814 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
16815 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
16816 searches without having to use a browser.
16818 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
16819 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
16820 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
16821 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
16822 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
16824 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
16825 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
16826 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
16827 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
16828 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
16829 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
16830 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
16831 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
16832 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
16833 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
16836 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
16837 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
16838 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
16839 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
16840 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
16841 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
16843 You must have the @code{url} and @code{W3} package or those alternatives
16844 (try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{mm-url} variable group)
16845 installed to be able to use @code{nnweb}.
16847 Virtual server variables:
16852 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
16853 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
16854 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
16857 @vindex nnweb-search
16858 The search string to feed to the search engine.
16860 @item nnweb-max-hits
16861 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
16862 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
16865 @item nnweb-type-definition
16866 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
16867 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
16868 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
16873 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
16877 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
16880 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
16883 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
16887 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
16898 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
16899 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
16900 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
16901 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
16902 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
16904 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
16905 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16907 Note: you had better use Emacs which supports the @code{utf-8} coding
16908 system because @acronym{RSS} uses UTF-8 for encoding non-@acronym{ASCII}
16909 text by default. It is also used by default for non-@acronym{ASCII}
16912 @kindex G R (Group)
16913 Use @kbd{G R} from the group buffer to subscribe to a feed---you will be
16914 prompted for the location, the title and the description of the feed.
16915 The title, which allows any characters, will be used for the group name
16916 and the name of the group data file. The description can be omitted.
16918 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
16919 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
16920 subscribe to groups.
16922 The @code{nnrss} back end saves the group data file in
16923 @code{nnrss-directory} (see below) for each @code{nnrss} group. File
16924 names containing non-@acronym{ASCII} characters will be encoded by the
16925 coding system specified with the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}
16926 variable or other. Also @xref{Non-ASCII Group Names}, for more
16929 The @code{nnrss} back end generates @samp{multipart/alternative}
16930 @acronym{MIME} articles in which each contains a @samp{text/plain} part
16931 and a @samp{text/html} part.
16934 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
16935 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
16938 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
16939 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
16943 @defun nnrss-opml-export
16944 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
16945 @acronym{OPML} format.
16948 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
16951 @item nnrss-directory
16952 @vindex nnrss-directory
16953 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
16954 @file{~/News/rss/}.
16956 @item nnrss-file-coding-system
16957 @vindex nnrss-file-coding-system
16958 The coding system used when reading and writing the @code{nnrss} groups
16959 data files. The default is the value of
16960 @code{mm-universal-coding-system} (which defaults to @code{emacs-mule}
16961 in Emacs or @code{escape-quoted} in XEmacs).
16963 @item nnrss-ignore-article-fields
16964 @vindex nnrss-ignore-article-fields
16965 Some feeds update constantly article fields during their publications,
16966 e.g. to indicate the number of comments. However, if there is
16967 a difference between the local article and the distant one, the latter
16968 is considered to be new. To avoid this and discard some fields, set this
16969 variable to the list of fields to be ignored. The default is
16970 @code{'(slash:comments)}.
16972 @item nnrss-use-local
16973 @vindex nnrss-use-local
16974 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
16975 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
16976 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
16977 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
16978 download script using @command{wget}.
16981 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
16982 the summary buffer.
16985 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
16986 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
16988 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
16990 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
16991 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
16994 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
16998 (require 'browse-url)
17000 (defun browse-nnrss-url (arg)
17002 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
17005 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
17006 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
17009 (browse-url (cdr url))
17010 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
17011 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
17013 (eval-after-load "gnus"
17014 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
17015 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
17016 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
17019 Even if you have added @samp{text/html} to the
17020 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} variable (@pxref{Display
17021 Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
17022 Manual}) since you don't want to see @acronym{HTML} parts, it might be
17023 more useful especially in @code{nnrss} groups to display
17024 @samp{text/html} parts. Here's an example of setting
17025 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} as a group parameter (@pxref{Group
17026 Parameters}) in order to display @samp{text/html} parts only in
17027 @code{nnrss} groups:
17030 ;; @r{Set the default value of @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}.}
17031 (eval-after-load "gnus-sum"
17033 'gnus-newsgroup-variables
17034 '(mm-discouraged-alternatives
17035 . '("text/html" "image/.*"))))
17037 ;; @r{Display @samp{text/html} parts in @code{nnrss} groups.}
17040 '("\\`nnrss:" (mm-discouraged-alternatives nil)))
17044 @node Customizing W3
17045 @subsection Customizing W3
17051 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/W3 (or those
17052 alternatives) to display web pages. Emacs/W3 is documented in its own
17053 manual, but there are some things that may be more relevant for Gnus
17056 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/W3 follow links
17057 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
17058 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
17061 (eval-after-load "w3"
17063 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
17064 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
17065 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
17066 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
17068 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
17071 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in W3-rendered
17072 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
17076 @node Other Sources
17077 @section Other Sources
17079 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
17080 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
17084 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
17085 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
17086 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
17087 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
17088 * The Empty Backend:: The backend that never has any news.
17092 @node Directory Groups
17093 @subsection Directory Groups
17095 @cindex directory groups
17097 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
17098 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
17101 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
17102 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
17103 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
17104 back end to read directories. Big deal.
17106 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
17107 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
17108 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
17109 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
17110 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
17112 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
17114 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
17115 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
17116 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
17117 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
17120 @node Anything Groups
17121 @subsection Anything Groups
17124 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
17125 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
17126 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
17129 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
17130 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
17131 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
17132 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
17133 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
17134 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
17135 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
17136 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
17137 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
17138 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
17141 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
17142 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
17143 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
17144 in the article buffer, just as usual.
17146 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
17147 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
17148 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
17149 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
17151 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
17152 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
17153 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
17154 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
17155 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
17156 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
17157 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
17158 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
17163 @item nneething-map-file-directory
17164 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
17165 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
17166 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
17168 @item nneething-exclude-files
17169 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
17170 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
17171 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
17173 @item nneething-include-files
17174 @vindex nneething-include-files
17175 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
17176 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
17178 @item nneething-map-file
17179 @vindex nneething-map-file
17180 Name of the map files.
17184 @node Document Groups
17185 @subsection Document Groups
17187 @cindex documentation group
17190 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
17191 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
17201 The standard Unix mbox file.
17203 @cindex MMDF mail box
17205 The MMDF mail box format.
17208 Several news articles appended into a file.
17210 @cindex rnews batch files
17212 The rnews batch transport format.
17215 Netscape mail boxes.
17218 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
17220 @item standard-digest
17221 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
17224 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
17226 @item lanl-gov-announce
17227 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
17229 @cindex git commit messages
17231 @code{git} commit messages.
17233 @cindex forwarded messages
17234 @item rfc822-forward
17235 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
17238 The Outlook mail box.
17241 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
17244 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
17247 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
17250 An RFC934-forwarded message.
17256 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
17259 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
17265 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
17266 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
17267 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
17270 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
17271 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
17272 group. And that's it.
17274 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
17275 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
17276 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
17277 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
17278 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
17279 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
17280 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
17281 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
17282 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
17283 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
17285 Virtual server variables:
17288 @item nndoc-article-type
17289 @vindex nndoc-article-type
17290 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
17291 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
17292 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
17293 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
17294 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
17296 @item nndoc-post-type
17297 @vindex nndoc-post-type
17298 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
17299 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
17304 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
17308 @node Document Server Internals
17309 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
17311 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
17312 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
17313 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
17314 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
17316 First, here's an example document type definition:
17320 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
17321 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
17324 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
17325 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
17326 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
17327 types can be defined with very few settings:
17330 @item first-article
17331 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
17332 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
17335 @item article-begin
17336 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
17337 says what the beginning of each article looks like. To do more
17338 complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you can
17339 use @code{article-begin-function} instead of this.
17341 @item article-begin-function
17342 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the beginning
17343 of each article. This setting overrides @code{article-begin}.
17346 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
17347 article. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a
17348 simple regexp, you can use @code{head-begin-function} instead of this.
17350 @item head-begin-function
17351 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
17352 the article. This setting overrides @code{head-begin}.
17355 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
17356 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
17359 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
17360 to @samp{^\n}. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with
17361 a simple regexp, you can use @code{body-begin-function} instead of this.
17363 @item body-begin-function
17364 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
17365 of the article. This setting overrides @code{body-begin}.
17368 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. To do
17369 more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you
17370 can use @code{body-end-function} instead of this.
17372 @item body-end-function
17373 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
17374 the article. This setting overrides @code{body-end}.
17377 If present, this should match the beginning of the file. All text
17378 before this regexp will be totally ignored.
17381 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
17382 regexp will be totally ignored.
17386 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
17387 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
17388 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
17389 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
17390 something that's palatable for Gnus:
17393 @item prepare-body-function
17394 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
17395 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
17396 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
17398 @item article-transform-function
17399 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
17400 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
17401 body of the article.
17403 @item generate-head-function
17404 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
17405 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
17406 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
17407 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
17409 @item generate-article-function
17410 If present, this function is called to generate an entire article that
17411 Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a
17412 parameter when requesting all articles.
17414 @item dissection-function
17415 If present, this function is called to dissect a document by itself,
17416 overriding @code{first-article}, @code{article-begin},
17417 @code{article-begin-function}, @code{head-begin},
17418 @code{head-begin-function}, @code{head-end}, @code{body-begin},
17419 @code{body-begin-function}, @code{body-end}, @code{body-end-function},
17420 @code{file-begin}, and @code{file-end}.
17424 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
17429 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
17430 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
17431 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
17432 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
17433 (head-end . "^ ?$")
17434 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
17435 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
17436 (subtype digest guess))
17439 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
17440 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
17441 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
17442 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
17443 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
17445 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
17446 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
17447 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
17448 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
17449 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
17450 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
17451 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
17452 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
17453 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
17454 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
17455 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
17456 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
17459 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
17460 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
17461 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
17464 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
17465 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
17466 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
17468 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
17474 @item nngateway-address
17475 @vindex nngateway-address
17476 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17478 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17479 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17480 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17481 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17482 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17483 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17484 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17487 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17488 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17489 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17492 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17495 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17498 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17501 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17503 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17506 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17507 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17508 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17510 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17512 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17513 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17514 @code{nngateway-address}.
17522 (setq gnus-post-method
17524 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17525 (nngateway-header-transformation
17526 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17529 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17532 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17536 @node The Empty Backend
17537 @subsection The Empty Backend
17540 @code{nnnil} is a backend that can be used as a placeholder if you
17541 have to specify a backend somewhere, but don't really want to. The
17542 classical example is if you don't want to have a primary select
17543 methods, but want to only use secondary ones:
17546 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnnil ""))
17547 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
17553 @node Combined Groups
17554 @section Combined Groups
17556 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17560 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17564 @node Virtual Groups
17565 @subsection Virtual Groups
17567 @cindex virtual groups
17568 @cindex merging groups
17570 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17573 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17574 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17575 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17577 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17578 regexp to match component groups.
17580 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17581 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17582 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17583 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17584 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17585 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17586 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17587 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17589 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17590 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17593 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17596 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17597 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17599 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17600 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17601 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17602 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17605 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17608 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17609 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17610 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17612 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17613 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17614 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17615 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17616 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17618 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17619 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17620 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17622 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17623 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} variable is non-@code{nil} (which
17624 is the default), @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread
17625 articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil}
17626 and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has
17627 been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up
17628 when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you
17629 have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If
17630 that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}. Or you can
17631 just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before you enter
17632 it---it'll have much the same effect.
17634 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17635 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17636 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17637 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17638 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17639 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17640 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17642 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17643 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17645 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17646 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17650 @node Email Based Diary
17651 @section Email Based Diary
17653 @cindex email based diary
17656 This section describes a special mail back end called @code{nndiary},
17657 and its companion library @code{gnus-diary}. It is ``special'' in the
17658 sense that it is not meant to be one of the standard alternatives for
17659 reading mail with Gnus. See @ref{Choosing a Mail Back End} for that.
17660 Instead, it is used to treat @emph{some} of your mails in a special way,
17661 namely, as event reminders.
17663 Here is a typical scenario:
17667 You've got a date with Andy Mc Dowell or Bruce Willis (select according
17668 to your sexual preference) in one month. You don't want to forget it.
17670 So you send a ``reminder'' message (actually, a diary one) to yourself.
17672 You forget all about it and keep on getting and reading new mail, as usual.
17674 From time to time, as you type `g' in the group buffer and as the date
17675 is getting closer, the message will pop up again to remind you of your
17676 appointment, just as if it were new and unread.
17678 Read your ``new'' messages, this one included, and start dreaming again
17679 of the night you're gonna have.
17681 Once the date is over (you actually fell asleep just after dinner), the
17682 message will be automatically deleted if it is marked as expirable.
17685 The Gnus Diary back end has the ability to handle regular appointments
17686 (that wouldn't ever be deleted) as well as punctual ones, operates as a
17687 real mail back end and is configurable in many ways. All of this is
17688 explained in the sections below.
17691 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
17692 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
17693 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
17697 @node The NNDiary Back End
17698 @subsection The NNDiary Back End
17700 @cindex the nndiary back end
17702 @code{nndiary} is a back end very similar to @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
17703 Spool}). Actually, it could appear as a mix of @code{nnml} and
17704 @code{nndraft}. If you know @code{nnml}, you're already familiar with
17705 the message storing scheme of @code{nndiary}: one file per message, one
17706 directory per group.
17708 Before anything, there is one requirement to be able to run
17709 @code{nndiary} properly: you @emph{must} use the group timestamp feature
17710 of Gnus. This adds a timestamp to each group's parameters. @ref{Group
17711 Timestamp} to see how it's done.
17714 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
17715 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
17716 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
17719 @node Diary Messages
17720 @subsubsection Diary Messages
17721 @cindex nndiary messages
17722 @cindex nndiary mails
17724 @code{nndiary} messages are just normal ones, except for the mandatory
17725 presence of 7 special headers. These headers are of the form
17726 @code{X-Diary-<something>}, @code{<something>} being one of
17727 @code{Minute}, @code{Hour}, @code{Dom}, @code{Month}, @code{Year},
17728 @code{Time-Zone} and @code{Dow}. @code{Dom} means ``Day of Month'', and
17729 @code{dow} means ``Day of Week''. These headers actually behave like
17730 crontab specifications and define the event date(s):
17734 For all headers except the @code{Time-Zone} one, a header value is
17735 either a star (meaning all possible values), or a list of fields
17736 (separated by a comma).
17738 A field is either an integer, or a range.
17740 A range is two integers separated by a dash.
17742 Possible integer values are 0--59 for @code{Minute}, 0--23 for
17743 @code{Hour}, 1--31 for @code{Dom}, 1--12 for @code{Month}, above 1971
17744 for @code{Year} and 0--6 for @code{Dow} (0 meaning Sunday).
17746 As a special case, a star in either @code{Dom} or @code{Dow} doesn't
17747 mean ``all possible values'', but ``use only the other field''. Note
17748 that if both are star'ed, the use of either one gives the same result.
17750 The @code{Time-Zone} header is special in that it can only have one
17751 value (@code{GMT}, for instance). A star doesn't mean ``all possible
17752 values'' (because it makes no sense), but ``the current local time
17753 zone''. Most of the time, you'll be using a star here. However, for a
17754 list of available time zone values, see the variable
17755 @code{nndiary-headers}.
17758 As a concrete example, here are the diary headers to add to your message
17759 for specifying ``Each Monday and each 1st of month, at 12:00, 20:00,
17760 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 24:00, from 1999 to 2010'' (I'll let you find
17765 X-Diary-Hour: 12, 20-24
17768 X-Diary-Year: 1999-2010
17770 X-Diary-Time-Zone: *
17773 @node Running NNDiary
17774 @subsubsection Running NNDiary
17775 @cindex running nndiary
17776 @cindex nndiary operation modes
17778 @code{nndiary} has two modes of operation: ``traditional'' (the default)
17779 and ``autonomous''. In traditional mode, @code{nndiary} does not get new
17780 mail by itself. You have to move (@kbd{B m}) or copy (@kbd{B c}) mails
17781 from your primary mail back end to nndiary groups in order to handle them
17782 as diary messages. In autonomous mode, @code{nndiary} retrieves its own
17783 mail and handles it independently from your primary mail back end.
17785 One should note that Gnus is not inherently designed to allow several
17786 ``master'' mail back ends at the same time. However, this does make
17787 sense with @code{nndiary}: you really want to send and receive diary
17788 messages to your diary groups directly. So, @code{nndiary} supports
17789 being sort of a ``second primary mail back end'' (to my knowledge, it is
17790 the only back end offering this feature). However, there is a limitation
17791 (which I hope to fix some day): respooling doesn't work in autonomous
17794 In order to use @code{nndiary} in autonomous mode, you have several
17799 Allow @code{nndiary} to retrieve new mail by itself. Put the following
17800 line in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
17803 (setq nndiary-get-new-mail t)
17806 You must arrange for diary messages (those containing @code{X-Diary-*}
17807 headers) to be split in a private folder @emph{before} Gnus treat them.
17808 Again, this is needed because Gnus cannot (yet ?) properly handle
17809 multiple primary mail back ends. Getting those messages from a separate
17810 source will compensate this misfeature to some extent.
17812 As an example, here's my procmailrc entry to store diary files in
17813 @file{~/.nndiary} (the default @code{nndiary} mail source file):
17822 Once this is done, you might want to customize the following two options
17823 that affect the diary mail retrieval and splitting processes:
17825 @defvar nndiary-mail-sources
17826 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
17827 @code{mail-sources} variable. It obeys the same syntax, and defaults to
17828 @code{(file :path "~/.nndiary")}.
17831 @defvar nndiary-split-methods
17832 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
17833 @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable. It obeys the same syntax.
17836 Finally, you may add a permanent @code{nndiary} virtual server
17837 (something like @code{(nndiary "diary")} should do) to your
17838 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}.
17840 Hopefully, almost everything (see the TODO section in
17841 @file{nndiary.el}) will work as expected when you restart Gnus: in
17842 autonomous mode, typing @kbd{g} and @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer, will
17843 also get your new diary mails and split them according to your
17844 diary-specific rules, @kbd{F} will find your new diary groups etc.
17846 @node Customizing NNDiary
17847 @subsubsection Customizing NNDiary
17848 @cindex customizing nndiary
17849 @cindex nndiary customization
17851 Now that @code{nndiary} is up and running, it's time to customize it.
17852 The custom group is called @code{nndiary} (no, really ?!). You should
17853 browse it to figure out which options you'd like to tweak. The following
17854 two variables are probably the only ones you will want to change:
17856 @defvar nndiary-reminders
17857 This is the list of times when you want to be reminded of your
17858 appointments (e.g. 3 weeks before, then 2 days before, then 1 hour
17859 before and that's it). Remember that ``being reminded'' means that the
17860 diary message will pop up as brand new and unread again when you get new
17864 @defvar nndiary-week-starts-on-monday
17865 Rather self-explanatory. Otherwise, Sunday is assumed (this is the
17870 @node The Gnus Diary Library
17871 @subsection The Gnus Diary Library
17873 @cindex the gnus diary library
17875 Using @code{nndiary} manually (I mean, writing the headers by hand and
17876 so on) would be rather boring. Fortunately, there is a library called
17877 @code{gnus-diary} written on top of @code{nndiary}, that does many
17878 useful things for you.
17880 In order to use it, add the following line to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
17883 (require 'gnus-diary)
17886 Also, you shouldn't use any @code{gnus-user-format-function-[d|D]}
17887 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} provides both of these
17888 (sorry if you used them before).
17892 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
17893 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
17894 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
17895 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
17898 @node Diary Summary Line Format
17899 @subsubsection Diary Summary Line Format
17900 @cindex diary summary buffer line
17901 @cindex diary summary line format
17903 Displaying diary messages in standard summary line format (usually
17904 something like @samp{From Joe: Subject}) is pretty useless. Most of
17905 the time, you're the one who wrote the message, and you mostly want to
17906 see the event's date.
17908 @code{gnus-diary} provides two supplemental user formats to be used in
17909 summary line formats. @code{D} corresponds to a formatted time string
17910 for the next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00''),
17911 while @code{d} corresponds to an approximate remaining time until the
17912 next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``in 6 months, 1 week'').
17914 For example, here's how Joe's birthday is displayed in my
17915 @code{nndiary+diary:birthdays} summary buffer (note that the message is
17916 expirable, but will never be deleted, as it specifies a periodic event):
17919 E Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00: Joe's birthday (in 6 months, 1 week)
17922 In order to get something like the above, you would normally add the
17923 following line to your diary groups'parameters:
17926 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z %uD: %(%s%) (%ud)\n")
17929 However, @code{gnus-diary} does it automatically (@pxref{Diary Group
17930 Parameters}). You can however customize the provided summary line format
17931 with the following user options:
17933 @defvar gnus-diary-summary-line-format
17934 Defines the summary line format used for diary groups (@pxref{Summary
17935 Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} uses it to automatically update the
17936 diary groups'parameters.
17939 @defvar gnus-diary-time-format
17940 Defines the format to display dates in diary summary buffers. This is
17941 used by the @code{D} user format. See the docstring for details.
17944 @defvar gnus-diary-delay-format-function
17945 Defines the format function to use for displaying delays (remaining
17946 times) in diary summary buffers. This is used by the @code{d} user
17947 format. There are currently built-in functions for English and French;
17948 you can also define your own. See the docstring for details.
17951 @node Diary Articles Sorting
17952 @subsubsection Diary Articles Sorting
17953 @cindex diary articles sorting
17954 @cindex diary summary lines sorting
17955 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule
17956 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule
17957 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-schedule
17959 @code{gnus-diary} provides new sorting functions (@pxref{Sorting the
17960 Summary Buffer} ) called @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule},
17961 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule} and
17962 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-schedule}. These functions let you organize
17963 your diary summary buffers from the closest event to the farthest one.
17965 @code{gnus-diary} automatically installs
17966 @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule} as a menu item in the summary
17967 buffer's ``sort'' menu, and the two others as the primary (hence
17968 default) sorting functions in the group parameters (@pxref{Diary Group
17971 @node Diary Headers Generation
17972 @subsubsection Diary Headers Generation
17973 @cindex diary headers generation
17974 @findex gnus-diary-check-message
17976 @code{gnus-diary} provides a function called
17977 @code{gnus-diary-check-message} to help you handle the @code{X-Diary-*}
17978 headers. This function ensures that the current message contains all the
17979 required diary headers, and prompts you for values or corrections if
17982 This function is hooked into the @code{nndiary} back end, so that
17983 moving or copying an article to a diary group will trigger it
17984 automatically. It is also bound to @kbd{C-c C-f d} in
17985 @code{message-mode} and @code{article-edit-mode} in order to ease the
17986 process of converting a usual mail to a diary one.
17988 This function takes a prefix argument which will force prompting of
17989 all diary headers, regardless of their presence or validity. That way,
17990 you can very easily reschedule an already valid diary message, for
17993 @node Diary Group Parameters
17994 @subsubsection Diary Group Parameters
17995 @cindex diary group parameters
17997 When you create a new diary group, or visit one, @code{gnus-diary}
17998 automatically checks your group parameters and if needed, sets the
17999 summary line format to the diary-specific value, installs the
18000 diary-specific sorting functions, and also adds the different
18001 @code{X-Diary-*} headers to the group's posting-style. It is then easier
18002 to send a diary message, because if you use @kbd{C-u a} or @kbd{C-u m}
18003 on a diary group to prepare a message, these headers will be inserted
18004 automatically (although not filled with proper values yet).
18006 @node Sending or Not Sending
18007 @subsection Sending or Not Sending
18009 Well, assuming you've read all of the above, here are two final notes on
18010 mail sending with @code{nndiary}:
18014 @code{nndiary} is a @emph{real} mail back end. You really send real diary
18015 messages for real. This means for instance that you can give
18016 appointments to anybody (provided they use Gnus and @code{nndiary}) by
18017 sending the diary message to them as well.
18019 However, since @code{nndiary} also has a @code{request-post} method, you
18020 can also use @kbd{C-u a} instead of @kbd{C-u m} on a diary group and the
18021 message won't actually be sent; just stored locally in the group. This
18022 comes in very handy for private appointments.
18025 @node Gnus Unplugged
18026 @section Gnus Unplugged
18031 @cindex Gnus unplugged
18033 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
18034 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
18035 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
18036 read news. Believe it or not.
18038 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
18039 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
18040 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
18041 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
18042 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
18044 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
18045 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
18046 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
18047 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
18048 reading news on a machine.
18050 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
18051 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
18052 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
18054 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
18057 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
18058 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
18059 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
18060 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
18061 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
18062 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
18063 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
18064 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
18065 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
18066 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
18067 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
18068 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
18069 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
18070 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
18075 @subsection Agent Basics
18077 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
18079 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
18080 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
18081 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
18082 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
18084 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
18085 connected to the net continuously.
18087 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
18088 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
18090 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
18091 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
18092 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
18093 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
18094 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
18096 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
18097 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
18098 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
18099 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
18100 they're kinda like plugged always).
18102 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
18103 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
18104 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
18107 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
18108 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
18109 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
18110 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
18111 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
18113 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
18118 @findex gnus-unplugged
18119 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
18120 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
18121 already fetched while in this mode.
18124 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
18125 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
18126 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
18127 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
18128 Source Specifiers}).
18131 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
18132 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
18133 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
18134 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
18135 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
18138 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
18139 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
18140 then you read the news offline.
18143 And then you go to step 2.
18146 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
18152 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
18153 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
18154 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
18155 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
18156 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
18157 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
18158 no servers are agentized.
18161 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
18162 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
18163 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
18164 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
18166 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
18167 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
18168 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
18169 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
18170 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
18171 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
18175 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
18179 @node Agent Categories
18180 @subsection Agent Categories
18182 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
18183 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
18184 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
18185 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
18186 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
18187 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
18188 you're interested in the articles anyway.
18190 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
18191 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
18192 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
18193 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
18194 buffer for creating and managing categories.
18196 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
18197 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
18198 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
18199 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
18200 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
18203 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
18204 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
18205 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
18206 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
18207 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
18208 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
18212 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
18213 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
18214 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
18218 @node Category Syntax
18219 @subsubsection Category Syntax
18221 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
18222 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
18223 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
18226 @cindex Agent Parameters
18229 The list of groups that are in this category.
18231 @item agent-predicate
18232 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
18233 are eligible for downloading; and
18236 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
18237 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
18238 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
18240 @item agent-enable-expiration
18241 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
18242 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
18243 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
18244 only groups that should not be expired.
18246 @item agent-days-until-old
18247 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
18248 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
18250 @item agent-low-score
18251 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
18253 @item agent-high-score
18254 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
18256 @item agent-short-article
18257 an integer that overrides the value of
18258 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
18260 @item agent-long-article
18261 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
18263 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
18264 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
18265 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
18266 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
18267 undownloaded faces.
18270 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
18273 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
18274 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
18275 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
18278 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
18279 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
18280 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
18281 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
18283 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
18284 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
18285 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
18287 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
18288 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
18289 operators sprinkled in between.
18291 Perhaps some examples are in order.
18293 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
18294 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
18300 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
18301 short (for some value of ``short'').
18303 Here's a more complex predicate:
18312 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
18313 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
18316 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
18317 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
18318 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
18320 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
18321 you want to do, you can write your own.
18323 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
18324 bound to the value determined by calling
18325 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
18326 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
18327 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
18328 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
18329 predicate to individual groups.
18333 True if the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
18334 lines; default 100.
18337 True if the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
18338 lines; default 200.
18341 True if the article has a download score less than
18342 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
18345 True if the article has a download score greater than
18346 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
18349 True if the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
18350 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
18351 checksum and sees whether articles match.
18360 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
18361 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
18362 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
18365 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
18366 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
18367 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
18368 something along the lines of the following:
18371 (defun my-article-old-p ()
18372 "Say whether an article is old."
18373 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
18374 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
18377 with the predicate then defined as:
18380 (not my-article-old-p)
18383 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
18384 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
18388 (require 'gnus-agent)
18389 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
18390 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
18391 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
18394 and simply specify your predicate as:
18400 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
18401 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
18402 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
18403 just don't give a damn.
18405 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
18406 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
18407 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
18408 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
18409 parameters like so:
18412 (agent-predicate . short)
18415 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
18416 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
18417 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
18419 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
18422 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
18425 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
18426 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
18427 predicate is assumed to be a list.
18430 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
18431 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
18432 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
18433 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
18434 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
18435 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
18437 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
18438 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
18439 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
18440 if it's to be specific to that group.
18442 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
18449 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
18450 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
18456 Category specification
18460 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
18466 Group/Topic Parameter specification
18469 (agent-score ("from"
18470 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
18475 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
18481 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
18482 keywords stated above.
18488 Category specification
18491 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
18497 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
18501 Group Parameter specification
18504 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
18507 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
18512 Use @code{normal} score files
18514 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
18515 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
18516 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
18517 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
18519 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
18520 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
18521 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
18522 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
18526 Category Specification
18533 Group Parameter specification
18536 (agent-score . file)
18541 @node Category Buffer
18542 @subsubsection Category Buffer
18544 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
18545 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
18546 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
18548 The following commands are available in this buffer:
18552 @kindex q (Category)
18553 @findex gnus-category-exit
18554 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
18557 @kindex e (Category)
18558 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
18559 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
18560 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
18563 @kindex k (Category)
18564 @findex gnus-category-kill
18565 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
18568 @kindex c (Category)
18569 @findex gnus-category-copy
18570 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
18573 @kindex a (Category)
18574 @findex gnus-category-add
18575 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
18578 @kindex p (Category)
18579 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
18580 Edit the predicate of the current category
18581 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
18584 @kindex g (Category)
18585 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
18586 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
18587 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
18590 @kindex s (Category)
18591 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
18592 Edit the download score rule of the current category
18593 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
18596 @kindex l (Category)
18597 @findex gnus-category-list
18598 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
18602 @node Category Variables
18603 @subsubsection Category Variables
18606 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
18607 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
18608 Hook run in category buffers.
18610 @item gnus-category-line-format
18611 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
18612 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
18613 Variables}). Valid elements are:
18617 The name of the category.
18620 The number of groups in the category.
18623 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
18624 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
18625 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
18627 @item gnus-agent-short-article
18628 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
18629 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
18631 @item gnus-agent-long-article
18632 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
18633 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
18635 @item gnus-agent-low-score
18636 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
18637 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
18640 @item gnus-agent-high-score
18641 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
18642 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
18645 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
18646 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18647 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
18648 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
18649 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
18650 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
18651 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
18652 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
18656 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18657 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18658 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
18659 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
18660 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
18661 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
18662 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
18667 @node Agent Commands
18668 @subsection Agent Commands
18669 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
18670 @kindex J j (Agent)
18672 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
18673 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
18674 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
18678 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
18679 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
18680 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
18686 @node Group Agent Commands
18687 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
18691 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
18692 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
18693 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
18694 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
18697 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
18698 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
18699 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
18702 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
18703 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
18704 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
18705 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
18708 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
18709 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
18710 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
18711 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
18714 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
18715 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
18716 Add the current group to an Agent category
18717 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
18718 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18721 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
18722 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
18723 Remove the current group from its category, if any
18724 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
18725 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18728 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
18729 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18730 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
18736 @node Summary Agent Commands
18737 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
18741 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
18742 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
18743 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
18746 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
18747 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
18748 Remove the downloading mark from the article
18749 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
18753 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
18754 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
18755 Toggle whether to download the article
18756 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
18760 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
18761 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
18762 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
18765 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
18766 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
18767 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
18768 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
18771 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
18772 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series
18773 Download all processable articles in this group.
18774 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series}).
18777 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
18778 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
18779 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
18780 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
18785 @node Server Agent Commands
18786 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
18790 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
18791 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
18792 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
18793 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
18796 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
18797 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
18798 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
18799 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
18804 @node Agent Visuals
18805 @subsection Agent Visuals
18807 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
18808 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
18809 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
18810 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
18811 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
18812 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
18813 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
18814 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
18815 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
18816 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
18818 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
18819 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
18820 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
18821 way, ``If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
18822 less than satisfying unplugged session''. For this reason, the Agent
18823 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
18824 the download status of each article so that you always know which
18825 articles will be available when unplugged.
18827 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
18828 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
18829 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
18830 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
18831 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
18832 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
18833 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
18834 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
18836 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
18837 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
18838 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
18839 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
18840 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
18841 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
18842 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
18843 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
18844 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
18846 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
18847 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
18848 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
18849 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
18850 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
18851 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
18852 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
18853 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
18854 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
18855 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
18857 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
18858 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
18859 group parameter to @code{t}. This parameter, like all other agent
18860 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}),
18861 a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an individual group
18862 (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
18864 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
18865 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
18866 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
18867 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
18868 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
18869 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
18870 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
18871 expiring'' articles.
18873 @node Agent as Cache
18874 @subsection Agent as Cache
18876 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
18877 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
18878 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
18879 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
18880 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
18881 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
18882 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
18883 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
18884 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
18886 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
18887 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
18888 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
18889 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
18890 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
18893 @subsection Agent Expiry
18895 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18896 @findex gnus-agent-expire
18897 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
18898 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
18899 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
18900 @cindex agent expiry
18901 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
18902 @cindex expiry, in Gnus agent
18904 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
18905 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
18906 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
18907 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
18908 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
18909 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
18910 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
18911 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
18913 Note that other functions might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you
18914 to keep the agent synchronized with the group.
18916 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
18917 prevent expiration in selected groups.
18919 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
18920 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
18921 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
18922 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
18923 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
18924 be kept indefinitely.
18926 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
18927 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
18928 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
18929 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
18931 @node Agent Regeneration
18932 @subsection Agent Regeneration
18934 @cindex agent regeneration
18935 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
18936 @cindex regeneration
18938 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
18939 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
18940 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
18941 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
18942 internal inconsistencies.
18944 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
18945 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
18946 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
18947 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
18948 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
18949 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
18951 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
18952 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
18953 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
18954 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
18955 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
18956 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
18958 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18959 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18960 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
18961 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
18962 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
18963 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
18966 @node Agent and flags
18967 @subsection Agent and flags
18969 The Agent works with any Gnus back end including those, such as
18970 nnimap, that store flags (read, ticked, etc) on the server. Sadly,
18971 the Agent does not actually know which backends keep their flags in
18972 the backend server rather than in @file{.newsrc}. This means that the
18973 Agent, while unplugged or disconnected, will always record all changes
18974 to the flags in its own files.
18976 When you plug back in, Gnus will then check to see if you have any
18977 changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the
18978 server. This behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
18980 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18981 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
18982 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
18983 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
18984 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
18985 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
18987 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
18988 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
18989 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
18990 in the group buffer.
18992 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18993 all local flags to the server, but rather by incrementally updated the
18994 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18995 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group then
18996 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18997 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18998 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18999 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
19001 @node Agent and IMAP
19002 @subsection Agent and IMAP
19004 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
19005 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
19006 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
19007 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
19009 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
19010 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
19015 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
19018 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
19022 @node Outgoing Messages
19023 @subsection Outgoing Messages
19025 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
19026 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
19027 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
19029 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
19030 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
19031 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
19033 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
19034 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
19035 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
19036 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
19039 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
19040 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
19041 ask you to confirm your action (see
19042 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
19044 @node Agent Variables
19045 @subsection Agent Variables
19050 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
19051 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
19052 automatically mark some back ends as agentized. You may change which
19053 back ends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
19055 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
19056 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
19059 @item gnus-agent-directory
19060 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
19061 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
19062 @file{~/News/agent/}.
19064 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
19065 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
19066 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
19067 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
19068 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
19071 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
19072 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
19073 Hook run when connecting to the network.
19075 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
19076 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
19077 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
19079 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
19080 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
19081 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
19083 @item gnus-agent-cache
19084 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
19085 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
19086 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
19087 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
19089 @item gnus-agent-go-online
19090 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
19091 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
19092 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
19093 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
19094 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
19095 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
19098 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
19099 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
19100 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
19101 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
19102 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
19103 read. The default is @code{t}.
19105 @item gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19106 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19107 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19108 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19109 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19110 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19111 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19113 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
19114 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
19115 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
19116 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
19117 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
19118 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
19119 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
19120 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
19121 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
19122 over and over again.
19124 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
19125 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
19126 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
19127 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
19128 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
19129 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
19130 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
19131 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
19132 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
19133 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
19134 However, all articles parsed prior to losing the connection will be
19135 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
19138 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
19139 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
19140 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
19141 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
19142 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
19143 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
19144 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
19145 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
19146 is only valid if the Agent is used.
19148 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
19149 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
19150 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
19151 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
19152 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
19153 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
19155 The valid values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
19156 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
19157 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
19158 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
19159 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
19161 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
19162 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
19163 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
19164 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
19165 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
19166 mail. The default is @code{t}.
19168 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
19169 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
19170 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
19171 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
19172 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
19174 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
19175 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
19176 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
19177 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
19178 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
19179 which back ends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
19180 to agentize remote back ends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
19181 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
19182 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
19183 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
19184 start Gnus. The default is @samp{nil}.
19189 @node Example Setup
19190 @subsection Example Setup
19192 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
19193 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
19194 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
19197 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
19198 ;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
19199 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
19201 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
19202 ;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
19203 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
19205 ;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
19206 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
19208 ;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
19209 ;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
19210 ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
19213 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
19214 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
19217 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
19218 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
19219 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
19220 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
19221 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
19224 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
19225 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
19226 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
19227 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
19228 back all the killed groups.)
19230 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
19231 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
19232 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
19235 @node Batching Agents
19236 @subsection Batching Agents
19237 @findex gnus-agent-batch
19239 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
19240 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
19241 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
19243 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
19244 following incantation:
19248 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
19252 @node Agent Caveats
19253 @subsection Agent Caveats
19255 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
19256 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
19260 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
19262 @strong{No}. If you want this behavior, add
19263 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
19264 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
19266 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
19267 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
19269 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
19273 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
19274 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
19275 locally stored articles.
19282 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
19283 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
19284 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
19287 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
19288 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
19289 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
19290 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
19291 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
19293 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
19294 before generating the summary buffer.
19296 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
19297 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
19298 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
19300 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
19301 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
19302 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
19303 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
19306 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
19307 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
19308 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
19309 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
19310 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
19311 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
19312 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
19313 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
19314 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
19315 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
19316 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
19317 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
19318 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
19319 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
19320 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
19321 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
19325 @node Summary Score Commands
19326 @section Summary Score Commands
19327 @cindex score commands
19329 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
19330 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
19331 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
19332 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
19333 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
19335 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
19336 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
19337 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
19338 score file the current one.
19340 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
19345 @kindex V s (Summary)
19346 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
19347 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
19350 @kindex V S (Summary)
19351 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
19352 Display the score of the current article
19353 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
19356 @kindex V t (Summary)
19357 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
19358 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
19359 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
19360 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
19361 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
19362 score file and edit it.
19365 @kindex V w (Summary)
19366 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
19367 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
19370 @kindex V R (Summary)
19371 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
19372 Run the current summary through the scoring process
19373 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
19374 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
19375 effect you're having.
19378 @kindex V c (Summary)
19379 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
19380 Make a different score file the current
19381 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
19384 @kindex V e (Summary)
19385 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
19386 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
19387 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
19391 @kindex V f (Summary)
19392 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
19393 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
19394 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
19397 @kindex V F (Summary)
19398 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19399 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
19400 after editing score files.
19403 @kindex V C (Summary)
19404 @findex gnus-score-customize
19405 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
19406 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
19410 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
19415 @kindex V m (Summary)
19416 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
19417 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
19418 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
19421 @kindex V x (Summary)
19422 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
19423 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
19424 expunge all articles below this score
19425 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
19428 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
19429 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
19432 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
19433 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
19437 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
19438 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
19440 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
19441 keys are available:
19445 Score on the author name.
19448 Score on the subject line.
19451 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
19454 Score on the @code{References} line.
19460 Score on the number of lines.
19463 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
19466 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
19467 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
19470 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
19471 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
19472 @file{ADAPT} files.)
19481 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
19487 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
19488 what headers you are scoring on.
19500 Substring matching.
19503 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
19532 Greater than number.
19537 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
19538 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
19539 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
19544 Temporary score entry.
19547 Permanent score entry.
19550 Immediately scoring.
19554 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
19555 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
19556 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
19560 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
19561 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
19562 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
19563 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
19565 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
19566 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
19567 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
19568 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
19569 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
19571 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
19572 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
19573 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
19574 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
19575 current score file.
19577 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
19578 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
19579 pretend they are keymaps or not.
19582 @node Group Score Commands
19583 @section Group Score Commands
19584 @cindex group score commands
19586 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
19591 @kindex W e (Group)
19592 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
19593 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
19594 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
19597 @kindex W f (Group)
19598 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19599 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
19600 all the time. This command will flush the cache
19601 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
19605 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
19607 @findex gnus-batch-score
19608 @cindex batch scoring
19610 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
19614 @node Score Variables
19615 @section Score Variables
19616 @cindex score variables
19620 @item gnus-use-scoring
19621 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
19622 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
19623 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
19625 @item gnus-kill-killed
19626 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
19627 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
19628 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
19629 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
19630 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
19631 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
19632 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
19634 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
19635 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
19636 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
19637 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
19638 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
19640 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
19641 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
19642 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
19643 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
19645 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19646 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19647 @cindex score cache
19648 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
19649 score files. However, this might make your Emacs grow big and
19650 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
19651 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
19652 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
19653 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
19654 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
19657 @item gnus-save-score
19658 @vindex gnus-save-score
19659 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
19660 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
19661 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
19663 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
19664 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
19665 across group visits.
19667 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19668 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19669 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
19670 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
19671 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
19672 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
19673 manually entered data.
19675 @item gnus-summary-default-score
19676 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
19677 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
19679 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
19680 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
19681 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
19682 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
19683 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
19684 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
19686 @item gnus-score-over-mark
19687 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
19688 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
19689 default. Default is @samp{+}.
19691 @item gnus-score-below-mark
19692 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
19693 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
19694 default. Default is @samp{-}.
19696 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19697 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19698 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
19699 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
19701 Predefined functions available are:
19704 @item gnus-score-find-single
19705 @findex gnus-score-find-single
19706 Only apply the group's own score file.
19708 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
19709 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
19710 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
19711 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
19712 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
19713 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
19714 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
19715 then a regexp match is done.
19717 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
19718 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
19720 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
19721 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
19722 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
19723 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
19725 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19726 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19727 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
19728 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
19729 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
19733 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
19734 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
19735 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
19736 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
19737 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
19738 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
19739 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
19742 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
19743 overall score file, you could use the value
19745 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
19746 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
19749 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
19750 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
19751 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
19752 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
19753 are expired. It's 7 by default.
19755 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19756 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19757 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
19758 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
19759 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
19760 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
19761 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
19762 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
19764 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19765 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19766 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
19768 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
19769 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
19770 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
19771 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
19772 threading---according to the current value of
19773 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
19774 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
19775 simplified in this manner.
19780 @node Score File Format
19781 @section Score File Format
19782 @cindex score file format
19784 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
19785 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
19786 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
19788 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
19792 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
19794 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
19796 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
19798 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
19803 (mark-and-expunge -10)
19807 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
19808 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
19809 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
19810 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
19814 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
19815 Scoring}, for a different approach.
19817 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
19818 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
19819 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
19821 Six keys are supported by this alist:
19826 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
19827 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
19828 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
19829 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
19830 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
19831 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
19832 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
19833 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
19834 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
19835 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
19836 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
19837 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
19838 to articles that matches these score entries.
19840 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
19841 score entry has one to four elements.
19845 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
19846 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
19850 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
19851 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
19852 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
19853 is successful. If this element is not present, the
19854 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
19855 instead. This is 1000 by default.
19858 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
19859 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
19860 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
19861 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
19862 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
19865 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
19866 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
19867 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
19868 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
19871 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
19872 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
19873 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
19874 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
19875 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
19876 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
19877 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
19878 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
19879 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
19880 instead, if you feel like.
19883 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
19884 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
19885 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
19886 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
19887 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
19888 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
19892 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
19893 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
19897 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
19898 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
19900 These predicates are true if
19903 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
19906 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
19907 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
19914 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
19915 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
19916 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
19917 it's not. I think.)
19919 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
19920 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
19921 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
19922 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
19925 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
19926 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
19927 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
19928 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
19929 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
19930 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
19931 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
19935 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
19936 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
19937 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
19938 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
19939 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
19940 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
19941 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
19942 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
19945 @item Head, Body, All
19946 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
19950 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
19951 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
19952 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
19953 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
19954 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
19955 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
19956 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
19960 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
19961 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
19962 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
19963 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
19964 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
19965 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
19966 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
19967 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
19968 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
19969 nondeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
19970 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
19974 @cindex score file atoms
19976 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19977 lower than this number will be marked as read.
19980 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19981 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
19983 @item mark-and-expunge
19984 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19985 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
19988 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
19989 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
19990 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
19991 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
19992 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
19995 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
19996 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
19999 @item exclude-files
20000 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
20001 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
20005 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}ed. This element will be
20006 ignored when handling global score files.
20009 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
20010 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
20011 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
20012 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
20015 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
20016 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
20017 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
20018 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
20020 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
20024 (mark-and-expunge -100)
20027 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
20028 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
20029 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{c y}) the
20030 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
20031 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
20033 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
20034 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
20035 scoring rules exist.
20038 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
20039 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
20040 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
20041 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
20042 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
20043 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
20044 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
20045 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
20046 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
20047 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
20048 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
20052 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
20053 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
20054 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
20055 file for a number of groups.
20058 @cindex local variables
20059 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
20060 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
20061 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
20062 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
20063 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
20068 @node Score File Editing
20069 @section Score File Editing
20071 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
20072 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
20073 with a mode for that.
20075 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
20076 additional commands:
20081 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
20082 @findex gnus-score-edit-exit
20083 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
20084 (@code{gnus-score-edit-exit}).
20087 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
20088 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
20089 Insert the current date in numerical format
20090 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
20091 you were wondering.
20094 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
20095 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
20096 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
20097 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
20098 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
20103 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
20105 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
20106 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
20108 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
20109 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
20112 @node Adaptive Scoring
20113 @section Adaptive Scoring
20114 @cindex adaptive scoring
20116 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
20117 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
20118 stupidity, to be precise.
20120 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
20121 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
20122 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
20123 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
20124 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
20125 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
20126 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
20127 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
20128 variable to @code{(word line)}.
20130 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
20131 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
20132 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
20133 might look something like this:
20136 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
20137 '((gnus-unread-mark)
20138 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
20139 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
20140 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
20141 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
20142 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
20143 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
20144 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
20145 (gnus-ancient-mark)
20146 (gnus-low-score-mark)
20147 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
20150 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
20151 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
20152 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
20153 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
20154 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
20155 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
20158 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
20159 will be applied to each article.
20161 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
20162 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
20163 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
20164 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
20166 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
20167 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
20168 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
20169 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
20171 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
20172 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
20173 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
20174 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
20176 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
20177 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
20178 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
20179 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
20180 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
20181 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
20183 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
20184 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
20185 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
20187 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
20188 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
20189 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
20191 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
20192 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
20193 let you use different rules in different groups.
20195 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
20196 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
20197 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
20200 @vindex gnus-adaptive-pretty-print
20201 Adaptive score files can get huge and are not meant to be edited by
20202 human hands. If @code{gnus-adaptive-pretty-print} is @code{nil} (the
20203 default) those files will not be written in a human readable way.
20205 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
20206 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
20207 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
20208 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
20209 the length of the match is less than
20210 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
20211 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
20214 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
20215 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
20216 headers. If you adapt on words, the
20217 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
20218 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
20221 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
20222 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
20223 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
20224 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
20225 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
20228 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
20229 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
20230 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
20231 score with 30 points.
20233 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
20234 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
20235 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
20236 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
20237 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
20239 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
20240 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
20241 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
20242 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
20243 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
20245 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
20246 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
20247 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
20248 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
20250 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
20251 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
20252 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
20253 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
20255 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
20256 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
20257 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
20258 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
20259 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
20261 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
20262 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
20263 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
20265 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
20266 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
20267 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
20268 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
20271 @node Home Score File
20272 @section Home Score File
20274 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
20275 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
20276 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
20277 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
20279 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
20280 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
20281 could perhaps use the same home score file.
20283 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
20284 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
20289 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
20293 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
20294 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
20298 A list. The elements in this list can be:
20302 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
20303 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
20306 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
20307 be used as the home score file. The function will be called with the
20308 name of the group as the parameter.
20311 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
20314 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
20319 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
20322 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20323 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
20326 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
20327 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
20329 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
20331 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20332 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
20335 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
20336 Other functions include
20339 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
20340 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
20341 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
20342 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
20346 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
20347 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
20348 their own home score files:
20351 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20352 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
20353 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
20354 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
20355 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
20358 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
20359 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
20360 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
20361 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
20362 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
20364 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
20365 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
20366 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
20367 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
20368 precedence over this variable.
20371 @node Followups To Yourself
20372 @section Followups To Yourself
20374 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
20375 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
20376 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
20377 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
20378 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
20379 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
20383 @item gnus-score-followup-article
20384 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
20385 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
20388 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
20389 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
20390 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
20394 @vindex message-sent-hook
20395 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
20396 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
20398 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
20402 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
20403 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
20407 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
20408 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
20411 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
20412 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
20417 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
20421 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
20422 is system-dependent.
20425 @node Scoring On Other Headers
20426 @section Scoring On Other Headers
20427 @cindex scoring on other headers
20429 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
20430 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
20431 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
20432 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
20433 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
20435 @vindex gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring
20436 You can inhibit this slow scoring on headers or body by setting the
20437 variable @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring}. If
20438 @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring} is regexp, slow scoring is inhibited if
20439 the group matches the regexp. If it is t, slow scoring on it is
20440 inhibited for all groups.
20442 Now, there's not much you can do about the slowness for news groups, but for
20443 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
20444 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
20445 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
20446 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
20448 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
20451 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
20452 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
20455 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
20456 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
20457 time if you have much mail.
20459 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
20460 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
20466 @section Scoring Tips
20467 @cindex scoring tips
20473 @cindex scoring crossposts
20474 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
20475 the @code{Xref} header.
20477 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
20480 @item Multiple crossposts
20481 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
20482 more than, say, 3 groups:
20485 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
20489 @item Matching on the body
20490 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
20491 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
20492 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
20493 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
20494 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
20495 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
20496 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
20499 @item Marking as read
20500 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
20501 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
20502 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
20506 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
20508 @item Negated character classes
20509 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
20510 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
20511 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
20515 @node Reverse Scoring
20516 @section Reverse Scoring
20517 @cindex reverse scoring
20519 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
20520 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
20521 like this in your score file:
20525 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
20530 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
20531 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
20534 @node Global Score Files
20535 @section Global Score Files
20536 @cindex global score files
20538 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
20539 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
20540 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
20542 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
20543 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
20544 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
20546 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
20547 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
20548 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
20549 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
20550 files are applicable to which group.
20552 To use the score file
20553 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
20554 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
20558 (setq gnus-global-score-files
20559 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
20560 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
20563 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
20565 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
20566 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
20567 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
20568 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
20570 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
20571 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
20573 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
20574 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
20575 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
20576 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
20577 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
20578 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
20580 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
20586 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
20588 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
20590 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
20592 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
20593 lowered out of existence.
20595 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
20596 articles completely.
20599 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
20600 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
20601 old articles for a long time.
20604 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
20605 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
20606 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
20607 holding our breath yet?
20611 @section Kill Files
20614 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
20615 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
20616 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
20618 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
20619 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
20620 files into score files.
20622 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
20623 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
20624 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
20625 that isn't a very good idea.
20627 Normal kill files look like this:
20630 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20631 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
20635 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
20636 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
20638 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
20639 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
20642 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
20647 @kindex M-k (Summary)
20648 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
20649 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
20652 @kindex M-K (Summary)
20653 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
20654 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
20657 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
20662 @kindex M-k (Group)
20663 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
20664 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
20667 @kindex M-K (Group)
20668 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
20669 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
20672 Kill file variables:
20675 @item gnus-kill-file-name
20676 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
20677 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
20678 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
20679 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
20680 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
20681 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
20683 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20684 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20685 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
20686 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
20689 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
20690 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
20691 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
20692 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
20693 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
20694 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
20695 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
20696 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
20697 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
20699 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20700 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20701 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
20706 @node Converting Kill Files
20707 @section Converting Kill Files
20709 @cindex converting kill files
20711 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
20712 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
20713 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
20716 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Emacs by default.
20717 You can fetch it from the contrib directory of the Gnus distribution or
20719 @uref{http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
20721 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
20722 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
20723 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
20727 @node Advanced Scoring
20728 @section Advanced Scoring
20730 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
20731 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
20732 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
20733 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
20734 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
20736 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
20740 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
20741 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
20742 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
20746 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
20747 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
20749 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
20750 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
20751 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
20752 non-@code{nil} value.
20754 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
20755 operator, and various match operators.
20762 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20763 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
20764 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
20769 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20770 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
20771 then this operator will return @code{false}.
20776 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
20777 logical negation of the value of its argument.
20781 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
20782 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
20783 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
20784 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
20785 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
20786 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
20787 the ancestry you want to go.
20789 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
20790 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
20791 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
20792 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
20793 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
20796 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
20797 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
20799 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
20800 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
20803 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
20804 when he's talking about Gnus:
20809 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20810 ("subject" "Gnus"))
20817 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
20821 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20828 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
20829 really don't want to read what he's written:
20833 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20834 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigil Logge")))
20838 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
20839 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
20840 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
20847 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
20848 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20849 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20850 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20854 Suppose you're reading a high volume group and you're only interested
20855 in replies. The plan is to score down all articles that don't have
20856 subject that begin with "Re:", "Fw:" or "Fwd:" and then score up all
20857 parents of articles that have subjects that begin with reply marks.
20860 ((! ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
20862 ((1- ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
20866 The possibilities are endless.
20868 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20869 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20871 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20872 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20873 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20874 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20875 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20876 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20877 @samp{subject}) first.
20879 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20880 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20891 Then that means ``score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20892 current article''. An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20898 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20905 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20906 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20911 @section Score Decays
20912 @cindex score decays
20915 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20916 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20917 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20918 use them in any sensible way.
20920 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20921 @findex gnus-decay-score
20922 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20923 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20924 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20925 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20926 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20927 If @code{gnus-decay-scores} is a regexp, only score files matching this
20928 regexp are treated. E.g. you may set it to @samp{\\.ADAPT\\'} if only
20929 @emph{adaptive} score files should be decayed. The decay itself if
20930 performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function} function, which is
20931 @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the definition of that
20935 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20936 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20937 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20939 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
20941 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20943 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20944 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
20945 ;; XEmacs's floor can handle only the floating point
20946 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
20947 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
20949 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
20953 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20954 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20955 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20956 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20960 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20963 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20966 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20970 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20971 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20972 the new score, which should be an integer.
20974 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20975 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20981 FIXME: Add a brief overview of Gnus search capabilities. A brief
20982 comparison of nnir, nnmairix, contrib/gnus-namazu would be nice
20985 This chapter describes tools for searching groups and servers for
20986 articles matching a query and then retrieving those articles. Gnus
20987 provides a simpler mechanism for searching through articles in a summary buffer
20988 to find those matching a pattern. @xref{Searching for Articles}.
20991 * nnir:: Searching with various engines.
20992 * nnmairix:: Searching with Mairix.
20999 This section describes how to use @code{nnir} to search for articles
21003 * What is nnir?:: What does @code{nnir} do?
21004 * Basic Usage:: How to perform simple searches.
21005 * Setting up nnir:: How to set up @code{nnir}.
21008 @node What is nnir?
21009 @subsection What is nnir?
21011 @code{nnir} is a Gnus interface to a number of tools for searching
21012 through mail and news repositories. Different backends (like
21013 @code{nnimap} and @code{nntp}) work with different tools (called
21014 @dfn{engines} in @code{nnir} lingo), but all use the same basic search
21017 The @code{nnimap} and @code{gmane} search engines should work with no
21018 configuration. Other engines require a local index that needs to be
21019 created and maintained outside of Gnus.
21023 @subsection Basic Usage
21025 In the group buffer typing @kbd{G G} will search the group on the
21026 current line by calling @code{gnus-group-make-nnir-group}. This prompts
21027 for a query string, creates an ephemeral @code{nnir} group containing
21028 the articles that match this query, and takes you to a summary buffer
21029 showing these articles. Articles may then be read, moved and deleted
21030 using the usual commands.
21032 The @code{nnir} group made in this way is an @code{ephemeral} group, and
21033 some changes are not permanent: aside from reading, moving, and
21034 deleting, you can't act on the original article. But there is an
21035 alternative: you can @emph{warp} to the original group for the article
21036 on the current line with @kbd{A W}, aka
21037 @code{gnus-warp-to-article}. Even better, the function
21038 @code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}, bound by default in summary buffers to
21039 @kbd{A T}, will first warp to the original group before it works its
21040 magic and includes all the articles in the thread. From here you can
21041 read, move and delete articles, but also copy them, alter article marks,
21044 You say you want to search more than just the group on the current line?
21045 No problem: just process-mark the groups you want to search. You want
21046 even more? Calling for an nnir search with the cursor on a topic heading
21047 will search all the groups under that heading.
21049 Still not enough? OK, in the server buffer
21050 @code{gnus-group-make-nnir-group} (now bound to @kbd{G}) will search all
21051 groups from the server on the current line. Too much? Want to ignore
21052 certain groups when searching, like spam groups? Just customize
21053 @code{nnir-ignored-newsgroups}.
21055 One more thing: individual search engines may have special search
21056 features. You can access these special features by giving a prefix-arg
21057 to @code{gnus-group-make-nnir-group}. If you are searching multiple
21058 groups with different search engines you will be prompted for the
21059 special search features for each engine separately.
21062 @node Setting up nnir
21063 @subsection Setting up nnir
21065 To set up nnir you may need to do some prep work. Firstly, you may need
21066 to configure the search engines you plan to use. Some of them, like
21067 @code{imap} and @code{gmane}, need no special configuration. Others,
21068 like @code{namazu} and @code{swish}, require configuration as described
21069 below. Secondly, you need to associate a search engine with a server or
21072 If you just want to use the @code{imap} engine to search @code{nnimap}
21073 servers, and the @code{gmane} engine to search @code{gmane} then you
21074 don't have to do anything. But you might want to read the details of the
21075 query language anyway.
21078 * Associating Engines:: How to associate engines.
21079 * The imap Engine:: Imap configuration and usage.
21080 * The gmane Engine:: Gmane configuration and usage.
21081 * The swish++ Engine:: Swish++ configuration and usage.
21082 * The swish-e Engine:: Swish-e configuration and usage.
21083 * The namazu Engine:: Namazu configuration and usage.
21084 * The hyrex Engine:: Hyrex configuration and usage.
21085 * Customizations:: User customizable settings.
21088 @node Associating Engines
21089 @subsubsection Associating Engines
21092 When searching a group, @code{nnir} needs to know which search engine to
21093 use. You can configure a given server to use a particular engine by
21094 setting the server variable @code{nnir-search-engine} to the engine
21095 name. For example to use the @code{namazu} engine to search the server
21096 named @code{home} you can use
21099 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
21101 (nnimap-address "localhost")
21102 (nnir-search-engine namazu))))
21105 Alternatively you might want to use a particular engine for all servers
21106 with a given backend. For example, you might want to use the @code{imap}
21107 engine for all servers using the @code{nnimap} backend. In this case you
21108 can customize the variable @code{nnir-method-default-engines}. This is
21109 an alist of pairs of the form @code{(backend . engine)}. By default this
21110 variable is set to use the @code{imap} engine for all servers using the
21111 @code{nnimap} backend, and the @code{gmane} backend for @code{nntp}
21112 servers. (Don't worry, the @code{gmane} search engine won't actually try
21113 to search non-gmane @code{nntp} servers.) But if you wanted to use
21114 @code{namazu} for all your servers with an @code{nnimap} backend you
21115 could change this to
21118 '((nnimap . namazu)
21122 @node The imap Engine
21123 @subsubsection The imap Engine
21125 The @code{imap} engine requires no configuration.
21127 Queries using the @code{imap} engine follow a simple query language.
21128 The search is always case-insensitive and supports the following
21129 features (inspired by the Google search input language):
21133 @item Boolean query operators
21134 AND, OR, and NOT are supported, and parentheses can be used to control
21135 operator precedence, e.g. (emacs OR xemacs) AND linux. Note that
21136 operators must be written with all capital letters to be
21137 recognized. Also preceding a term with a - sign is equivalent to NOT
21140 @item Automatic AND queries
21141 If you specify multiple words then they will be treated as an AND
21142 expression intended to match all components.
21144 @item Phrase searches
21145 If you wrap your query in double-quotes then it will be treated as a
21150 By default the whole message will be searched. The query can be limited
21151 to a specific part of a message by using a prefix-arg. After inputting
21152 the query this will prompt (with completion) for a message part.
21153 Choices include ``Whole message'', ``Subject'', ``From'', and
21154 ``To''. Any unrecognized input is interpreted as a header name. For
21155 example, typing @kbd{Message-ID} in response to this prompt will limit
21156 the query to the Message-ID header.
21158 Finally selecting ``Imap'' will interpret the query as a raw
21159 @acronym{IMAP} search query. The format of such queries can be found in
21162 If you don't like the default of searching whole messages you can
21163 customize @code{nnir-imap-default-search-key}. For example to use
21164 @acronym{IMAP} queries by default
21167 (setq nnir-imap-default-search-key "Imap")
21170 @node The gmane Engine
21171 @subsubsection The gmane Engine
21173 The @code{gmane} engine requires no configuration.
21175 Gmane queries follow a simple query language:
21178 @item Boolean query operators
21179 AND, OR, NOT (or AND NOT), and XOR are supported, and brackets can be
21180 used to control operator precedence, e.g. (emacs OR xemacs) AND linux.
21181 Note that operators must be written with all capital letters to be
21184 @item Required and excluded terms
21185 + and - can be used to require or exclude terms, e.g. football -american
21187 @item Unicode handling
21188 The search engine converts all text to utf-8, so searching should work
21192 Common English words (like 'the' and 'a') are ignored by default. You
21193 can override this by prefixing such words with a + (e.g. +the) or
21194 enclosing the word in quotes (e.g. "the").
21198 The query can be limited to articles by a specific author using a
21199 prefix-arg. After inputting the query this will prompt for an author
21200 name (or part of a name) to match.
21202 @node The swish++ Engine
21203 @subsubsection The swish++ Engine
21205 FIXME: Say something more here.
21207 Documentation for swish++ may be found at the swish++ sourceforge page:
21208 @uref{http://swishplusplus.sourceforge.net}
21212 @item nnir-swish++-program
21213 The name of the swish++ executable. Defaults to @code{search}
21215 @item nnir-swish++-additional-switches
21216 A list of strings to be given as additional arguments to
21217 swish++. @code{nil} by default.
21219 @item nnir-swish++-remove-prefix
21220 The prefix to remove from each file name returned by swish++ in order
21221 to get a group name. By default this is @code{$HOME/Mail}.
21225 @node The swish-e Engine
21226 @subsubsection The swish-e Engine
21228 FIXME: Say something more here.
21230 Documentation for swish-e may be found at the swish-e homepage
21231 @uref{http://swish-e.org}
21235 @item nnir-swish-e-program
21236 The name of the swish-e search program. Defaults to @code{swish-e}.
21238 @item nnir-swish-e-additional-switches
21239 A list of strings to be given as additional arguments to
21240 swish-e. @code{nil} by default.
21242 @item nnir-swish-e-remove-prefix
21243 The prefix to remove from each file name returned by swish-e in order
21244 to get a group name. By default this is @code{$HOME/Mail}.
21248 @node The namazu Engine
21249 @subsubsection The namazu Engine
21251 Using the namazu engine requires creating and maintaining index files.
21252 One directory should contain all the index files, and nnir must be told
21253 where to find them by setting the @code{nnir-namazu-index-directory}
21256 To work correctly the @code{nnir-namazu-remove-prefix} variable must
21257 also be correct. This is the prefix to remove from each file name
21258 returned by Namazu in order to get a proper group name (albeit with `/'
21261 For example, suppose that Namazu returns file names such as
21262 @samp{/home/john/Mail/mail/misc/42}. For this example, use the
21263 following setting: @code{(setq nnir-namazu-remove-prefix
21264 "/home/john/Mail/")} Note the trailing slash. Removing this prefix from
21265 the directory gives @samp{mail/misc/42}. @code{nnir} knows to remove
21266 the @samp{/42} and to replace @samp{/} with @samp{.} to arrive at the
21267 correct group name @samp{mail.misc}.
21269 Extra switches may be passed to the namazu search command by setting the
21270 variable @code{nnir-namazu-additional-switches}. It is particularly
21271 important not to pass any any switches to namazu that will change the
21272 output format. Good switches to use include `--sort', `--ascending',
21273 `--early' and `--late'. Refer to the Namazu documentation for further
21274 information on valid switches.
21276 Mail must first be indexed with the `mknmz' program. Read the documentation
21277 for namazu to create a configuration file. Here is an example:
21281 package conf; # Don't remove this line!
21283 # Paths which will not be indexed. Don't use `^' or `$' anchors.
21284 $EXCLUDE_PATH = "spam|sent";
21286 # Header fields which should be searchable. case-insensitive
21287 $REMAIN_HEADER = "from|date|message-id|subject";
21289 # Searchable fields. case-insensitive
21290 $SEARCH_FIELD = "from|date|message-id|subject";
21292 # The max length of a word.
21293 $WORD_LENG_MAX = 128;
21295 # The max length of a field.
21296 $MAX_FIELD_LENGTH = 256;
21300 For this example, mail is stored in the directories @samp{~/Mail/mail/},
21301 @samp{~/Mail/lists/} and @samp{~/Mail/archive/}, so to index them go to
21302 the index directory set in @code{nnir-namazu-index-directory} and issue
21303 the following command:
21306 mknmz --mailnews ~/Mail/archive/ ~/Mail/mail/ ~/Mail/lists/
21309 For maximum searching efficiency you might want to have a cron job run
21310 this command periodically, say every four hours.
21312 @node The hyrex Engine
21313 @subsubsection The hyrex Engine
21314 This engine is obsolete.
21316 @node Customizations
21317 @subsubsection Customizations
21321 @item nnir-method-default-engines
21322 Alist of server backend - search engine pairs. The default associations
21329 @item nnir-ignored-newsgroups
21330 A regexp to match newsgroups in the active file that should be skipped
21331 when searching all groups on a server.
21333 @item nnir-summary-line-format
21334 The format specification to be used for lines in an nnir summary buffer.
21335 All the items from `gnus-summary-line-format' are available, along with
21336 three items unique to nnir summary buffers:
21339 %Z Search retrieval score value (integer)
21340 %G Article original full group name (string)
21341 %g Article original short group name (string)
21344 If nil (the default) this will use @code{gnus-summary-line-format}.
21346 @item nnir-retrieve-headers-override-function
21347 If non-nil, a function that retrieves article headers rather than using
21348 the gnus built-in function. This function takes an article list and
21349 group as arguments and populates the `nntp-server-buffer' with the
21350 retrieved headers. It should then return either 'nov or 'headers
21351 indicating the retrieved header format. Failure to retrieve headers
21352 should return @code{nil}
21354 If this variable is nil, or if the provided function returns nil for a
21355 search result, @code{gnus-retrieve-headers} will be called instead."
21366 This paragraph describes how to set up mairix and the back end
21367 @code{nnmairix} for indexing and searching your mail from within
21368 Gnus. Additionally, you can create permanent ``smart'' groups which are
21369 bound to mairix searches and are automatically updated.
21372 * About mairix:: About the mairix mail search engine
21373 * nnmairix requirements:: What you will need for using nnmairix
21374 * What nnmairix does:: What does nnmairix actually do?
21375 * Setting up mairix:: Set up your mairix installation
21376 * Configuring nnmairix:: Set up the nnmairix back end
21377 * nnmairix keyboard shortcuts:: List of available keyboard shortcuts
21378 * Propagating marks:: How to propagate marks from nnmairix groups
21379 * nnmairix tips and tricks:: Some tips, tricks and examples
21380 * nnmairix caveats:: Some more stuff you might want to know
21383 @c FIXME: The markup in this section might need improvement.
21384 @c E.g. adding @samp, @var, @file, @command, etc.
21385 @c Cf. (info "(texinfo)Indicating")
21388 @subsection About mairix
21390 Mairix is a tool for indexing and searching words in locally stored
21391 mail. It was written by Richard Curnow and is licensed under the
21392 GPL. Mairix comes with most popular GNU/Linux distributions, but it also
21393 runs under Windows (with cygwin), Mac OS X and Solaris. The homepage can
21395 @uref{http://www.rpcurnow.force9.co.uk/mairix/index.html}
21397 Though mairix might not be as flexible as other search tools like
21398 swish++ or namazu, which you can use via the @code{nnir} back end, it
21399 has the prime advantage of being incredibly fast. On current systems, it
21400 can easily search through headers and message bodies of thousands and
21401 thousands of mails in well under a second. Building the database
21402 necessary for searching might take a minute or two, but only has to be
21403 done once fully. Afterwards, the updates are done incrementally and
21404 therefore are really fast, too. Additionally, mairix is very easy to set
21407 For maximum speed though, mairix should be used with mails stored in
21408 @code{Maildir} or @code{MH} format (this includes the @code{nnml} back
21409 end), although it also works with mbox. Mairix presents the search
21410 results by populating a @emph{virtual} maildir/MH folder with symlinks
21411 which point to the ``real'' message files (if mbox is used, copies are
21412 made). Since mairix already presents search results in such a virtual
21413 mail folder, it is very well suited for using it as an external program
21414 for creating @emph{smart} mail folders, which represent certain mail
21417 @node nnmairix requirements
21418 @subsection nnmairix requirements
21420 Mairix searches local mail---that means, mairix absolutely must have
21421 direct access to your mail folders. If your mail resides on another
21422 server (e.g. an @acronym{IMAP} server) and you happen to have shell
21423 access, @code{nnmairix} supports running mairix remotely, e.g. via ssh.
21425 Additionally, @code{nnmairix} only supports the following Gnus back
21426 ends: @code{nnml}, @code{nnmaildir}, and @code{nnimap}. You must use
21427 one of these back ends for using @code{nnmairix}. Other back ends, like
21428 @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnfolder} or @code{nnmh}, won't work.
21430 If you absolutely must use mbox and still want to use @code{nnmairix},
21431 you can set up a local @acronym{IMAP} server, which you then access via
21432 @code{nnimap}. This is a rather massive setup for accessing some mbox
21433 files, so just change to MH or Maildir already... However, if you're
21434 really, really passionate about using mbox, you might want to look into
21435 the package @file{mairix.el}, which comes with Emacs 23.
21437 @node What nnmairix does
21438 @subsection What nnmairix does
21440 The back end @code{nnmairix} enables you to call mairix from within Gnus,
21441 either to query mairix with a search term or to update the
21442 database. While visiting a message in the summary buffer, you can use
21443 several pre-defined shortcuts for calling mairix, e.g. to quickly
21444 search for all mails from the sender of the current message or to
21445 display the whole thread associated with the message, even if the
21446 mails are in different folders.
21448 Additionally, you can create permanent @code{nnmairix} groups which are bound
21449 to certain mairix searches. This way, you can easily create a group
21450 containing mails from a certain sender, with a certain subject line or
21451 even for one specific thread based on the Message-ID. If you check for
21452 new mail in these folders (e.g. by pressing @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g}), they
21453 automatically update themselves by calling mairix.
21455 You might ask why you need @code{nnmairix} at all, since mairix already
21456 creates the group, populates it with links to the mails so that you can
21457 then access it with Gnus, right? Well, this @emph{might} work, but often
21458 does not---at least not without problems. Most probably you will get
21459 strange article counts, and sometimes you might see mails which Gnus
21460 claims have already been canceled and are inaccessible. This is due to
21461 the fact that Gnus isn't really amused when things are happening behind
21462 its back. Another problem can be the mail back end itself, e.g. if you
21463 use mairix with an @acronym{IMAP} server (I had Dovecot complaining
21464 about corrupt index files when mairix changed the contents of the search
21465 group). Using @code{nnmairix} should circumvent these problems.
21467 @code{nnmairix} is not really a mail back end---it's actually more like
21468 a wrapper, sitting between a ``real'' mail back end where mairix stores
21469 the searches and the Gnus front end. You can choose between three
21470 different mail back ends for the mairix folders: @code{nnml},
21471 @code{nnmaildir} or @code{nnimap}. @code{nnmairix} will call the mairix
21472 binary so that the search results are stored in folders named
21473 @code{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>} on this mail back end, but it will
21474 present these folders in the Gnus front end only with @code{<NAME>}.
21475 You can use an existing mail back end where you already store your mail,
21476 but if you're uncomfortable with @code{nnmairix} creating new mail
21477 groups alongside your other mail, you can also create e.g. a new
21478 @code{nnmaildir} or @code{nnml} server exclusively for mairix, but then
21479 make sure those servers do not accidentally receive your new mail
21480 (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}). A special case exists if you want to use
21481 mairix remotely on an IMAP server with @code{nnimap}---here the mairix
21482 folders and your other mail must be on the same @code{nnimap} back end.
21484 @node Setting up mairix
21485 @subsection Setting up mairix
21487 First: create a backup of your mail folders (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}).
21489 Setting up mairix is easy: simply create a @file{.mairixrc} file with
21490 (at least) the following entries:
21493 # Your Maildir/MH base folder
21497 This is the base folder for your mails. All the following directories
21498 are relative to this base folder. If you want to use @code{nnmairix}
21499 with @code{nnimap}, this base directory has to point to the mail
21500 directory where the @acronym{IMAP} server stores the mail folders!
21503 maildir= ... your maildir folders which should be indexed ...
21504 mh= ... your nnml/mh folders which should be indexed ...
21505 mbox = ... your mbox files which should be indexed ...
21508 This specifies all your mail folders and mbox files (relative to the
21509 base directory!) you want to index with mairix. Note that the
21510 @code{nnml} back end saves mails in MH format, so you have to put those
21511 directories in the @code{mh} line. See the example at the end of this
21512 section and mairixrc's man-page for further details.
21518 @vindex nnmairix-group-prefix
21519 This should make sure that you don't accidentally index the mairix
21520 search results. You can change the prefix of these folders with the
21521 variable @code{nnmairix-group-prefix}.
21524 mformat= ... 'maildir' or 'mh' ...
21525 database= ... location of database file ...
21528 The @code{format} setting specifies the output format for the mairix
21529 search folder. Set this to @code{mh} if you want to access search results
21530 with @code{nnml}. Otherwise choose @code{maildir}.
21532 To summarize, here is my shortened @file{.mairixrc} file as an example:
21536 maildir=.personal:.work:.logcheck:.sent
21537 mh=../Mail/nnml/*...
21538 mbox=../mboxmail/mailarchive_year*
21541 database=~/.mairixdatabase
21544 In this case, the base directory is @file{~/Maildir}, where all my Maildir
21545 folders are stored. As you can see, the folders are separated by
21546 colons. If you wonder why every folder begins with a dot: this is
21547 because I use Dovecot as @acronym{IMAP} server, which again uses
21548 @code{Maildir++} folders. For testing nnmairix, I also have some
21549 @code{nnml} mail, which is saved in @file{~/Mail/nnml}. Since this has
21550 to be specified relative to the @code{base} directory, the @code{../Mail}
21551 notation is needed. Note that the line ends in @code{*...}, which means
21552 to recursively scan all files under this directory. Without the three
21553 dots, the wildcard @code{*} will not work recursively. I also have some
21554 old mbox files with archived mail lying around in @file{~/mboxmail}.
21555 The other lines should be obvious.
21557 See the man page for @code{mairixrc} for details and further options,
21558 especially regarding wildcard usage, which may be a little different
21559 than you are used to.
21561 Now simply call @code{mairix} to create the index for the first time.
21562 Note that this may take a few minutes, but every following index will do
21563 the updates incrementally and hence is very fast.
21565 @node Configuring nnmairix
21566 @subsection Configuring nnmairix
21568 In group mode, type @kbd{G b c}
21569 (@code{nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group}). This will ask you for all
21570 necessary information and create a @code{nnmairix} server as a foreign
21571 server. You will have to specify the following:
21576 The @strong{name} of the @code{nnmairix} server---choose whatever you
21580 The name of the @strong{back end server} where mairix should store its
21581 searches. This must be a full server name, like @code{nnml:mymail}.
21582 Just hit @kbd{TAB} to see the available servers. Currently, servers
21583 which are accessed through @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnimap} and
21584 @code{nnml} are supported. As explained above, for locally stored
21585 mails, this can be an existing server where you store your mails.
21586 However, you can also create e.g. a new @code{nnmaildir} or @code{nnml}
21587 server exclusively for @code{nnmairix} in your secondary select methods
21588 (@pxref{Finding the News}). If you use a secondary @code{nnml} server
21589 just for mairix, make sure that you explicitly set the server variable
21590 @code{nnml-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}, or you might lose mail
21591 (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}). If you want to use mairix remotely on an
21592 @acronym{IMAP} server, you have to choose the corresponding
21593 @code{nnimap} server here.
21596 @vindex nnmairix-mairix-search-options
21597 The @strong{command} to call the mairix binary. This will usually just
21598 be @code{mairix}, but you can also choose something like @code{ssh
21599 SERVER mairix} if you want to call mairix remotely, e.g. on your
21600 @acronym{IMAP} server. If you want to add some default options to
21601 mairix, you could do this here, but better use the variable
21602 @code{nnmairix-mairix-search-options} instead.
21605 The name of the @strong{default search group}. This will be the group
21606 where all temporary mairix searches are stored, i.e. all searches which
21607 are not bound to permanent @code{nnmairix} groups. Choose whatever you
21611 If the mail back end is @code{nnimap} or @code{nnmaildir}, you will be
21612 asked if you work with @strong{Maildir++}, i.e. with hidden maildir
21613 folders (=beginning with a dot). For example, you have to answer
21614 @samp{yes} here if you work with the Dovecot @acronym{IMAP}
21615 server. Otherwise, you should answer @samp{no} here.
21619 @node nnmairix keyboard shortcuts
21620 @subsection nnmairix keyboard shortcuts
21627 @kindex G b c (Group)
21628 @findex nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group
21629 Creates @code{nnmairix} server and default search group for this server
21630 (@code{nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group}). You should have done
21631 this by now (@pxref{Configuring nnmairix}).
21634 @kindex G b s (Group)
21635 @findex nnmairix-search
21636 Prompts for query which is then sent to the mairix binary. Search
21637 results are put into the default search group which is automatically
21638 displayed (@code{nnmairix-search}).
21641 @kindex G b m (Group)
21642 @findex nnmairix-widget-search
21643 Allows you to create a mairix search or a permanent group more
21644 comfortably using graphical widgets, similar to a customization
21645 group. Just try it to see how it works (@code{nnmairix-widget-search}).
21648 @kindex G b i (Group)
21649 @findex nnmairix-search-interactive
21650 Another command for creating a mairix query more comfortably, but uses
21651 only the minibuffer (@code{nnmairix-search-interactive}).
21654 @kindex G b g (Group)
21655 @findex nnmairix-create-search-group
21656 Creates a permanent group which is associated with a search query
21657 (@code{nnmairix-create-search-group}). The @code{nnmairix} back end
21658 automatically calls mairix when you update this group with @kbd{g} or
21662 @kindex G b q (Group)
21663 @findex nnmairix-group-change-query-this-group
21664 Changes the search query for the @code{nnmairix} group under cursor
21665 (@code{nnmairix-group-change-query-this-group}).
21668 @kindex G b t (Group)
21669 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-threads-this-group
21670 Toggles the 'threads' parameter for the @code{nnmairix} group under cursor,
21671 i.e. if you want see the whole threads of the found messages
21672 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-threads-this-group}).
21675 @kindex G b u (Group)
21676 @findex nnmairix-update-database
21677 @vindex nnmairix-mairix-update-options
21678 Calls mairix binary for updating the database
21679 (@code{nnmairix-update-database}). The default parameters are @code{-F}
21680 and @code{-Q} for making this as fast as possible (see variable
21681 @code{nnmairix-mairix-update-options} for defining these default
21685 @kindex G b r (Group)
21686 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-readmarks-this-group
21687 Keep articles in this @code{nnmairix} group always read or unread, or leave the
21688 marks unchanged (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-readmarks-this-group}).
21691 @kindex G b d (Group)
21692 @findex nnmairix-group-delete-recreate-this-group
21693 Recreate @code{nnmairix} group on the ``real'' mail back end
21694 (@code{nnmairix-group-delete-recreate-this-group}). You can do this if
21695 you always get wrong article counts with a @code{nnmairix} group.
21698 @kindex G b a (Group)
21699 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-allowfast-this-group
21700 Toggles the @code{allow-fast} parameters for group under cursor
21701 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-allowfast-this-group}). The default
21702 behavior of @code{nnmairix} is to do a mairix search every time you
21703 update or enter the group. With the @code{allow-fast} parameter set,
21704 mairix will only be called when you explicitly update the group, but not
21705 upon entering. This makes entering the group faster, but it may also
21706 lead to dangling symlinks if something changed between updating and
21707 entering the group which is not yet in the mairix database.
21710 @kindex G b p (Group)
21711 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group
21712 Toggle marks propagation for this group
21713 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group}). (@pxref{Propagating
21717 @kindex G b o (Group)
21718 @findex nnmairix-propagate-marks
21719 Manually propagate marks (@code{nnmairix-propagate-marks}); needed only when
21720 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close} is set to @code{nil}.
21729 @kindex $ m (Summary)
21730 @findex nnmairix-widget-search-from-this-article
21731 Allows you to create a mairix query or group based on the current
21732 message using graphical widgets (same as @code{nnmairix-widget-search})
21733 (@code{nnmairix-widget-search-from-this-article}).
21736 @kindex $ g (Summary)
21737 @findex nnmairix-create-search-group-from-message
21738 Interactively creates a new search group with query based on the current
21739 message, but uses the minibuffer instead of graphical widgets
21740 (@code{nnmairix-create-search-group-from-message}).
21743 @kindex $ t (Summary)
21744 @findex nnmairix-search-thread-this-article
21745 Searches thread for the current article
21746 (@code{nnmairix-search-thread-this-article}). This is effectively a
21747 shortcut for calling @code{nnmairix-search} with @samp{m:msgid} of the
21748 current article and enabled threads.
21751 @kindex $ f (Summary)
21752 @findex nnmairix-search-from-this-article
21753 Searches all messages from sender of the current article
21754 (@code{nnmairix-search-from-this-article}). This is a shortcut for
21755 calling @code{nnmairix-search} with @samp{f:From}.
21758 @kindex $ o (Summary)
21759 @findex nnmairix-goto-original-article
21760 (Only in @code{nnmairix} groups!) Tries determine the group this article
21761 originally came from and displays the article in this group, so that
21762 e.g. replying to this article the correct posting styles/group
21763 parameters are applied (@code{nnmairix-goto-original-article}). This
21764 function will use the registry if available, but can also parse the
21765 article file name as a fallback method.
21768 @kindex $ u (Summary)
21769 @findex nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article
21770 Remove possibly existing tick mark from original article
21771 (@code{nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article}). (@pxref{nnmairix
21776 @node Propagating marks
21777 @subsection Propagating marks
21779 First of: you really need a patched mairix binary for using the marks
21780 propagation feature efficiently. Otherwise, you would have to update
21781 the mairix database all the time. You can get the patch at
21783 @uref{http://www.randomsample.de/mairix-maildir-patch.tar}
21785 You need the mairix v0.21 source code for this patch; everything else
21786 is explained in the accompanied readme file. If you don't want to use
21787 marks propagation, you don't have to apply these patches, but they also
21788 fix some annoyances regarding changing maildir flags, so it might still
21791 With the patched mairix binary, you can use @code{nnmairix} as an
21792 alternative to mail splitting (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}). For
21793 example, instead of splitting all mails from @samp{david@@foobar.com}
21794 into a group, you can simply create a search group with the query
21795 @samp{f:david@@foobar.com}. This is actually what ``smart folders'' are
21796 all about: simply put everything in one mail folder and dynamically
21797 create searches instead of splitting. This is more flexible, since you
21798 can dynamically change your folders any time you want to. This also
21799 implies that you will usually read your mails in the @code{nnmairix}
21800 groups instead of your ``real'' mail groups.
21802 There is one problem, though: say you got a new mail from
21803 @samp{david@@foobar.com}; it will now show up in two groups, the
21804 ``real'' group (your INBOX, for example) and in the @code{nnmairix}
21805 search group (provided you have updated the mairix database). Now you
21806 enter the @code{nnmairix} group and read the mail. The mail will be
21807 marked as read, but only in the @code{nnmairix} group---in the ``real''
21808 mail group it will be still shown as unread.
21810 You could now catch up the mail group (@pxref{Group Data}), but this is
21811 tedious and error prone, since you may overlook mails you don't have
21812 created @code{nnmairix} groups for. Of course, you could first use
21813 @code{nnmairix-goto-original-article} (@pxref{nnmairix keyboard
21814 shortcuts}) and then read the mail in the original group, but that's
21815 even more cumbersome.
21817 Clearly, the easiest way would be if marks could somehow be
21818 automatically set for the original article. This is exactly what
21819 @emph{marks propagation} is about.
21821 Marks propagation is inactive by default. You can activate it for a
21822 certain @code{nnmairix} group with
21823 @code{nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group} (bound to @kbd{G b
21824 p}). This function will warn you if you try to use it with your default
21825 search group; the reason is that the default search group is used for
21826 temporary searches, and it's easy to accidentally propagate marks from
21827 this group. However, you can ignore this warning if you really want to.
21829 With marks propagation enabled, all the marks you set in a @code{nnmairix}
21830 group should now be propagated to the original article. For example,
21831 you can now tick an article (by default with @kbd{!}) and this mark should
21832 magically be set for the original article, too.
21834 A few more remarks which you may or may not want to know:
21836 @vindex nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close
21837 Marks will not be set immediately, but only upon closing a group. This
21838 not only makes marks propagation faster, it also avoids problems with
21839 dangling symlinks when dealing with maildir files (since changing flags
21840 will change the file name). You can also control when to propagate marks
21841 via @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close} (see the doc-string for
21844 Obviously, @code{nnmairix} will have to look up the original group for every
21845 article you want to set marks for. If available, @code{nnmairix} will first use
21846 the registry for determining the original group. The registry is very
21847 fast, hence you should really, really enable the registry when using
21848 marks propagation. If you don't have to worry about RAM and disc space,
21849 set @code{gnus-registry-max-entries} to a large enough value; to be on
21850 the safe side, choose roughly the amount of mails you index with mairix.
21852 @vindex nnmairix-only-use-registry
21853 If you don't want to use the registry or the registry hasn't seen the
21854 original article yet, @code{nnmairix} will use an additional mairix
21855 search for determining the file name of the article. This, of course, is
21856 way slower than the registry---if you set hundreds or even thousands of
21857 marks this way, it might take some time. You can avoid this situation by
21858 setting @code{nnmairix-only-use-registry} to t.
21860 Maybe you also want to propagate marks the other way round, i.e. if you
21861 tick an article in a "real" mail group, you'd like to have the same
21862 article in a @code{nnmairix} group ticked, too. For several good
21863 reasons, this can only be done efficiently if you use maildir. To
21864 immediately contradict myself, let me mention that it WON'T work with
21865 @code{nnmaildir}, since @code{nnmaildir} stores the marks externally and
21866 not in the file name. Therefore, propagating marks to @code{nnmairix}
21867 groups will usually only work if you use an IMAP server which uses
21868 maildir as its file format.
21870 @vindex nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups
21871 If you work with this setup, just set
21872 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups} to @code{t} and see what
21873 happens. If you don't like what you see, just set it to @code{nil} again. One
21874 problem might be that you get a wrong number of unread articles; this
21875 usually happens when you delete or expire articles in the original
21876 groups. When this happens, you can recreate the @code{nnmairix} group on the
21877 back end using @kbd{G b d}.
21879 @node nnmairix tips and tricks
21880 @subsection nnmairix tips and tricks
21886 @findex nnmairix-update-groups
21887 I put all my important mail groups at group level 1. The mairix groups
21888 have group level 5, so they do not get checked at start up (@pxref{Group
21891 I use the following to check for mails:
21894 (defun my-check-mail-mairix-update (level)
21896 ;; if no prefix given, set level=1
21897 (gnus-group-get-new-news (or level 1))
21898 (nnmairix-update-groups "mairixsearch" t t)
21899 (gnus-group-list-groups))
21901 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map "g" 'my-check-mail-mairix-update)
21904 Instead of @samp{"mairixsearch"} use the name of your @code{nnmairix}
21905 server. See the doc string for @code{nnmairix-update-groups} for
21909 Example: search group for ticked articles
21911 For example, you can create a group for all ticked articles, where the
21912 articles always stay unread:
21914 Hit @kbd{G b g}, enter group name (e.g. @samp{important}), use
21915 @samp{F:f} as query and do not include threads.
21917 Now activate marks propagation for this group by using @kbd{G b p}. Then
21918 activate the always-unread feature by using @kbd{G b r} twice.
21920 So far so good---but how do you remove the tick marks in the @code{nnmairix}
21921 group? There are two options: You may simply use
21922 @code{nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article} (bound to @kbd{$ u}) to remove
21923 tick marks from the original article. The other possibility is to set
21924 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups} to @code{t}, but see the above
21925 comments about this option. If it works for you, the tick marks should
21926 also exist in the @code{nnmairix} group and you can remove them as usual,
21927 e.g. by marking an article as read.
21929 When you have removed a tick mark from the original article, this
21930 article should vanish from the @code{nnmairix} group after you have updated the
21931 mairix database and updated the group. Fortunately, there is a function
21932 for doing exactly that: @code{nnmairix-update-groups}. See the previous code
21933 snippet and the doc string for details.
21936 Dealing with auto-subscription of mail groups
21938 As described before, all @code{nnmairix} groups are in fact stored on
21939 the mail back end in the form @samp{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>}. You can
21940 see them when you enter the back end server in the server buffer. You
21941 should not subscribe these groups! Unfortunately, these groups will
21942 usually get @emph{auto-subscribed} when you use @code{nnmaildir} or
21943 @code{nnml}, i.e. you will suddenly see groups of the form
21944 @samp{zz_mairix*} pop up in your group buffer. If this happens to you,
21945 simply kill these groups with C-k. For avoiding this, turn off
21946 auto-subscription completely by setting the variable
21947 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups} to @code{nil} (@pxref{Filtering New
21948 Groups}), or if you like to keep this feature use the following kludge
21949 for turning it off for all groups beginning with @samp{zz_}:
21952 (setq gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
21953 "^\\(nnml\\|nnfolder\\|nnmbox\\|nnmh\\|nnbabyl\\|nnmaildir\\).*:\\([^z]\\|z$\\|\\z[^z]\\|zz$\\|zz[^_]\\|zz_$\\).*")
21958 @node nnmairix caveats
21959 @subsection nnmairix caveats
21963 You can create a secondary @code{nnml} server just for nnmairix, but then
21964 you have to explicitly set the corresponding server variable
21965 @code{nnml-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}. Otherwise, new mail might get
21966 put into this secondary server (and would never show up again). Here's
21967 an example server definition:
21970 (nnml "mairix" (nnml-directory "mairix") (nnml-get-new-mail nil))
21973 (The @code{nnmaildir} back end also has a server variable
21974 @code{get-new-mail}, but its default value is @code{nil}, so you don't
21975 have to explicitly set it if you use a @code{nnmaildir} server just for
21979 If you use the Gnus registry: don't use the registry with
21980 @code{nnmairix} groups (put them in
21981 @code{gnus-registry-unfollowed-groups}; this is the default). Be
21982 @emph{extra careful} if you use
21983 @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent}; mails which are split
21984 into @code{nnmairix} groups are usually gone for good as soon as you
21985 check the group for new mail (yes, it has happened to me...).
21988 Therefore: @emph{Never ever} put ``real'' mails into @code{nnmairix}
21989 groups (you shouldn't be able to, anyway).
21992 If you use the Gnus agent (@pxref{Gnus Unplugged}): don't agentize
21993 @code{nnmairix} groups (though I have no idea what happens if you do).
21996 mairix does only support us-ascii characters.
21999 @code{nnmairix} uses a rather brute force method to force Gnus to
22000 completely reread the group on the mail back end after mairix was
22001 called---it simply deletes and re-creates the group on the mail
22002 back end. So far, this has worked for me without any problems, and I
22003 don't see how @code{nnmairix} could delete other mail groups than its
22004 own, but anyway: you really should have a backup of your mail
22008 All necessary information is stored in the group parameters
22009 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). This has the advantage that no active file
22010 is needed, but also implies that when you kill a @code{nnmairix} group,
22011 it is gone for good.
22014 @findex nnmairix-purge-old-groups
22015 If you create and kill a lot of @code{nnmairix} groups, the
22016 ``zz_mairix-*'' groups will accumulate on the mail back end server. To
22017 delete old groups which are no longer needed, call
22018 @code{nnmairix-purge-old-groups}. Note that this assumes that you don't
22019 save any ``real'' mail in folders of the form
22020 @code{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>}. You can change the prefix of
22021 @code{nnmairix} groups by changing the variable
22022 @code{nnmairix-group-prefix}.
22025 The following only applies if you @emph{don't} use the mentioned patch
22026 for mairix (@pxref{Propagating marks}):
22028 A problem can occur when using @code{nnmairix} with maildir folders and
22029 comes with the fact that maildir stores mail flags like @samp{Seen} or
22030 @samp{Replied} by appending chars @samp{S} and @samp{R} to the message
22031 file name, respectively. This implies that currently you would have to
22032 update the mairix database not only when new mail arrives, but also when
22033 mail flags are changing. The same applies to new mails which are indexed
22034 while they are still in the @samp{new} folder but then get moved to
22035 @samp{cur} when Gnus has seen the mail. If you don't update the database
22036 after this has happened, a mairix query can lead to symlinks pointing to
22037 non-existing files. In Gnus, these messages will usually appear with
22038 ``(none)'' entries in the header and can't be accessed. If this happens
22039 to you, using @kbd{G b u} and updating the group will usually fix this.
22046 @include message.texi
22047 @chapter Emacs MIME
22048 @include emacs-mime.texi
22050 @include sieve.texi
22062 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
22063 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
22064 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
22065 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
22066 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
22067 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
22068 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
22069 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
22070 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
22071 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
22072 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
22073 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
22074 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
22075 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
22076 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
22077 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
22078 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
22079 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
22080 * The Gnus Registry:: A package for tracking messages by Message-ID.
22081 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
22082 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
22086 @node Process/Prefix
22087 @section Process/Prefix
22088 @cindex process/prefix convention
22090 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
22091 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
22093 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
22094 command to be performed on.
22098 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
22099 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
22100 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
22101 with the current one.
22103 @vindex transient-mark-mode
22104 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
22105 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
22107 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
22108 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
22111 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
22112 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
22114 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
22117 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
22118 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
22119 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
22120 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22122 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
22123 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
22124 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
22125 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
22126 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
22127 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
22128 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
22129 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
22131 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
22132 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
22133 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
22134 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
22135 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
22139 @section Interactive
22140 @cindex interaction
22144 @item gnus-novice-user
22145 @vindex gnus-novice-user
22146 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
22147 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
22148 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
22149 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
22152 @item gnus-expert-user
22153 @vindex gnus-expert-user
22154 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
22155 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing,
22156 no matter how strange. For example, quitting Gnus, exiting a group
22157 without an update, catching up with a group, deleting expired
22158 articles, and replying by mail to a news message will not require
22161 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
22162 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
22163 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
22164 is @code{t} by default.
22166 @item gnus-interactive-exit
22167 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
22168 If non-@code{nil}, require a confirmation when exiting Gnus. If
22169 @code{quiet}, update any active summary buffers automatically without
22170 querying. The default value is @code{t}.
22174 @node Symbolic Prefixes
22175 @section Symbolic Prefixes
22176 @cindex symbolic prefixes
22178 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
22179 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
22180 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
22181 rule of 900 to the current article.
22183 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
22184 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
22185 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
22186 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
22187 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
22188 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
22189 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
22191 @kindex M-i (Summary)
22192 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
22193 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
22194 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
22195 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
22196 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
22197 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
22198 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
22199 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
22201 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
22202 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
22203 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
22205 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
22209 @node Formatting Variables
22210 @section Formatting Variables
22211 @cindex formatting variables
22213 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
22214 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
22215 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
22216 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
22217 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
22220 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
22221 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
22222 lots of percentages everywhere.
22225 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
22226 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
22227 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
22228 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
22229 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
22230 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
22231 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
22232 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
22235 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
22236 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
22237 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
22238 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
22239 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
22240 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
22241 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
22242 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
22244 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
22245 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
22247 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
22248 @findex gnus-update-format
22249 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
22250 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
22251 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
22252 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
22256 @node Formatting Basics
22257 @subsection Formatting Basics
22259 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
22260 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
22261 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
22263 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
22264 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
22265 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
22266 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
22267 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
22270 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
22271 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
22272 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
22273 less than 4 characters wide.
22275 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
22276 @samp{%&user-date;}.
22279 @node Mode Line Formatting
22280 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
22282 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
22283 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
22284 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
22285 with the following two differences:
22290 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
22293 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
22294 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
22295 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
22296 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
22297 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
22298 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
22299 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
22304 @node Advanced Formatting
22305 @subsection Advanced Formatting
22307 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
22308 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
22309 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
22310 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
22312 These are the valid modifiers:
22317 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
22321 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
22326 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
22329 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
22334 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
22337 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
22340 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
22343 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
22349 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
22354 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
22355 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
22356 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
22357 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
22358 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
22359 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
22360 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
22362 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
22363 last operation, padding.
22365 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
22366 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
22367 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
22368 @xref{Compilation}.
22371 @node User-Defined Specs
22372 @subsection User-Defined Specs
22374 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
22375 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
22376 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
22377 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
22378 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
22379 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
22380 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
22381 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
22382 should protect against that.
22384 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
22385 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
22387 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
22388 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
22389 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
22390 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
22394 @node Formatting Fonts
22395 @subsection Formatting Fonts
22398 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22399 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
22400 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
22401 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
22402 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
22406 @vindex gnus-face-0
22407 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
22408 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
22409 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
22410 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
22411 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
22412 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
22414 @cindex %<<, %>>, guillemets
22415 @c @cindex %<<, %>>, %«, %», guillemets
22416 @vindex gnus-balloon-face-0
22417 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
22418 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
22419 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
22420 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
22421 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
22422 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
22423 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
22424 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
22425 (in Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
22426 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
22427 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
22430 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
22433 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
22434 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
22435 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
22437 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
22438 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
22439 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
22440 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
22441 ;; @r{Set the color.}
22442 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
22443 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
22445 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
22446 (setq gnus-group-line-format
22447 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
22450 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
22451 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
22453 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
22454 mode-line variables.
22456 @node Positioning Point
22457 @subsection Positioning Point
22459 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
22460 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
22461 line. You can customize this behavior in three different ways.
22463 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
22465 @findex gnus-goto-colon
22466 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
22467 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
22469 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
22470 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
22471 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
22476 @subsection Tabulation
22478 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
22479 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
22480 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
22481 about lining up the following text afterwards.
22483 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
22484 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
22486 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22487 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
22488 This is the soft tabulator.
22490 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22491 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
22492 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
22495 @node Wide Characters
22496 @subsection Wide Characters
22498 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
22499 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
22500 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
22502 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
22503 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
22504 these countries, that's not true.
22506 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
22507 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
22508 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
22509 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
22513 @node Window Layout
22514 @section Window Layout
22515 @cindex window layout
22517 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
22519 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
22520 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
22521 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
22522 @code{t} by default.
22524 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
22525 glitches. Use at your own peril.
22527 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
22528 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
22529 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
22532 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)))
22533 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22537 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
22538 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
22539 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
22540 possible names is listed below.
22542 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
22543 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
22546 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22550 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
22551 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
22552 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
22553 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
22554 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
22555 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
22556 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
22557 size spec per split.
22559 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
22560 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
22561 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
22562 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
22563 present) gets focus.
22565 Here's a more complicated example:
22568 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
22569 (summary 0.25 point)
22573 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
22574 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
22575 occupy, not a percentage.
22577 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
22578 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
22579 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
22580 be used as a split.
22582 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
22585 (article (horizontal 1.0
22589 (summary 0.25 point)
22593 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
22594 @code{horizontal} thingie?
22596 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
22597 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
22598 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
22599 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
22600 the screen is to be given to this strip.
22602 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
22603 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
22604 lines from the splits.
22606 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
22611 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
22612 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
22613 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
22614 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
22615 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
22616 size = number | frame-params
22617 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
22621 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
22622 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
22623 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
22624 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
22626 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
22627 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
22628 @cindex window height
22629 @cindex window width
22630 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
22631 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
22632 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
22633 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
22634 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
22635 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
22637 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
22638 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
22639 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
22640 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
22642 @findex gnus-configure-frame
22643 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
22644 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
22645 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
22646 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
22647 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
22648 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
22649 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
22650 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
22651 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
22652 configuration list.
22655 (gnus-configure-frame
22659 (article 0.3 point))
22667 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
22668 @code{frame} split:
22671 (gnus-configure-frame
22674 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
22676 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
22677 (user-position . t)
22678 (left . -1) (top . 1))
22683 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
22684 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
22685 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
22686 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
22687 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
22688 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
22689 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
22690 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
22692 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
22693 be found in its default value.
22695 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
22696 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
22697 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
22701 (message (horizontal 1.0
22702 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
22704 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
22709 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
22710 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
22711 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
22716 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
22717 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
22718 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
22719 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
22720 (name . "Message"))
22721 (message 1.0 point))))
22724 @findex gnus-add-configuration
22725 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
22726 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
22727 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
22728 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
22731 (gnus-add-configuration
22732 '(article (vertical 1.0
22734 (summary .25 point)
22738 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
22739 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
22740 Gnus has been loaded.
22742 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
22743 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
22744 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
22745 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
22746 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
22748 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
22749 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
22750 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
22753 @subsection Window Configuration Names
22755 Here's a list of most of the currently known window configurations,
22756 and when they're used:
22763 Entering a group and showing only the summary.
22766 Selecting an article.
22772 Browsing groups from the server buffer.
22775 Composing a (new) message.
22778 Showing only the article buffer.
22781 Editing an article.
22784 Editing group parameters and the like.
22787 Editing a server definition.
22790 Composing a news message.
22793 Replying or following up an article without yanking the text.
22796 Forwarding a message.
22799 Replying or following up an article with yanking the text.
22802 Bouncing a message.
22805 Sending an article to an external process.
22808 Sending a bug report.
22811 Displaying the score trace.
22814 Displaying the score words.
22817 Displaying the split trace.
22819 @item compose-bounce
22820 Composing a bounce message.
22823 Previewing a @acronym{MIME} part.
22828 @subsection Example Window Configurations
22832 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
22833 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
22848 (gnus-add-configuration
22851 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22853 (summary 0.16 point)
22856 (gnus-add-configuration
22859 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22860 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
22866 @node Faces and Fonts
22867 @section Faces and Fonts
22872 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
22873 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
22874 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
22879 @section Compilation
22880 @cindex compilation
22881 @cindex byte-compilation
22883 @findex gnus-compile
22885 Remember all those line format specification variables?
22886 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
22887 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
22888 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
22889 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
22890 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
22893 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
22894 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
22895 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
22896 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
22897 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
22898 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
22899 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
22903 @section Mode Lines
22906 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
22907 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
22908 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
22909 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
22910 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
22911 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
22912 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
22915 @cindex display-time
22917 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
22918 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
22919 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
22920 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
22921 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
22922 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
22923 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
22924 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
22927 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
22929 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
22930 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
22932 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
22933 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
22934 (length display-time-string)))))
22937 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
22938 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
22939 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
22940 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
22941 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
22944 @node Highlighting and Menus
22945 @section Highlighting and Menus
22947 @cindex highlighting
22950 @vindex gnus-visual
22951 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
22952 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
22953 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
22956 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
22957 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
22960 @item group-highlight
22961 Do highlights in the group buffer.
22962 @item summary-highlight
22963 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
22964 @item article-highlight
22965 Do highlights in the article buffer.
22967 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
22969 Create menus in the group buffer.
22971 Create menus in the summary buffers.
22973 Create menus in the article buffer.
22975 Create menus in the browse buffer.
22977 Create menus in the server buffer.
22979 Create menus in the score buffers.
22981 Create menus in all buffers.
22984 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
22985 buffers, you could say something like:
22988 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
22991 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
22994 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
22997 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
22998 in all Gnus buffers.
23000 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
23003 @item gnus-mouse-face
23004 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
23005 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
23006 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
23010 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
23014 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
23015 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
23016 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
23018 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
23019 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
23020 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
23022 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
23023 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
23024 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
23026 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
23027 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
23028 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
23030 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
23031 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
23032 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
23034 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
23035 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
23036 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
23046 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
23047 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
23048 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
23049 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
23050 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
23052 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
23053 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
23054 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
23056 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
23057 been idle for thirty minutes:
23060 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
23063 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
23067 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
23070 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
23071 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
23072 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
23074 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
23075 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
23076 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
23077 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
23079 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
23080 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
23081 @var{idle} minutes.
23083 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
23084 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
23087 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
23088 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
23089 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
23091 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
23092 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
23093 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
23094 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
23096 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
23097 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23099 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
23101 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
23104 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
23105 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
23106 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
23107 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
23108 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
23109 @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
23110 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
23111 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
23112 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
23113 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
23115 @findex gnus-demon-init
23116 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
23117 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
23118 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
23119 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
23120 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
23122 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
23123 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
23124 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
23132 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
23133 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
23134 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
23136 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
23137 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
23138 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
23139 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
23140 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
23141 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
23142 @code{undo} function.
23144 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
23145 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
23146 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
23147 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
23148 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
23149 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
23150 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
23151 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
23152 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
23153 never be totally undoable.
23155 @findex gnus-undo-mode
23156 @vindex gnus-use-undo
23158 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
23159 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
23160 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
23161 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
23165 @node Predicate Specifiers
23166 @section Predicate Specifiers
23167 @cindex predicate specifiers
23169 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
23170 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
23171 to type all that much.
23173 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
23178 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
23179 gnus-article-unread-p)
23182 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
23183 functions all take one parameter.
23185 @findex gnus-make-predicate
23186 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
23187 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
23188 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
23193 @section Moderation
23196 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
23197 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
23198 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
23201 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
23205 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
23208 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
23210 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
23215 You split your incoming mail by matching on
23216 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
23217 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
23220 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
23221 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
23224 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
23225 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
23229 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
23232 (setq gnus-moderated-list
23233 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
23237 @node Fetching a Group
23238 @section Fetching a Group
23239 @cindex fetching a group
23241 @findex gnus-fetch-group
23242 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
23243 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
23244 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
23245 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
23246 It takes the group name as a parameter.
23249 @node Image Enhancements
23250 @section Image Enhancements
23252 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
23253 support images, Emacs 22 does.} and up, are able to display pictures and
23254 stuff, so Gnus has taken advantage of that.
23257 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
23258 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
23259 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
23260 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
23261 * Gravatars:: Display the avatar of people you read.
23262 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
23270 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
23271 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
23272 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
23276 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
23277 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
23278 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
23286 Viewing an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
23287 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions have), or that you
23288 have suitable conversion or display programs installed. If your Emacs
23289 has image support the default action is to display the face before the
23290 @code{From} header. If there's no native @code{X-Face} support, Gnus
23291 will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using external programs
23292 from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends, see below. For XEmacs it's
23293 faster if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support. The
23294 default action under Emacs without image support is to fork off the
23295 @code{display} program.
23297 On a GNU/Linux system, the @code{display} program is included in the
23298 ImageMagick package. For external conversion programs look for packages
23299 with names like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.
23300 On Windows, you may use the packages @code{netpbm} and @code{compface}
23301 from @url{http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net}. You need to add the
23302 @code{bin} directory to your @code{PATH} environment variable.
23303 @c In fact only the following DLLs and binaries seem to be required:
23304 @c compface1.dll uncompface.exe libnetpbm10.dll icontopbm.exe
23306 The variable @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} controls which programs
23307 are used to display the @code{X-Face} header. If this variable is a
23308 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
23309 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
23310 If @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches the
23311 @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
23313 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
23321 @vindex gnus-x-face
23322 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
23323 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
23324 default colors are black and white.
23326 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
23327 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
23328 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
23329 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
23330 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
23331 XEmacs. Here are examples:
23334 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
23335 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23336 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
23337 (png . (:ascent 80))))
23339 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
23340 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23341 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
23342 (png . (:relief -2))))
23345 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
23346 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
23347 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
23348 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
23349 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
23350 @samp{libcompface} library.
23353 If you use posting styles, you can use an @code{x-face-file} entry in
23354 @code{gnus-posting-styles}, @xref{Posting Styles}. If you don't, Gnus
23355 provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow easier
23356 insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages. You also need the
23357 above mentioned ImageMagick, netpbm or other image conversion packages
23358 (depending the values of the variables below) for these functions.
23360 @findex gnus-random-x-face
23361 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
23362 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
23363 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
23364 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
23365 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
23366 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
23367 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
23368 header data as a string.
23370 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
23371 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
23372 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
23373 randomly generated data.
23375 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
23376 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
23377 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
23378 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
23379 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
23381 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
23382 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23385 (setq message-required-news-headers
23386 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23387 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
23390 Using the last function would be something like this:
23393 (setq message-required-news-headers
23394 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23395 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
23396 (gnus-x-face-from-file
23397 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
23405 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces' implementations should really be harmonized.
23407 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
23408 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
23409 represent the author of the message.
23412 @findex gnus-article-display-face
23413 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
23414 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
23417 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
23418 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
23420 Viewing a @code{Face} header requires an Emacs that is able to display
23423 @c (if (featurep 'xemacs)
23425 @c (image-type-available-p 'png))
23427 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
23428 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
23430 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
23431 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
23432 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
23434 @findex gnus-face-from-file
23435 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
23436 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
23437 converts the file to Face format by using the
23438 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
23440 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
23441 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23444 (setq message-required-news-headers
23445 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23446 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
23447 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
23452 @subsection Smileys
23457 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
23462 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
23463 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
23465 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
23466 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23469 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
23472 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
23473 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
23474 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
23475 text and maps that to file names.
23477 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
23478 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
23479 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
23480 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
23481 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
23484 The following variables customize the appearance of the smileys:
23489 @vindex smiley-style
23490 Specifies the smiley style. Predefined smiley styles include
23491 @code{low-color} (small 13x14 pixel, three-color images), @code{medium}
23492 (more colorful images, 16x16 pixel), and @code{grayscale} (grayscale
23493 images, 14x14 pixel). The default depends on the height of the default
23496 @item smiley-data-directory
23497 @vindex smiley-data-directory
23498 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files. You shouldn't set this
23499 variable anymore. Customize @code{smiley-style} instead.
23501 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
23502 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
23503 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
23517 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
23518 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
23519 over your shoulder as you read news.
23521 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
23530 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
23531 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
23532 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
23533 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
23534 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
23535 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
23536 @code{GIF} formats.
23539 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23540 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
23541 point your Web browser at
23542 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
23544 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
23545 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
23547 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
23548 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
23551 @vindex gnus-picon-style
23552 The variable @code{gnus-picon-style} controls how picons are displayed.
23553 If @code{inline}, the textual representation is replaced. If
23554 @code{right}, picons are added right to the textual representation.
23556 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
23560 @item gnus-picon-databases
23561 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23562 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
23563 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
23564 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
23565 "/usr/local/faces")}.
23567 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
23568 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
23569 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23570 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
23572 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
23573 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
23574 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
23575 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
23577 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
23578 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
23579 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23580 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
23581 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
23583 @item gnus-picon-file-types
23584 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
23585 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
23586 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
23588 @item gnus-picon-inhibit-top-level-domains
23589 @vindex gnus-picon-inhibit-top-level-domains
23590 If non-@code{nil} (which is the default), don't display picons for
23591 things like @samp{.net} and @samp{.de}, which aren't usually very
23597 @subsection Gravatars
23601 \include{gravatars}
23605 A gravatar is an image registered to an e-mail address.
23607 You can submit yours on-line at @uref{http://www.gravatar.com}.
23609 The following variables offer control over how things are displayed.
23613 @item gnus-gravatar-size
23614 @vindex gnus-gravatar-size
23615 The size in pixels of gravatars. Gravatars are always square, so one
23616 number for the size is enough.
23618 @item gnus-gravatar-properties
23619 @vindex gnus-gravatar-properties
23620 List of image properties applied to Gravatar images.
23622 @item gnus-gravatar-too-ugly
23623 @vindex gnus-gravatar-too-ugly
23624 Regexp that matches mail addresses or names of people of which avatars
23625 should not be displayed, or @code{nil}. It default to the value of
23626 @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (@pxref{X-Face}).
23630 If you want to see them in the From field, set:
23632 (setq gnus-treat-from-gravatar 'head)
23635 If you want to see them in the Cc and To fields, set:
23638 (setq gnus-treat-mail-gravatar 'head)
23643 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
23646 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23647 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23648 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
23649 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
23650 unusual directory structure.
23652 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23653 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23654 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
23659 @subsubsection Toolbar
23663 @item gnus-use-toolbar
23664 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
23665 This variable specifies the position to display the toolbar. If
23666 @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If it is non-@code{nil}, it should
23667 be one of the symbols @code{default}, @code{top}, @code{bottom},
23668 @code{right}, and @code{left}. @code{default} means to use the default
23669 toolbar, the rest mean to display the toolbar on the place which those
23670 names show. The default is @code{default}.
23672 @item gnus-toolbar-thickness
23673 @vindex gnus-toolbar-thickness
23674 Cons of the height and the width specifying the thickness of a toolbar.
23675 The height is used for the toolbar displayed on the top or the bottom,
23676 the width is used for the toolbar displayed on the right or the left.
23677 The default is that of the default toolbar.
23679 @item gnus-group-toolbar
23680 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
23681 The toolbar in the group buffer.
23683 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
23684 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
23685 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
23687 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23688 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23689 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
23700 @node Fuzzy Matching
23701 @section Fuzzy Matching
23702 @cindex fuzzy matching
23704 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
23705 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
23707 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
23708 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
23709 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
23711 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
23712 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
23713 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
23714 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
23715 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
23718 @node Thwarting Email Spam
23719 @section Thwarting Email Spam
23723 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23725 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
23726 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
23727 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
23728 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
23729 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
23730 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
23731 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
23732 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
23735 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
23736 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
23737 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
23738 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
23739 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
23740 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
23742 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
23745 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
23746 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
23747 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
23748 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
23751 @node The problem of spam
23752 @subsection The problem of spam
23754 @cindex spam filtering approaches
23755 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
23757 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23759 First, some background on spam.
23761 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
23762 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
23763 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
23764 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
23765 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
23766 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
23767 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
23768 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
23769 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
23771 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
23772 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
23773 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
23774 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
23775 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
23776 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
23777 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
23778 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
23779 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
23782 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
23783 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
23784 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
23785 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
23786 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
23787 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
23788 from Bulgarian IPs.
23790 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
23791 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
23792 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
23793 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
23795 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
23796 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
23797 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
23798 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
23800 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
23801 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
23802 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
23803 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
23804 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
23805 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
23806 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
23807 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
23808 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
23810 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
23811 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
23812 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
23813 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
23814 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
23815 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
23816 down for some time because of the incident.
23818 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
23819 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
23820 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
23821 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
23822 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
23823 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
23824 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
23825 to store the database of spam analysis. Statistical analysis on the
23826 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
23827 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
23828 the server that it has misclassified mail.
23830 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
23831 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
23832 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
23833 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
23834 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
23835 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
23836 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
23839 @node Anti-Spam Basics
23840 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
23844 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23846 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
23847 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
23849 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
23850 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
23851 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
23852 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
23853 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
23854 part of the mail address.)
23857 (setq message-default-news-headers
23858 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
23861 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23862 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23866 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
23867 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
23868 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
23873 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
23874 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
23875 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
23876 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
23878 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
23879 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
23880 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
23881 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
23882 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
23883 your fancy split rule in this way:
23888 (to "larsi" "misc")
23892 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
23893 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
23894 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
23895 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
23896 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
23898 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
23899 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
23900 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
23901 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
23903 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
23907 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
23908 @cindex SpamAssassin
23909 @cindex Vipul's Razor
23912 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
23913 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
23914 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
23915 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
23916 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
23917 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
23918 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
23920 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
23921 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
23922 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
23925 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
23926 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
23927 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
23928 Specifiers}) follow.
23932 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
23936 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
23939 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
23940 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
23941 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
23944 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
23948 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23951 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
23952 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
23956 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
23957 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
23958 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
23959 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
23962 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
23964 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
23968 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
23969 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
23973 Note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will not be
23974 downloaded by default. You need to set
23975 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
23976 (@pxref{Client-Side IMAP Splitting}).
23978 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
23979 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
23980 spam. And here is the nifty function:
23983 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
23984 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
23986 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d" t)
23987 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
23991 @subsection Hashcash
23994 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
23995 costly and demonstrably unique for each message they send. This has
23996 the obvious drawback that you cannot rely on everyone in the world
23997 using this technique, since it is not part of the Internet standards,
23998 but it may be useful in smaller communities.
24000 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
24001 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
24002 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
24003 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
24004 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
24005 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
24006 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
24007 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
24008 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
24009 one of them separately.
24012 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
24013 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
24014 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:} header.
24015 For more details, and for the external application @code{hashcash} you
24016 need to install to use this feature, see
24017 @uref{http://www.hashcash.org/}. Even more information can be found
24018 at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
24020 If you wish to generate hashcash for each message you send, you can
24021 customize @code{message-generate-hashcash} (@pxref{Mail Headers, ,Mail
24022 Headers,message, The Message Manual}), as in:
24025 (setq message-generate-hashcash t)
24028 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
24032 @item hashcash-default-payment
24033 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
24034 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
24035 should consist of. By default this is 20. Suggested useful values
24038 @item hashcash-payment-alist
24039 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
24040 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
24041 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
24042 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
24043 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
24044 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
24045 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
24046 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
24048 @item hashcash-path
24049 @vindex hashcash-path
24050 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed. This variable should
24051 be automatically set by @code{executable-find}, but if it's @code{nil}
24052 (usually because the @code{hashcash} binary is not in your path)
24053 you'll get a warning when you check hashcash payments and an error
24054 when you generate hashcash payments.
24058 Gnus can verify hashcash cookies, although this can also be done by
24059 hand customized mail filtering scripts. To verify a hashcash cookie
24060 in a message, use the @code{mail-check-payment} function in the
24061 @code{hashcash.el} library. You can also use the @code{spam.el}
24062 package with the @code{spam-use-hashcash} back end to validate hashcash
24063 cookies in incoming mail and filter mail accordingly (@pxref{Anti-spam
24064 Hashcash Payments}).
24067 @section Spam Package
24068 @cindex spam filtering
24071 The Spam package provides Gnus with a centralized mechanism for
24072 detecting and filtering spam. It filters new mail, and processes
24073 messages according to whether they are spam or ham. (@dfn{Ham} is the
24074 name used throughout this manual to indicate non-spam messages.)
24077 * Spam Package Introduction::
24078 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
24079 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
24080 * Spam and Ham Processors::
24081 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
24083 * Extending the Spam package::
24084 * Spam Statistics Package::
24087 @node Spam Package Introduction
24088 @subsection Spam Package Introduction
24089 @cindex spam filtering
24090 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
24093 You must read this section to understand how the Spam package works.
24094 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
24096 Make sure you read the section on the @code{spam.el} sequence of
24097 events. See @xref{Extending the Spam package}.
24099 @cindex spam-initialize
24100 @vindex spam-use-stat
24101 To use the Spam package, you @strong{must} first run the function
24102 @code{spam-initialize}:
24108 This autoloads @code{spam.el} and installs the various hooks necessary
24109 to let the Spam package do its job. In order to make use of the Spam
24110 package, you have to set up certain group parameters and variables,
24111 which we will describe below. All of the variables controlling the
24112 Spam package can be found in the @samp{spam} customization group.
24114 There are two ``contact points'' between the Spam package and the rest
24115 of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and leaving a group.
24117 Checking new mail for spam is done in one of two ways: while splitting
24118 incoming mail, or when you enter a group.
24120 The first way, checking for spam while splitting incoming mail, is
24121 suited to mail back ends such as @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap}, where
24122 new mail appears in a single spool file. The Spam package processes
24123 incoming mail, and sends mail considered to be spam to a designated
24124 ``spam'' group. @xref{Filtering Incoming Mail}.
24126 The second way is suited to back ends such as @code{nntp}, which have
24127 no incoming mail spool, or back ends where the server is in charge of
24128 splitting incoming mail. In this case, when you enter a Gnus group,
24129 the unseen or unread messages in that group are checked for spam.
24130 Detected spam messages are marked as spam. @xref{Detecting Spam in
24133 @cindex spam back ends
24134 In either case, you have to tell the Spam package what method to use
24135 to detect spam messages. There are several methods, or @dfn{spam back
24136 ends} (not to be confused with Gnus back ends!) to choose from: spam
24137 ``blacklists'' and ``whitelists'', dictionary-based filters, and so
24138 forth. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24140 In the Gnus summary buffer, messages that have been identified as spam
24141 always appear with a @samp{$} symbol.
24143 The Spam package divides Gnus groups into three categories: ham
24144 groups, spam groups, and unclassified groups. You should mark each of
24145 the groups you subscribe to as either a ham group or a spam group,
24146 using the @code{spam-contents} group parameter (@pxref{Group
24147 Parameters}). Spam groups have a special property: when you enter a
24148 spam group, all unseen articles are marked as spam. Thus, mail split
24149 into a spam group is automatically marked as spam.
24151 Identifying spam messages is only half of the Spam package's job. The
24152 second half comes into play whenever you exit a group buffer. At this
24153 point, the Spam package does several things:
24155 First, it calls @dfn{spam and ham processors} to process the articles
24156 according to whether they are spam or ham. There is a pair of spam
24157 and ham processors associated with each spam back end, and what the
24158 processors do depends on the back end. At present, the main role of
24159 spam and ham processors is for dictionary-based spam filters: they add
24160 the contents of the messages in the group to the filter's dictionary,
24161 to improve its ability to detect future spam. The @code{spam-process}
24162 group parameter specifies what spam processors to use. @xref{Spam and
24165 If the spam filter failed to mark a spam message, you can mark it
24166 yourself, so that the message is processed as spam when you exit the
24174 @kindex $ (Summary)
24175 @kindex M-d (Summary)
24176 @kindex S x (Summary)
24177 @kindex M s x (Summary)
24178 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24179 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24180 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark
24181 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}).
24185 Similarly, you can unmark an article if it has been erroneously marked
24186 as spam. @xref{Setting Marks}.
24188 Normally, a ham message found in a non-ham group is not processed as
24189 ham---the rationale is that it should be moved into a ham group for
24190 further processing (see below). However, you can force these articles
24191 to be processed as ham by setting
24192 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
24193 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups}.
24195 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24196 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24197 The second thing that the Spam package does when you exit a group is
24198 to move ham articles out of spam groups, and spam articles out of ham
24199 groups. Ham in a spam group is moved to the group specified by the
24200 variable @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}, or the group parameter
24201 @code{ham-process-destination}. Spam in a ham group is moved to the
24202 group specified by the variable @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations},
24203 or the group parameter @code{spam-process-destination}. If these
24204 variables are not set, the articles are left in their current group.
24205 If an article cannot be moved (e.g., with a read-only backend such
24206 as @acronym{NNTP}), it is copied.
24208 If an article is moved to another group, it is processed again when
24209 you visit the new group. Normally, this is not a problem, but if you
24210 want each article to be processed only once, load the
24211 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and set the variable
24212 @code{spam-log-to-registry} to @code{t}. @xref{Spam Package
24213 Configuration Examples}.
24215 Normally, spam groups ignore @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations}.
24216 However, if you set @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only} to
24217 @code{nil}, spam will also be moved out of spam groups, depending on
24218 the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter.
24220 The final thing the Spam package does is to mark spam articles as
24221 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
24223 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
24224 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
24225 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
24227 @node Filtering Incoming Mail
24228 @subsection Filtering Incoming Mail
24229 @cindex spam filtering
24230 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
24233 To use the Spam package to filter incoming mail, you must first set up
24234 fancy mail splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}. The Spam package
24235 defines a special splitting function that you can add to your fancy
24236 split variable (either @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
24237 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on your mail back end):
24243 @vindex spam-split-group
24245 The @code{spam-split} function scans incoming mail according to your
24246 chosen spam back end(s), and sends messages identified as spam to a
24247 spam group. By default, the spam group is a group named @samp{spam},
24248 but you can change this by customizing @code{spam-split-group}. Make
24249 sure the contents of @code{spam-split-group} are an unqualified group
24250 name. For instance, in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server},
24251 the value @samp{spam} means @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The value
24252 @samp{nnimap+server:spam} is therefore wrong---it gives the group
24253 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam}.
24255 @code{spam-split} does not modify the contents of messages in any way.
24257 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
24258 Note for IMAP users: if you use the @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
24259 @code{spam-check-ifile}, and @code{spam-check-stat} spam back ends,
24260 you should also set the variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to
24261 @code{t}. These spam back ends are most useful when they can ``scan''
24262 the full message body. By default, the nnimap back end only retrieves
24263 the message headers; @code{nnimap-split-download-body} tells it to
24264 retrieve the message bodies as well. We don't set this by default
24265 because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and that is not an
24266 appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user. @xref{Client-Side
24269 You have to specify one or more spam back ends for @code{spam-split}
24270 to use, by setting the @code{spam-use-*} variables. @xref{Spam Back
24271 Ends}. Normally, @code{spam-split} simply uses all the spam back ends
24272 you enabled in this way. However, you can tell @code{spam-split} to
24273 use only some of them. Why this is useful? Suppose you are using the
24274 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and @code{spam-use-blackholes} spam back
24275 ends, and the following split rule:
24278 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24279 (any "ding" "ding")
24281 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24286 The problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the ding
24287 folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam detected by
24288 SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through, when it's
24289 sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to the ding
24290 list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the invocation
24291 of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
24293 The solution is to let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, and
24294 perform the other @code{spam-split} rules (including a second
24295 invocation of the regex-headers check) after the ding rule. This is
24296 done by passing a parameter to @code{spam-split}:
24301 ;; @r{spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
24302 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24303 (any "ding" "ding")
24304 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
24306 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24311 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
24312 your particular needs, and target the results of those checks to a
24313 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
24314 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
24315 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
24316 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
24317 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
24319 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24320 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24321 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24322 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24324 @c @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
24325 @c statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
24328 @node Detecting Spam in Groups
24329 @subsection Detecting Spam in Groups
24331 To detect spam when visiting a group, set the group's
24332 @code{spam-autodetect} and @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group
24333 parameters. These are accessible with @kbd{G c} or @kbd{G p}, as
24334 usual (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24336 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24337 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24338 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24339 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
24341 By default, only unseen articles are processed for spam. You can
24342 force Gnus to recheck all messages in the group by setting the
24343 variable @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages} to @code{t}.
24345 If you use the @code{spam-autodetect} method of checking for spam, you
24346 can specify different spam detection methods for different groups.
24347 For instance, the @samp{ding} group may have @code{spam-use-BBDB} as
24348 the autodetection method, while the @samp{suspect} group may have the
24349 @code{spam-use-blacklist} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods
24350 enabled. Unlike with @code{spam-split}, you don't have any control
24351 over the @emph{sequence} of checks, but this is probably unimportant.
24353 @node Spam and Ham Processors
24354 @subsection Spam and Ham Processors
24355 @cindex spam filtering
24356 @cindex spam filtering variables
24357 @cindex spam variables
24360 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
24361 Spam and ham processors specify special actions to take when you exit
24362 a group buffer. Spam processors act on spam messages, and ham
24363 processors on ham messages. At present, the main role of these
24364 processors is to update the dictionaries of dictionary-based spam back
24365 ends such as Bogofilter (@pxref{Bogofilter}) and the Spam Statistics
24366 package (@pxref{Spam Statistics Filtering}).
24368 The spam and ham processors that apply to each group are determined by
24369 the group's@code{spam-process} group parameter. If this group
24370 parameter is not defined, they are determined by the variable
24371 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups}.
24373 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24374 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
24375 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
24376 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
24377 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
24378 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
24379 by customizing the corresponding variable
24380 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
24381 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
24382 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
24383 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
24384 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
24385 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
24386 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
24389 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
24391 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
24392 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
24393 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
24394 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
24395 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
24396 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
24397 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
24398 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
24399 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
24400 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
24401 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
24402 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
24403 processor which will study them as spam samples.
24405 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
24406 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
24407 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
24408 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
24409 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
24410 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
24411 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
24412 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
24415 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24416 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
24417 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
24418 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
24419 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
24420 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
24421 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
24426 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24427 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
24428 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
24429 you really want to.
24432 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
24433 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
24434 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
24435 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
24436 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
24437 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
24440 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24441 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
24442 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
24443 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
24444 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
24445 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
24446 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
24447 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
24448 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
24449 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
24450 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
24451 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
24452 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
24453 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
24454 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
24456 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24457 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24459 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24460 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
24461 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
24463 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
24464 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
24466 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
24467 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
24468 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
24469 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
24470 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
24472 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
24473 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
24474 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
24475 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
24476 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
24479 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24480 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
24481 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
24482 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
24483 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
24484 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
24485 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
24486 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
24487 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
24488 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
24489 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
24490 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
24491 group buffer then you need it here as well.
24493 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24494 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24496 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24497 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
24500 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
24501 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
24502 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
24503 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
24504 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
24505 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
24506 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
24508 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
24509 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
24510 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
24511 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
24513 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
24514 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
24515 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
24516 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
24517 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
24518 from the mail server.
24520 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
24521 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
24522 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
24523 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
24525 @node Spam Package Configuration Examples
24526 @subsection Spam Package Configuration Examples
24527 @cindex spam filtering
24528 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
24529 @cindex spam configuration examples
24532 @subsubheading Ted's setup
24534 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
24536 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
24537 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
24538 (gnus-registry-initialize)
24542 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
24544 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
24545 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
24546 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24547 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24548 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
24549 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
24550 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
24551 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
24552 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
24553 ;; @r{for nnimap you'll probably want to set nnimap-split-methods, see the manual}
24554 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24555 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
24556 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
24557 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
24558 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24559 (any "ding" "ding")
24560 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
24562 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24565 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
24567 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
24568 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
24569 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
24570 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
24572 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24574 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
24575 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
24576 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
24577 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
24578 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24580 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
24581 ((spam-autodetect . t))
24583 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
24585 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
24586 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
24588 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
24589 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
24590 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
24592 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
24594 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
24595 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
24597 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
24598 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
24599 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
24601 (gnus-ticked-mark))
24602 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
24603 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
24604 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
24606 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
24607 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
24608 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
24612 @subsubheading Using @code{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
24613 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24615 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
24616 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
24617 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
24618 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
24619 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
24620 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
24621 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
24622 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
24623 @samp{training.spam} folders.
24625 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
24626 does most of the job for me:
24629 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
24630 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
24631 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
24632 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24633 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
24634 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
24635 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
24640 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
24642 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
24643 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
24644 bogofilter or DCC).
24646 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
24647 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
24648 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark
24649 (@code{ham-marks}, @ref{Spam and Ham Processors}). On group exit,
24650 those messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want
24651 to have the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter)
24652 and deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
24654 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
24655 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
24656 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
24657 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
24658 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
24659 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
24661 @item @b{Ham folders:}
24663 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
24664 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
24665 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
24666 @samp{training.spam}.
24669 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
24671 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24673 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
24674 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
24675 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
24679 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
24682 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
24683 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
24684 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
24685 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
24686 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
24688 @node Spam Back Ends
24689 @subsection Spam Back Ends
24690 @cindex spam back ends
24692 The spam package offers a variety of back ends for detecting spam.
24693 Each back end defines a set of methods for detecting spam
24694 (@pxref{Filtering Incoming Mail}, @pxref{Detecting Spam in Groups}),
24695 and a pair of spam and ham processors (@pxref{Spam and Ham
24699 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
24700 * BBDB Whitelists::
24701 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
24702 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
24704 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
24706 * SpamAssassin back end::
24707 * ifile spam filtering::
24708 * Spam Statistics Filtering::
24712 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
24713 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
24714 @cindex spam filtering
24715 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
24716 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
24719 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
24721 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
24722 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
24723 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
24724 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
24729 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
24731 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
24732 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
24733 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24734 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
24735 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24739 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
24741 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
24742 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24743 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
24747 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
24749 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24750 customizing the group parameters or the
24751 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24752 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24753 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
24757 Instead of the obsolete
24758 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
24759 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
24760 the same way, we promise.
24764 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
24766 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24767 customizing the group parameters or the
24768 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24769 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24770 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24775 Instead of the obsolete
24776 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
24777 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
24778 the same way, we promise.
24782 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
24783 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
24784 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
24785 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
24786 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
24788 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
24789 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
24790 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
24791 Emacs regular expression syntax.
24793 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
24794 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
24795 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
24796 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
24797 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
24798 @file{blacklist} respectively.
24800 @node BBDB Whitelists
24801 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
24802 @cindex spam filtering
24803 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
24804 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
24807 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
24809 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24810 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
24811 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
24812 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
24813 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24814 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
24815 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24819 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
24821 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
24822 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24823 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
24824 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
24825 classified as spammers.
24827 While @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} @emph{can} be used as an alias
24828 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} as far as @code{spam.el} is concerned, it is
24829 @emph{not} a separate back end. If you set
24830 @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} to t, @emph{all} your BBDB splitting
24835 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
24837 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24838 customizing the group parameters or the
24839 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24840 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24841 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24846 Instead of the obsolete
24847 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
24848 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
24849 the same way, we promise.
24853 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
24854 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
24855 @cindex spam reporting
24856 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24857 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24860 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
24862 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24863 customizing the group parameters or the
24864 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24865 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
24866 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
24869 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
24873 Instead of the obsolete
24874 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
24875 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
24876 same way, we promise.
24880 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
24882 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
24883 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
24884 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
24885 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
24886 @code{spam-report.el} will fetch the number from the article headers.
24890 @defvar spam-report-user-mail-address
24892 Mail address exposed in the User-Agent spam reports to Gmane. It allows
24893 the Gmane administrators to contact you in case of misreports. The
24894 default is @code{user-mail-address}.
24898 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24899 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24900 @cindex spam filtering
24901 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
24904 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
24906 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24907 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
24908 instead of the sender address. Messages without a hashcash payment
24909 token will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an explicit
24910 filter, meaning that unless a hashcash token is found, the messages
24911 are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24916 @subsubsection Blackholes
24917 @cindex spam filtering
24918 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
24921 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
24923 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
24924 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
24925 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
24926 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
24927 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
24928 contains outdated servers.
24930 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
24931 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
24932 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
24933 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
24934 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
24935 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
24939 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
24941 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
24945 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
24947 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
24948 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
24952 @defvar spam-use-dig
24954 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
24955 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
24959 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
24960 ham processor for blackholes.
24962 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
24963 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
24964 @cindex spam filtering
24965 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
24968 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
24970 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
24971 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
24972 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
24973 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
24974 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
24975 message is spam or ham, respectively.
24979 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
24981 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24982 the message, positively identify it as spam.
24986 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
24988 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24989 the message, positively identify it as ham.
24993 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
24994 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
24997 @subsubsection Bogofilter
24998 @cindex spam filtering
24999 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
25002 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
25004 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25007 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
25008 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
25009 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
25010 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
25011 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
25012 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
25014 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
25015 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
25018 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
25019 processing will be turned off.
25021 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
25030 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
25031 Get the Bogofilter spamicity score (@code{spam-bogofilter-score}).
25034 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
25036 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25037 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
25038 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
25039 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
25040 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
25041 installation documents for details.
25043 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
25047 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
25048 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25049 customizing the group parameters or the
25050 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25051 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
25052 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
25056 Instead of the obsolete
25057 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25058 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25059 the same way, we promise.
25062 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
25063 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25064 customizing the group parameters or the
25065 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25066 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25067 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
25068 of non-spam messages.
25072 Instead of the obsolete
25073 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25074 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25075 the same way, we promise.
25078 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
25080 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
25081 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
25082 database directory.
25086 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
25087 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25088 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
25089 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
25090 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
25091 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
25093 @node SpamAssassin back end
25094 @subsubsection SpamAssassin back end
25095 @cindex spam filtering
25096 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
25099 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
25101 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
25103 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
25104 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
25105 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
25106 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
25109 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
25110 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
25111 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
25112 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
25115 You should not enable this if you use
25116 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
25120 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
25122 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
25123 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
25125 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
25129 @defvar spam-spamassassin-program
25131 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
25132 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
25133 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
25134 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
25138 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
25139 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
25140 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
25141 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
25142 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
25143 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
25144 to test this functionality.
25146 @node ifile spam filtering
25147 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
25148 @cindex spam filtering
25149 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
25152 @defvar spam-use-ifile
25154 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
25155 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
25159 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
25161 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
25162 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
25163 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
25167 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
25169 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
25170 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
25171 the default value of @samp{spam}.
25174 @defvar spam-ifile-database
25176 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
25177 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
25181 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
25182 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25183 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
25184 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
25187 @node Spam Statistics Filtering
25188 @subsubsection Spam Statistics Filtering
25189 @cindex spam filtering
25190 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
25194 This back end uses the Spam Statistics Emacs Lisp package to perform
25195 statistics-based filtering (@pxref{Spam Statistics Package}). Before
25196 using this, you may want to perform some additional steps to
25197 initialize your Spam Statistics dictionary. @xref{Creating a
25198 spam-stat dictionary}.
25200 @defvar spam-use-stat
25204 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
25205 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25206 customizing the group parameters or the
25207 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25208 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
25209 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
25213 Instead of the obsolete
25214 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25215 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25216 the same way, we promise.
25219 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
25220 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25221 customizing the group parameters or the
25222 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25223 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25224 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
25225 of non-spam messages.
25229 Instead of the obsolete
25230 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25231 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25232 the same way, we promise.
25235 This enables @code{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
25236 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
25237 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
25238 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
25239 @code{spam-split} are provided.
25242 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
25243 @cindex spam filtering
25247 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
25248 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
25249 installed separately.
25251 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
25252 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
25253 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
25254 mail as a spam mail or not.
25256 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
25257 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
25258 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
25260 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Spam Package})
25263 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
25264 To enable SpamOracle usage by @code{spam.el}, set the variable
25265 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
25266 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}. @xref{Spam
25267 Package}. In this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is
25268 filtered using SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be
25269 moved to @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham
25270 messages stay in @samp{INBOX}:
25273 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
25274 spam-split-group "Junk"
25275 ;; @r{for nnimap you'll probably want to set nnimap-split-methods, see the manual}
25276 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
25277 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
25280 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
25281 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
25285 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
25286 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
25287 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
25291 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
25292 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
25293 store its analysis. This is controlled by the variable
25294 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
25295 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
25296 database to live somewhere special, set
25297 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
25300 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
25301 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
25302 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns
25303 the characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
25304 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
25305 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary
25306 buffer and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using
25307 @file{spam.el}'s spam- and ham-processors, which is much more
25308 convenient. For a detailed description of spam- and ham-processors,
25309 @xref{Spam Package}.
25311 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
25312 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25313 customizing the group parameter or the
25314 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25315 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
25316 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
25320 Instead of the obsolete
25321 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25322 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25323 the same way, we promise.
25326 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
25327 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25328 customizing the group parameter or the
25329 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25330 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
25331 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
25336 Instead of the obsolete
25337 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25338 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25339 the same way, we promise.
25342 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
25343 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
25346 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
25347 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
25348 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
25350 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
25351 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
25352 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
25353 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
25354 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
25355 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
25357 @node Extending the Spam package
25358 @subsection Extending the Spam package
25359 @cindex spam filtering
25360 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
25361 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
25363 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
25364 incoming mail, provide the following:
25372 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
25373 "True if blackbox should be used.")
25376 Write @code{spam-check-blackbox} if Blackbox can check incoming mail.
25378 Write @code{spam-blackbox-register-routine} and
25379 @code{spam-blackbox-unregister-routine} using the bogofilter
25380 register/unregister routines as a start, or other register/unregister
25381 routines more appropriate to Blackbox, if Blackbox can
25382 register/unregister spam and ham.
25387 The @code{spam-check-blackbox} function should return @samp{nil} or
25388 @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other conventions. See the
25389 existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can
25390 do, and stick to the template unless you fully understand the reasons
25395 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
25402 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
25403 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
25405 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
25406 variables. Instead the form @code{(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
25407 @code{(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
25408 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
25411 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
25412 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
25413 Only applicable to spam groups.")
25415 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
25416 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
25417 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
25426 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
25427 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
25429 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
25430 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
25431 variable customization.
25435 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
25437 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
25438 @code{gnus.el} if Blackbox can check incoming mail for spam contents.
25440 Finally, use the appropriate @code{spam-install-*-backend} function in
25441 @code{spam.el}. Here are the available functions.
25447 @code{spam-install-backend-alias}
25449 This function will simply install an alias for a back end that does
25450 everything like the original back end. It is currently only used to
25451 make @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} act like @code{spam-use-BBDB}.
25454 @code{spam-install-nocheck-backend}
25456 This function installs a back end that has no check function, but can
25457 register/unregister ham or spam. The @code{spam-use-gmane} back end is
25461 @code{spam-install-checkonly-backend}
25463 This function will install a back end that can only check incoming mail
25464 for spam contents. It can't register or unregister messages.
25465 @code{spam-use-blackholes} and @code{spam-use-hashcash} are such
25469 @code{spam-install-statistical-checkonly-backend}
25471 This function installs a statistical back end (one which requires the
25472 full body of a message to check it) that can only check incoming mail
25473 for contents. @code{spam-use-regex-body} is such a filter.
25476 @code{spam-install-statistical-backend}
25478 This function install a statistical back end with incoming checks and
25479 registration/unregistration routines. @code{spam-use-bogofilter} is
25483 @code{spam-install-backend}
25485 This is the most normal back end installation, where a back end that can
25486 check and register/unregister messages is set up without statistical
25487 abilities. The @code{spam-use-BBDB} is such a back end.
25490 @code{spam-install-mover-backend}
25492 Mover back ends are internal to @code{spam.el} and specifically move
25493 articles around when the summary is exited. You will very probably
25494 never install such a back end.
25499 @node Spam Statistics Package
25500 @subsection Spam Statistics Package
25501 @cindex Paul Graham
25502 @cindex Graham, Paul
25503 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
25504 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
25505 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
25507 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
25508 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
25509 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
25510 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
25511 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
25512 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
25513 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
25514 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
25515 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
25518 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
25519 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
25520 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
25521 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
25522 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
25523 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
25524 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
25525 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
25527 The Spam Statistics package adds support to Gnus for this kind of
25528 filtering. It can be used as one of the back ends of the Spam package
25529 (@pxref{Spam Package}), or by itself.
25531 Before using the Spam Statistics package, you need to set it up.
25532 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
25533 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
25534 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
25535 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
25538 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
25539 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
25540 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
25543 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25544 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25546 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
25547 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
25548 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
25549 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
25550 need several hundred emails in both collections.
25552 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
25553 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
25554 per mail. Use the following:
25556 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
25557 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
25558 is treated as one spam mail.
25561 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
25562 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
25563 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
25566 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
25567 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds to
25568 the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
25569 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
25570 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds to the group
25571 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
25573 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
25574 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
25575 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
25576 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
25577 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
25580 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
25581 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
25582 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
25583 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
25586 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
25587 reset the dictionary.
25589 @defun spam-stat-reset
25590 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
25593 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
25594 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
25595 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
25596 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
25597 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
25598 only non-spam mails.
25600 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
25601 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
25602 to update the dictionary incrementally.
25605 @defun spam-stat-save
25606 Save the dictionary.
25609 @defvar spam-stat-file
25610 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
25611 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
25614 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
25615 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
25617 This section describes how to use the Spam statistics
25618 @emph{independently} of the @xref{Spam Package}.
25620 First, add the following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25623 (require 'spam-stat)
25627 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
25630 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
25631 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
25632 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
25633 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
25635 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
25636 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
25637 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
25638 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
25641 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25642 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25646 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
25647 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
25650 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
25651 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
25652 expression are considered potential spam.
25655 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25656 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25657 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25661 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
25662 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
25663 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
25664 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
25665 mails, when creating the dictionary!
25668 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25669 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25670 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25674 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
25675 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
25676 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
25677 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
25678 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
25682 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25683 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
25684 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25685 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25690 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25691 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25693 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
25695 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
25696 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
25697 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25700 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
25701 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
25702 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25705 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
25706 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
25707 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
25708 already been processed as non-spam.
25711 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
25712 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
25713 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
25714 been processed as spam.
25717 @defun spam-stat-save
25718 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
25719 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25722 @defun spam-stat-load
25723 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
25724 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25727 @defun spam-stat-score-word
25728 Return the spam score for a word.
25731 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
25732 Return the spam score for a buffer.
25735 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
25736 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
25737 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
25740 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
25741 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25744 (require 'spam-stat)
25748 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
25751 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25752 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25753 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25754 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25755 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25756 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25757 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25758 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25759 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25760 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25761 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25762 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25763 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25764 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25767 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
25770 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25771 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25772 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25773 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
25774 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25775 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25778 @node The Gnus Registry
25779 @section The Gnus Registry
25784 The Gnus registry is a package that tracks messages by their
25785 Message-ID across all backends. This allows Gnus users to do several
25786 cool things, be the envy of the locals, get free haircuts, and be
25787 experts on world issues. Well, maybe not all of those, but the
25788 features are pretty cool.
25790 Although they will be explained in detail shortly, here's a quick list
25791 of said features in case your attention span is... never mind.
25795 Split messages to their parent
25797 This keeps discussions in the same group. You can use the subject and
25798 the sender in addition to the Message-ID. Several strategies are
25802 Refer to messages by ID
25804 Commands like @code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article} can take
25805 advantage of the registry to jump to the referred article, regardless
25806 of the group the message is in.
25809 Store custom flags and keywords
25811 The registry can store custom flags and keywords for a message. For
25812 instance, you can mark a message ``To-Do'' this way and the flag will
25813 persist whether the message is in the nnimap, nnml, nnmaildir,
25817 Store arbitrary data
25819 Through a simple ELisp API, the registry can remember any data for a
25820 message. A built-in inverse map, when activated, allows quick lookups
25821 of all messages matching a particular set of criteria.
25825 * Gnus Registry Setup::
25826 * Fancy splitting to parent::
25827 * Registry Article Refer Method::
25828 * Store custom flags and keywords::
25829 * Store arbitrary data::
25832 @node Gnus Registry Setup
25833 @subsection Gnus Registry Setup
25835 Fortunately, setting up the Gnus registry is pretty easy:
25838 (setq gnus-registry-max-entries 2500)
25840 (gnus-registry-initialize)
25843 This adds registry saves to Gnus newsrc saves (which happen on exit
25844 and when you press @kbd{s} from the @code{*Group*} buffer. It also
25845 adds registry calls to article actions in Gnus (copy, move, etc.) so
25846 it's not easy to undo the initialization. See
25847 @code{gnus-registry-initialize} for the gory details.
25849 Here are other settings used by the author of the registry (understand
25850 what they do before you copy them blindly).
25854 gnus-registry-split-strategy 'majority
25855 gnus-registry-ignored-groups '(("nntp" t)
25859 gnus-registry-max-entries 500000
25860 ;; this is the default
25861 gnus-registry-track-extra '(sender subject))
25864 They say: keep a lot of messages around, track messages by sender and
25865 subject (not just parent Message-ID), and when the registry splits
25866 incoming mail, use a majority rule to decide where messages should go
25867 if there's more than one possibility. In addition, the registry
25868 should ignore messages in groups that match ``nntp'', ``nnrss'',
25869 ``spam'', or ``train.''
25871 You are doubtless impressed by all this, but you ask: ``I am a Gnus
25872 user, I customize to live. Give me more.'' Here you go, these are
25873 the general settings.
25875 @defvar gnus-registry-unfollowed-groups
25876 The groups that will not be followed by
25877 @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent}. They will still be
25878 remembered by the registry. This is a list of regular expressions.
25879 By default any group name that ends with ``delayed'', ``drafts'',
25880 ``queue'', or ``INBOX'', belongs to the nnmairix backend, or contains
25881 the word ``archive'' is not followed.
25884 @defvar gnus-registry-max-entries
25885 The number (an integer or @code{nil} for unlimited) of entries the
25886 registry will keep.
25889 @defvar gnus-registry-max-pruned-entries
25890 The maximum number (an integer or @code{nil} for unlimited) of entries
25891 the registry will keep after pruning.
25894 @defvar gnus-registry-cache-file
25895 The file where the registry will be stored between Gnus sessions. By
25896 default the file name is @code{.gnus.registry.eioio} in the same
25897 directory as your @code{.newsrc.eld}.
25900 @node Registry Article Refer Method
25901 @subsection Fetching by @code{Message-ID} Using the Registry
25903 The registry knows how to map each @code{Message-ID} to the group it's
25904 in. This can be leveraged to enhance the ``article refer method'',
25905 the thing that tells Gnus how to look up an article given its
25906 Message-ID (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
25909 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
25911 The @code{nnregistry} refer method does exactly that. It has the
25912 advantage that an article may be found regardless of the group it's
25913 in---provided its @code{Message-ID} is known to the registry. It can
25914 be enabled by augmenting the start-up file with something along these
25918 ;; Keep enough entries to have a good hit rate when referring to an
25919 ;; article using the registry. Use long group names so that Gnus
25920 ;; knows where the article is.
25921 (setq gnus-registry-max-entries 2500)
25923 (gnus-registry-initialize)
25925 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
25928 (nnweb "gmane" (nnweb-type gmane))))
25931 The example above instructs Gnus to first look up the article in the
25932 current group, or, alternatively, using the registry, and finally, if
25933 all else fails, using Gmane.
25935 @node Fancy splitting to parent
25936 @subsection Fancy splitting to parent
25938 Simply put, this lets you put followup e-mail where it belongs.
25940 Every message has a Message-ID, which is unique, and the registry
25941 remembers it. When the message is moved or copied, the registry will
25942 notice this and offer the new group as a choice to the splitting
25945 When a followup is made, usually it mentions the original message's
25946 Message-ID in the headers. The registry knows this and uses that
25947 mention to find the group where the original message lives. You only
25948 have to put a rule like this:
25951 (setq nnimap-my-split-fancy '(|
25953 ;; split to parent: you need this
25954 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
25956 ;; other rules, as an example
25962 in your fancy split setup. In addition, you may want to customize the
25963 following variables.
25965 @defvar gnus-registry-track-extra
25966 This is a list of symbols, so it's best to change it from the
25967 Customize interface. By default it's @code{(subject sender)}, which
25968 may work for you. It can be annoying if your mail flow is large and
25969 people don't stick to the same groups.
25972 @defvar gnus-registry-split-strategy
25973 This is a symbol, so it's best to change it from the Customize
25974 interface. By default it's @code{nil}, but you may want to set it to
25975 @code{majority} or @code{first} to split by sender or subject based on
25976 the majority of matches or on the first found. I find @code{majority}
25980 @node Store custom flags and keywords
25981 @subsection Store custom flags and keywords
25983 The registry lets you set custom flags and keywords per message. You
25984 can use the Gnus->Registry Marks menu or the @kbd{M M x} keyboard
25985 shortcuts, where @code{x} is the first letter of the mark's name.
25987 @defvar gnus-registry-marks
25988 The custom marks that the registry can use. You can modify the
25989 default list, if you like. If you do, you'll have to exit Emacs
25990 before they take effect (you can also unload the registry and reload
25991 it or evaluate the specific macros you'll need, but you probably don't
25992 want to bother). Use the Customize interface to modify the list.
25994 By default this list has the @code{Important}, @code{Work},
25995 @code{Personal}, @code{To-Do}, and @code{Later} marks. They all have
25996 keyboard shortcuts like @kbd{M M i} for Important, using the first
26000 @defun gnus-registry-mark-article
26001 Call this function to mark an article with a custom registry mark. It
26002 will offer the available marks for completion.
26005 You can use @code{defalias} to install a summary line formatting
26006 function that will show the registry marks. There are two flavors of
26007 this function, either showing the marks as single characters, using
26008 their @code{:char} property, or showing the marks as full strings.
26011 ;; show the marks as single characters (see the :char property in
26012 ;; `gnus-registry-marks'):
26013 ;; (defalias 'gnus-user-format-function-M 'gnus-registry-article-marks-to-chars)
26015 ;; show the marks by name (see `gnus-registry-marks'):
26016 ;; (defalias 'gnus-user-format-function-M 'gnus-registry-article-marks-to-names)
26020 @node Store arbitrary data
26021 @subsection Store arbitrary data
26023 The registry has a simple API that uses a Message-ID as the key to
26024 store arbitrary data (as long as it can be converted to a list for
26027 @defun gnus-registry-set-id-key (id key value)
26028 Store @code{value} under @code{key} for message @code{id}.
26031 @defun gnus-registry-get-id-key (id key)
26032 Get the data under @code{key} for message @code{id}.
26035 @defvar gnus-registry-extra-entries-precious
26036 If any extra entries are precious, their presence will make the
26037 registry keep the whole entry forever, even if there are no groups for
26038 the Message-ID and if the size limit of the registry is reached. By
26039 default this is just @code{(marks)} so the custom registry marks are
26044 @section Interaction with other modes
26049 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provides some useful functions for dired
26050 buffers. It is enabled with
26052 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
26057 @findex gnus-dired-attach
26058 @cindex attachments, selection via dired
26059 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
26060 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
26063 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
26064 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
26065 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
26069 @findex gnus-dired-print
26070 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
26071 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
26074 @node Various Various
26075 @section Various Various
26081 @item gnus-home-directory
26082 @vindex gnus-home-directory
26083 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
26084 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
26086 @item gnus-directory
26087 @vindex gnus-directory
26088 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
26089 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
26090 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
26092 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
26093 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
26094 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
26095 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
26097 @item gnus-default-directory
26098 @vindex gnus-default-directory
26099 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
26100 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
26101 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
26102 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
26103 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
26104 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
26107 @vindex gnus-verbose
26108 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
26109 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
26110 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
26111 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
26112 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
26114 @item gnus-verbose-backends
26115 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
26116 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
26117 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
26119 @item gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
26120 @vindex gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
26121 This variable controls whether to add timestamps to messages that are
26122 controlled by @code{gnus-verbose} and @code{gnus-verbose-backends} and
26123 are issued. The default value is @code{nil} which means never to add
26124 timestamp. If it is @code{log}, add timestamps to only the messages
26125 that go into the @samp{*Messages*} buffer (in XEmacs, it is the
26126 @w{@samp{ *Message-Log*}} buffer). If it is neither @code{nil} nor
26127 @code{log}, add timestamps not only to log messages but also to the ones
26128 displayed in the echo area.
26130 @item nnheader-max-head-length
26131 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
26132 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
26133 as little as possible. This variable (default 8192) specifies
26134 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
26135 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
26136 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
26137 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
26138 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
26139 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
26141 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
26142 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
26143 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
26144 read when doing the operation described above.
26146 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26147 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26149 @cindex invalid characters in file names
26150 @cindex characters in file names
26151 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
26152 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
26153 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
26157 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26162 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
26163 Windows (phooey) systems.
26165 @item gnus-hidden-properties
26166 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
26167 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
26168 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
26169 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
26171 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
26172 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
26173 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
26174 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
26175 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
26177 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
26178 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
26179 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
26181 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
26182 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
26184 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
26185 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
26186 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
26187 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
26190 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
26192 @item gnus-safe-html-newsgroups
26193 @vindex gnus-safe-html-newsgroups
26194 Groups in which links in html articles are considered all safe. The
26195 value may be a regexp matching those groups, a list of group names, or
26196 @code{nil}. This overrides @code{mm-w3m-safe-url-regexp}. The default
26197 value is @code{"\\`nnrss[+:]"}. This is effective only when emacs-w3m
26198 renders html articles, i.e., in the case @code{mm-text-html-renderer} is
26199 set to @code{w3m}. @xref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization,
26200 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}.
26207 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
26208 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
26210 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
26212 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
26218 Not because of victories @*
26221 but for the common sunshine,@*
26223 the largess of the spring.
26227 but for the day's work done@*
26228 as well as I was able;@*
26229 not for a seat upon the dais@*
26230 but at the common table.@*
26235 @chapter Appendices
26238 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
26239 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
26240 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
26241 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
26242 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
26243 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
26244 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
26245 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
26246 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
26253 @cindex installing under XEmacs
26255 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
26256 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
26257 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
26258 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
26259 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{W3},
26260 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
26267 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
26268 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
26270 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
26271 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
26272 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
26273 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
26274 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
26276 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
26277 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
26278 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
26279 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
26280 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
26281 appropriate name, don't you think?)
26283 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
26284 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
26285 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
26286 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
26289 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
26290 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
26291 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
26292 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
26293 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
26294 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
26295 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
26296 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
26300 @node Gnus Versions
26301 @subsection Gnus Versions
26303 @cindex September Gnus
26305 @cindex Quassia Gnus
26306 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
26310 @cindex Gnus versions
26312 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
26313 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
26314 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
26316 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
26317 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
26319 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
26320 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
26322 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
26323 It was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
26325 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
26326 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
26329 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun and was released as
26330 Gnus 5.10 on May 1st 2003 (24 releases).
26332 On the January 4th 2004, No Gnus was begun.
26334 On April 19, 2010 Gnus development was moved to Git. See
26335 http://git.gnus.org for details (http://www.gnus.org will be updated
26336 with the information when possible).
26338 On the January 31th 2012, Ma Gnus was begun.
26340 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
26341 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
26342 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'', ``No Gnus'', ``Ma Gnus'' -- don't
26343 panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly.
26344 Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of
26345 its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up to
26352 What's the point of Gnus?
26354 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
26355 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
26356 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
26357 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
26358 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
26359 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
26360 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
26361 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
26362 keep track of millions of people who post?
26364 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
26365 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
26366 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
26367 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
26368 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
26369 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
26370 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
26371 every one of you to explore and invent.
26373 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
26374 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
26377 @node Compatibility
26378 @subsection Compatibility
26380 @cindex compatibility
26381 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
26382 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
26383 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
26388 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
26392 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
26395 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
26398 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
26399 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
26400 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
26401 important variables have their values copied into their global
26402 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
26403 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
26405 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
26406 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
26407 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
26408 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
26409 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
26413 @cindex highlighting
26414 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
26415 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
26416 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
26417 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
26418 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
26419 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
26422 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
26423 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
26424 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
26425 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
26427 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
26428 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
26429 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
26430 to stop doing it the old way.
26432 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
26434 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26436 @cindex reporting bugs
26438 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
26439 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
26440 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
26442 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
26443 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
26444 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
26445 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
26450 @subsection Conformity
26452 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
26453 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
26461 There are no known breaches of this standard.
26465 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
26467 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
26468 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
26469 We do have some breaches to this one.
26475 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
26476 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
26477 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
26478 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
26479 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
26484 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
26485 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
26486 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
26487 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
26489 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
26490 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
26491 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
26493 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
26494 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
26496 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
26499 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
26500 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
26501 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
26502 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
26503 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
26506 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
26507 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
26508 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RFC 1991/2440 format.
26509 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
26511 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
26512 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
26514 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
26515 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
26516 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
26517 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
26518 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
26519 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
26520 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
26521 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
26525 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
26526 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
26531 @subsection Emacsen
26537 This version of Gnus should work on:
26545 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
26549 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
26550 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
26551 Emacs versions. Particularly, Gnus 5.10.8 should also work on Emacs
26552 20.7 and XEmacs 21.1.
26554 @c No-merge comment: The paragraph added in v5-10 here must not be
26557 @node Gnus Development
26558 @subsection Gnus Development
26560 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
26561 discussion on the development mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}, where people
26562 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
26563 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
26564 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
26565 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
26566 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
26567 have names like ``Oort Gnus'' and ``No Gnus''. @xref{Gnus Versions}.
26569 After futzing around for 10-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
26570 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
26571 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.10.1'' instead. Normal people are
26572 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
26573 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup. This newgroup is mirrored to the
26574 mailing list @samp{info-gnus-english@@gnu.org} which is carried on Gmane
26575 as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.user}. These releases are finally integrated
26579 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26580 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26581 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26582 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26583 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26585 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
26586 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
26587 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
26588 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
26589 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
26590 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
26591 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
26592 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
26593 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
26594 can't be assumed to do so.
26596 So if you have problems with or questions about the alpha versions,
26597 direct those to the ding mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}. This list
26598 is also available on Gmane as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.general}.
26601 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26602 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26603 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26604 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26605 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26608 @subsection Contributors
26609 @cindex contributors
26611 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
26612 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
26613 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
26614 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
26615 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
26616 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
26617 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
26618 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
26619 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
26620 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
26622 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
26628 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
26631 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el,
26632 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
26633 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
26634 functionality and stuff.
26637 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
26638 well as numerous other things).
26641 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
26644 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
26647 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
26650 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
26653 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
26654 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
26657 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
26660 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
26663 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
26666 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
26669 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bug detection and fixes.
26672 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
26675 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
26676 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
26679 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
26682 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
26685 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
26688 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
26692 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
26695 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
26698 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
26701 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
26702 well as autoconf support.
26706 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
26707 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
26709 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
26724 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
26726 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
26730 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
26740 Alexei V. Barantsev,
26755 Massimo Campostrini,
26760 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
26761 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
26765 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
26768 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
26774 Michael Welsh Duggan,
26779 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
26783 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
26791 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
26793 Michelangelo Grigni,
26797 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
26799 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
26801 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
26809 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
26810 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
26811 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
26813 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
26823 Peter Skov Knudsen,
26824 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
26826 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
26827 Thor Kristoffersen,
26830 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
26848 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
26849 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
26856 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
26861 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
26865 John McClary Prevost,
26871 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
26876 Christian von Roques,
26879 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
26886 Philippe Schnoebelen,
26888 Randal L. Schwartz,
26902 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
26907 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
26927 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
26928 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
26929 (550kB and counting).
26931 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
26934 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
26935 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
26939 @subsection New Features
26940 @cindex new features
26943 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
26944 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
26945 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
26946 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
26947 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
26948 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
26949 * No Gnus:: Very punny. Gnus 5.12/5.13.
26950 * Ma Gnus:: Celebrating 25 years of Gnus.
26953 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
26954 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
26955 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
26958 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
26960 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
26965 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
26966 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
26969 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
26970 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
26973 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
26976 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
26977 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
26978 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
26981 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
26982 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
26983 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
26984 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26987 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
26988 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26991 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
26992 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
26993 (@pxref{The Active File}).
26996 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
26997 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
27000 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
27001 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
27002 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27005 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
27006 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
27007 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
27010 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
27011 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
27014 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
27015 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
27018 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
27019 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27022 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
27023 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
27026 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
27027 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27030 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
27033 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
27034 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
27037 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
27038 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
27041 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
27042 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
27045 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
27048 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
27049 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
27052 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
27056 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
27060 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
27061 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
27066 @node September Gnus
27067 @subsubsection September Gnus
27071 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
27075 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
27080 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
27081 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
27085 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
27086 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
27090 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
27094 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
27095 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
27098 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
27102 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
27105 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
27108 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
27111 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
27115 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
27116 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
27119 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
27123 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
27127 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
27131 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
27135 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
27138 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
27139 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
27142 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
27146 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
27147 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
27150 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
27153 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
27154 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
27155 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
27158 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets.
27161 The Gnus cache is much faster.
27164 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
27168 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
27169 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
27172 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
27173 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
27176 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
27177 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
27180 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
27181 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
27182 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
27185 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
27186 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
27189 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
27192 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27195 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
27198 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
27201 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
27202 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
27205 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
27209 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
27212 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
27217 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27220 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
27224 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
27227 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
27230 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
27231 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
27234 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
27235 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
27239 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
27240 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
27243 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
27247 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
27248 buffer to allow easier treatment.
27251 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
27254 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
27258 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
27262 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
27263 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
27266 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
27270 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
27271 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27274 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
27275 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27278 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
27282 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27285 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
27288 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
27294 @subsubsection Red Gnus
27296 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
27300 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
27307 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
27310 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
27311 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27314 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
27315 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
27319 Article washing status can be displayed in the
27320 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
27323 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
27326 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
27327 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
27330 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
27334 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
27335 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
27339 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extensible (@pxref{Document
27340 Server Internals}).
27343 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
27347 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
27350 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
27351 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
27354 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
27355 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
27356 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
27359 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
27360 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27363 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
27364 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
27367 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
27371 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
27372 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27375 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
27376 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27379 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
27383 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
27386 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
27390 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
27391 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27394 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
27395 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27398 A new command for reading collections of documents
27399 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
27400 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
27403 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
27407 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
27408 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
27411 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
27412 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
27413 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
27416 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
27417 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
27421 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
27425 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
27429 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
27434 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
27438 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
27442 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
27443 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
27446 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
27452 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
27454 New features in Gnus 5.6:
27459 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
27460 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
27461 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
27464 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
27465 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
27466 group, which is created automatically.
27469 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
27473 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
27476 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
27477 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
27480 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
27484 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
27487 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
27488 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
27491 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
27494 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
27498 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
27499 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
27502 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
27503 control over simplification.
27506 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
27509 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
27513 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
27516 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
27519 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
27520 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
27521 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
27524 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
27525 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
27528 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
27532 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
27533 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
27536 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
27537 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
27540 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
27544 A history of where mails have been split is available.
27547 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
27550 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
27551 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
27554 A new function for citing in Message has been
27555 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
27558 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
27561 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
27565 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
27566 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
27569 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
27570 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
27573 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
27576 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
27580 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
27581 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
27583 New features in Gnus 5.8:
27588 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
27589 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
27591 If you used procmail like in
27594 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
27595 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
27596 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
27597 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
27600 this now has changed to
27604 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
27608 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
27611 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
27612 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
27615 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
27616 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
27619 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
27620 called to position point.
27623 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
27624 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
27627 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
27628 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
27631 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
27632 subtly different manner.
27635 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
27636 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
27637 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
27640 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
27645 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
27648 New features in Gnus 5.10:
27652 @item Installation changes
27653 @c ***********************
27657 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
27659 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
27660 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
27661 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
27662 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
27663 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
27664 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
27665 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
27666 isn't save in general.
27669 Lisp files are now installed in @file{.../site-lisp/gnus/} by default.
27670 It defaulted to @file{.../site-lisp/} formerly. In addition to this,
27671 the new installer issues a warning if other Gnus installations which
27672 will shadow the latest one are detected. You can then remove those
27673 shadows manually or remove them using @code{make
27674 remove-installed-shadows}.
27677 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
27679 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
27680 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
27681 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, if you want
27682 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
27683 the second parameter.
27685 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
27686 automatic recognition of XEmacs and Emacs, generates
27687 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
27688 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
27689 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
27690 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
27691 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
27692 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
27693 cycle used under Unix systems.
27695 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} and @file{xemacs.mak}
27696 superfluous, so they have been removed.
27699 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
27701 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
27702 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
27705 @c FIXME: `gnus-load' is mentioned in README, which is not included in
27706 @c the repository. We should find a better place for this item.
27708 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
27710 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
27711 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
27712 lisp directory into load-path.
27714 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
27715 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
27719 @item New packages and libraries within Gnus
27720 @c *****************************************
27725 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
27726 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
27729 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
27731 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
27732 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GnuTLS.
27735 Improved anti-spam features.
27737 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
27738 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
27739 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
27740 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
27741 are also new. @ref{Thwarting Email Spam} and @ref{Spam Package}.
27742 @c FIXME: @xref{Spam Package}?. Should this be under Misc?
27745 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
27747 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
27748 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
27749 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
27750 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
27751 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
27755 @item Changes in group mode
27756 @c ************************
27761 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
27765 Retrieval of charters and control messages
27767 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
27768 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
27771 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
27773 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
27774 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
27775 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
27776 variable in @file{~/.gnus.el} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
27777 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
27780 (setq gnus-parameters
27782 (gnus-show-threads nil)
27783 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
27784 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
27785 (to-group . "\\1"))))
27789 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
27791 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
27792 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
27793 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
27794 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
27795 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
27796 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
27797 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
27798 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
27799 when getting new mail, remove the function.
27802 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
27804 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
27805 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
27806 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
27809 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
27810 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
27812 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
27813 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
27814 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
27816 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
27820 Old intermediate incoming mail files (@file{Incoming*}) are deleted
27821 after a couple of days, not immediately. @xref{Mail Source
27822 Customization}. (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / Emacs 22.2)
27826 @item Changes in summary and article mode
27827 @c **************************************
27832 @kbd{F} (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}) and @kbd{R}
27833 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}) only yank the text in the
27834 region if the region is active.
27837 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
27838 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
27843 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
27844 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
27845 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
27846 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
27849 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
27854 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
27855 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
27857 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
27858 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
27862 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
27863 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
27866 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
27869 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
27870 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
27873 Warn about email replies to news
27875 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
27876 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
27880 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
27881 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
27885 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
27886 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
27889 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
27890 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
27893 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
27894 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
27897 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
27899 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
27900 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
27901 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
27902 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
27905 The new command @kbd{W Y f}
27906 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}) allows deuglifying broken
27907 Outlook (Express) articles.
27910 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
27912 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
27913 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
27914 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
27915 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
27917 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
27918 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
27919 message cited below.
27922 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now displayed graphically in
27925 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.gnus.el} to
27929 Face headers handling. @xref{Face}.
27932 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
27933 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
27936 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
27939 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
27941 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
27942 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
27943 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
27944 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
27945 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
27949 Deleting of attachments.
27951 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
27952 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
27953 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
27954 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
27955 that support editing.
27958 @code{gnus-default-charset}
27960 The default value is determined from the
27961 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
27962 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
27963 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
27966 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
27968 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
27969 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
27970 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
27973 Extended format specs.
27975 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
27976 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
27977 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
27978 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
27979 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
27980 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
27983 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
27984 @c FIXME: Was this a user-visible change?
27986 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
27987 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
27988 out other articles.
27991 Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
27993 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
27994 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
27995 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
27996 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
27999 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
28003 @item Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features
28004 @c ****************************************************
28011 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
28012 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
28013 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
28016 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
28017 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
28020 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
28021 Gcc articles as read.
28024 Externalizing of attachments
28026 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
28027 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
28028 local files as external parts.
28031 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
28032 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
28035 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
28037 Earlier it was generated when the user configurable email address was
28038 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
28039 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
28040 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
28041 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
28042 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
28043 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
28044 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
28045 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
28048 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
28050 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
28051 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
28052 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
28053 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
28054 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
28055 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
28058 References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated when you
28059 start composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
28063 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers. @xref{X-Face}.
28066 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
28068 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
28069 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
28070 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
28071 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
28072 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
28073 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
28074 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
28075 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
28076 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
28077 was inserted directly.
28080 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
28082 @c FIXME should that not be 'message-user-agent?
28083 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
28084 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
28085 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
28086 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
28089 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
28091 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
28093 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
28094 'bbdb-complete-name)
28098 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
28100 Add a new format of match like
28102 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
28103 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
28105 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
28107 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
28108 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
28112 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
28114 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
28115 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
28116 need add those two headers too.
28119 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
28120 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
28121 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
28125 The option @code{mm-fill-flowed} can be used to disable treatment of
28126 ``format=flowed'' messages. Also, flowed text is disabled when sending
28127 inline PGP signed messages. @xref{Flowed text, , Flowed text,
28128 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
28129 @c This entry is also present in the node "No Gnus".
28132 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
28134 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
28137 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
28139 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
28143 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
28145 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
28146 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
28147 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
28148 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
28149 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
28150 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
28151 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
28152 The behavior can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
28155 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
28156 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
28158 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
28159 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
28160 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
28161 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
28164 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
28167 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
28168 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
28171 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to the symbol
28174 The behavior for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
28175 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
28176 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
28177 invalidate the digital signature.
28180 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
28181 decompressed when activated.
28182 @c FIXME: Does this affect article or message mode?
28185 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
28187 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
28188 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
28189 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
28190 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
28191 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
28194 @item You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
28195 See @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} and @code{mml-dnd-attach-options}.
28196 @xref{MIME, ,MIME, message, Message Manual}.
28197 @c New in 5.10.9 / 5.11 (Emacs 22.1)
28199 @item @code{auto-fill-mode} is enabled by default in Message mode.
28200 See @code{message-fill-column}. @xref{Various Message Variables, ,
28201 Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
28202 @c New in Gnus 5.10.12 / 5.11 (Emacs 22.3)
28206 @item Changes in back ends
28207 @c ***********************
28211 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
28214 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
28217 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
28219 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
28222 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
28224 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
28225 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
28226 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
28227 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
28228 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
28229 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
28230 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
28231 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
28232 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
28233 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
28234 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
28244 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
28245 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
28248 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
28249 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
28250 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
28251 message, Message Manual}).
28254 The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group, Summary and
28255 Message mode. You can also customize the tool bars: @kbd{M-x
28256 customize-apropos RET -tool-bar$} should get you started. This is a new
28257 feature in Gnus 5.10.10. (Only for Emacs, not in XEmacs.)
28259 @item The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly
28260 in the group buffer, see the variable @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}.
28261 Its default value depends on your Emacs version. This is a new feature
28266 @item Miscellaneous changes
28267 @c ************************
28274 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
28275 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
28276 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
28277 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
28278 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
28279 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
28280 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
28281 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
28282 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
28283 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
28284 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
28285 behavior of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
28286 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
28287 is not needed any more.
28290 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
28292 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
28293 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
28294 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
28299 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
28300 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
28301 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
28305 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
28308 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
28310 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
28317 @subsubsection No Gnus
28320 New features in No Gnus:
28321 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
28323 @include gnus-news.texi
28326 @subsubsection Ma Gnus
28329 I'm sure there will be lots of text here. It's really spelled 真
28336 @section The Manual
28340 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
28341 either @code{texi2dvi}
28343 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
28344 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
28346 to get what you hold in your hands now.
28348 The following conventions have been used:
28353 This is a @samp{string}
28356 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
28359 This is a @file{file}
28362 This is a @code{symbol}
28366 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
28370 (setq flargnoze "yes")
28373 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
28376 (setq flumphel 'yes)
28379 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
28380 ever get them confused.
28384 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
28385 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
28386 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
28387 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
28388 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
28389 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
28390 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
28396 @node On Writing Manuals
28397 @section On Writing Manuals
28399 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
28400 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
28401 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
28402 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
28403 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
28404 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code go hand
28407 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
28408 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
28409 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
28412 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
28413 reference manual as source material. It would look quite different.
28418 @section Terminology
28420 @cindex terminology
28425 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
28426 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
28427 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
28428 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
28429 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
28433 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
28434 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
28435 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
28436 not posting, and replying is not following up.
28440 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
28444 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
28449 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
28450 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
28451 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
28452 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
28453 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
28454 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
28455 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
28456 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
28457 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
28460 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
28461 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
28462 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
28463 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
28464 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
28465 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
28467 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
28468 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
28469 access the articles.
28471 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
28472 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
28473 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
28478 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
28479 default, way of getting news. Groups from the native select method
28480 have names like @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}.
28484 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same
28485 time. These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends
28486 for getting news. Foreign groups have names like
28487 @samp{nntp+news.gmane.org:gmane.emacs.gnus.devel}.
28491 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and
28492 being foreign, but they mostly act like they are native, but they, too
28493 have names like @samp{nntp+news.gmane.org:gmane.emacs.gnus.devel}.
28497 A message that has been posted as news.
28500 @cindex mail message
28501 A message that has been mailed.
28505 A mail message or news article
28509 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
28514 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
28519 A line from the head of an article.
28523 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
28524 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
28526 @item @acronym{NOV}
28527 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
28528 @acronym{NOV} stands for News OverView, which is a type of news server
28529 header which provide datas containing the condensed header information
28530 of articles. They are produced by the server itself; in the @code{nntp}
28531 back end Gnus uses the ones that the @acronym{NNTP} server makes, but
28532 Gnus makes them by itself for some backends (in particular, @code{nnml}).
28534 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
28535 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
28536 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
28537 normal @sc{head} format.
28539 The @acronym{NOV} data consist of one or more text lines (@pxref{Text
28540 Lines, ,Motion by Text Lines, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual})
28541 where each line has the header information of one article. The header
28542 information is a tab-separated series of the header's contents including
28543 an article number, a subject, an author, a date, a message-id,
28546 Those data enable Gnus to generate summary lines quickly. However, if
28547 the server does not support @acronym{NOV} or you disable it purposely or
28548 for some reason, Gnus will try to generate the header information by
28549 parsing each article's headers one by one. It will take time.
28550 Therefore, it is not usually a good idea to set nn*-nov-is-evil
28551 (@pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}) to a non-@code{nil} value unless you
28552 know that the server makes wrong @acronym{NOV} data.
28556 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
28557 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
28558 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
28559 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
28560 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
28561 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
28563 @item killed groups
28564 @cindex killed groups
28565 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
28566 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
28568 @item zombie groups
28569 @cindex zombie groups
28570 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
28573 @cindex active file
28574 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
28575 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
28576 is rather large, as you might surmise.
28579 @cindex bogus groups
28580 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
28581 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
28582 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
28585 @cindex activating groups
28586 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
28587 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
28588 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
28592 News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
28593 One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
28594 article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
28598 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
28600 @item select method
28601 @cindex select method
28602 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
28605 @item virtual server
28606 @cindex virtual server
28607 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
28608 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
28609 whole is a virtual server.
28613 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
28614 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
28617 @item ephemeral groups
28618 @cindex ephemeral groups
28619 @cindex temporary groups
28620 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
28621 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
28622 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
28625 @cindex solid groups
28626 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
28627 group buffer are solid groups.
28629 @item sparse articles
28630 @cindex sparse articles
28631 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
28632 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
28636 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
28637 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
28641 @cindex thread root
28642 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
28643 articles in the thread.
28647 An article that has responses.
28651 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
28655 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
28656 specified by RFC 1153.
28659 @cindex splitting, terminology
28660 @cindex mail sorting
28661 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
28662 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
28663 incorrectly called mail filtering.
28669 @node Customization
28670 @section Customization
28671 @cindex general customization
28673 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
28674 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
28675 for some quite common situations.
28678 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
28679 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
28680 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
28681 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
28685 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
28686 @subsection Slow/Expensive Connection
28688 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
28689 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
28690 Gnus has to get from the server.
28694 @item gnus-read-active-file
28695 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
28696 entire active file from the server. This file is often very large. You
28697 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28698 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
28699 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
28701 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
28702 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
28703 Usually this one must @emph{always} be @code{nil} (which is the
28704 default). If, for example, you wish to not use @acronym{NOV}
28705 (@pxref{Terminology}) with the @code{nntp} back end (@pxref{Crosspost
28706 Handling}), set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to a non-@code{nil} value
28707 instead of setting this. But you normally do not need to set
28708 @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} since Gnus by itself will detect whether the
28709 @acronym{NNTP} server supports @acronym{NOV}. Anyway, grabbing article
28710 headers from the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast if you tell
28711 Gnus not to use @acronym{NOV}.
28713 As the variables for the other back ends, there are
28714 @code{nndiary-nov-is-evil}, @code{nndir-nov-is-evil},
28715 @code{nnfolder-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnimap-nov-is-evil},
28716 @code{nnml-nov-is-evil}, and @code{nnspool-nov-is-evil}. Note that a
28717 non-@code{nil} value for @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} overrides all those
28722 @node Slow Terminal Connection
28723 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
28725 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
28726 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
28727 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
28731 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
28732 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
28733 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
28734 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
28735 horizontal and vertical recentering.
28737 @item gnus-visible-headers
28738 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
28739 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
28740 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
28741 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
28743 Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
28745 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
28746 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
28747 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
28750 @item gnus-use-full-window
28751 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
28752 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
28753 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
28754 want to read them anyway.
28756 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
28757 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
28761 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
28762 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
28763 lines, which might save some time.
28767 @node Little Disk Space
28768 @subsection Little Disk Space
28771 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
28772 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
28776 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
28777 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
28778 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28779 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28782 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
28783 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
28784 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28785 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28788 @item gnus-save-killed-list
28789 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
28790 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
28791 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
28792 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
28798 @subsection Slow Machine
28799 @cindex slow machine
28801 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
28802 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
28804 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28805 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
28807 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
28808 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
28809 summary buffer faster. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
28813 @node Troubleshooting
28814 @section Troubleshooting
28815 @cindex troubleshooting
28817 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
28825 Make sure your computer is switched on.
28828 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
28829 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
28833 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
28835 @samp{Ma Gnus v0.4} @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change this line!
28837 you have the right files loaded. Otherwise you have some old @file{.el}
28838 files lying around. Delete these.
28841 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
28842 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
28845 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
28846 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
28847 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
28848 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
28849 something like that.
28852 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
28855 @cindex reporting bugs
28857 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
28859 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
28860 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
28861 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
28862 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
28864 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
28865 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
28866 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
28867 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
28870 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
28871 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
28872 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
28873 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
28874 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
28875 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
28877 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
28878 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
28879 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
28883 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
28884 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
28887 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
28888 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
28889 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
28890 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
28891 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
28892 you discover some weird behavior when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
28893 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
28894 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
28895 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
28896 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
28897 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
28898 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
28899 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
28900 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
28905 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
28906 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
28907 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
28908 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
28909 helps isolating the real problem areas).
28911 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
28912 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
28913 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
28914 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
28915 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
28916 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
28917 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
28918 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
28919 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
28920 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
28921 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
28922 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
28923 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
28926 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
28927 @cindex ding mailing list
28928 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
28929 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
28930 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
28931 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
28935 @node Gnus Reference Guide
28936 @section Gnus Reference Guide
28938 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
28939 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
28940 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
28941 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
28944 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
28945 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
28946 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
28947 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
28948 and general methods of operation.
28951 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
28952 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
28953 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
28954 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
28955 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
28956 * Group Info:: The group info format.
28957 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
28958 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
28959 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
28963 @node Gnus Utility Functions
28964 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
28965 @cindex Gnus utility functions
28966 @cindex utility functions
28968 @cindex internal variables
28970 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
28971 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
28972 Below is a list of the most common ones.
28976 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
28977 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
28978 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
28980 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
28981 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
28982 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
28984 @item gnus-group-real-name
28985 @findex gnus-group-real-name
28986 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
28989 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
28990 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
28991 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
28992 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
28994 @item gnus-get-info
28995 @findex gnus-get-info
28996 Returns the group info list for @var{group} (@pxref{Group Info}).
28998 @item gnus-group-unread
28999 @findex gnus-group-unread
29000 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
29004 @findex gnus-active
29005 The active entry (i.e., a cons cell containing the lowest and highest
29006 article numbers) for @var{group}.
29008 @item gnus-set-active
29009 @findex gnus-set-active
29010 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
29012 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
29013 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
29014 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
29017 @item gnus-continuum-version
29018 @findex gnus-continuum-version
29019 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
29020 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
29023 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
29024 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
29025 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
29027 @item gnus-news-group-p
29028 @findex gnus-news-group-p
29029 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
29031 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
29032 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
29033 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
29035 @item gnus-server-to-method
29036 @findex gnus-server-to-method
29037 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
29039 @item gnus-server-equal
29040 @findex gnus-server-equal
29041 Says whether two virtual servers are essentially equal. For instance,
29042 two virtual servers may have server parameters in different order, but
29043 this function will consider them equal.
29045 @item gnus-group-native-p
29046 @findex gnus-group-native-p
29047 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
29049 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
29050 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
29051 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
29053 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
29054 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
29055 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
29057 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
29058 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
29059 Returns the parameter list of @var{group} (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
29060 If given a second parameter, returns the value of that parameter for
29063 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
29064 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
29065 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
29067 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
29068 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
29069 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
29071 @item gnus-check-backend-function
29072 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
29073 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
29074 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
29077 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
29081 @item gnus-read-method
29082 @findex gnus-read-method
29083 Prompts the user for a select method.
29088 @node Back End Interface
29089 @subsection Back End Interface
29091 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
29092 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
29093 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
29094 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
29095 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
29096 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
29098 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
29099 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
29100 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
29101 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
29102 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
29103 been opened, the function should fail.
29105 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
29106 name. Take this example:
29110 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
29111 (nntp-port-number 4324))
29114 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
29115 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
29117 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
29118 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
29119 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
29121 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
29122 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
29123 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
29125 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
29126 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
29127 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
29128 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
29129 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
29130 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
29133 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
29134 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
29135 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
29136 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
29139 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
29140 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
29141 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
29142 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
29143 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
29144 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
29145 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
29146 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
29147 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
29148 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
29150 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
29151 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
29152 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
29153 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
29154 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
29155 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
29156 of numbers as long as possible.
29158 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
29159 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
29160 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
29162 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
29165 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
29168 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
29169 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
29170 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
29171 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
29172 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
29173 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
29177 @node Required Back End Functions
29178 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
29182 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
29184 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
29185 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
29186 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
29187 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
29189 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
29190 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
29191 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
29192 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
29194 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
29195 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
29196 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
29197 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
29198 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
29199 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
29200 number, do maximum fetches.
29202 Here's an example HEAD:
29205 221 1056 Article retrieved.
29206 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
29207 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
29208 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
29209 Subject: Re: Something very droll
29210 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
29211 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
29213 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
29214 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
29215 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
29219 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
29220 these in the data buffer.
29222 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
29226 head = error / valid-head
29227 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
29228 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
29229 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
29230 header = <text> eol
29234 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
29236 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
29237 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
29241 nov-buffer = *nov-line
29242 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
29243 field = <text except TAB>
29246 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
29250 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
29252 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
29253 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
29255 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
29256 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
29257 server. In fact, it should do so.
29259 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
29260 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
29263 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
29265 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
29266 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
29269 There should be no data returned.
29272 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
29274 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
29275 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
29276 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
29277 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
29279 There should be no data returned.
29282 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
29284 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
29285 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
29286 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
29287 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
29289 There should be no data returned.
29292 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
29294 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
29296 There should be no data returned.
29299 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
29301 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
29302 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
29303 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
29304 it would be nice if that were possible.
29306 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
29307 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
29308 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
29309 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
29310 into its article buffer.
29312 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
29313 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
29314 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
29315 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
29316 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
29317 on successful article retrieval.
29320 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST INFO)
29322 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
29323 making @var{group} the current group.
29325 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
29328 If @var{info}, it allows the backend to update the group info
29331 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
29334 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
29337 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
29338 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
29339 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
29340 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
29341 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
29342 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
29343 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
29344 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
29345 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
29349 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
29350 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
29351 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
29355 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29357 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
29358 a no-op on most back ends.
29360 There should be no data returned.
29363 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
29365 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
29368 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
29371 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
29372 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
29375 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
29376 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
29377 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
29378 and the highest as 0.
29381 active-file = *active-line
29382 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
29384 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
29387 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
29388 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
29389 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
29392 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
29394 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
29395 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
29396 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
29397 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
29398 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
29399 clear if the posting could not be completed.
29401 There should be no result data from this function.
29406 @node Optional Back End Functions
29407 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
29411 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
29413 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
29414 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
29415 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
29417 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
29418 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
29419 former is in the same format as the data from
29420 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
29421 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
29424 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
29428 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
29430 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
29431 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
29432 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
29433 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
29434 should return a non-@code{nil} value (exceptionally,
29435 @code{nntp-request-update-info} always returns @code{nil} not to waste
29436 the network resources).
29438 There should be no result data from this function.
29441 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
29443 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
29444 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
29445 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
29446 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
29447 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
29448 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
29449 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
29450 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
29452 There should be no result data from this function.
29455 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
29457 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
29458 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
29459 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
29460 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
29461 propagate the mark information to the server.
29463 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
29466 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
29469 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
29470 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
29471 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
29472 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
29473 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
29474 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend}, and
29475 @code{forward}, but your back end should, if possible, not limit
29478 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
29479 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
29480 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
29481 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
29483 An example action list:
29486 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
29487 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
29488 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
29491 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
29492 mark on (currently not used for anything).
29494 There should be no result data from this function.
29496 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
29498 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
29499 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
29500 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
29501 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
29502 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
29504 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
29505 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
29506 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
29509 There should be no result data from this function.
29512 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
29514 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
29515 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
29516 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
29517 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
29518 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
29519 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
29520 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
29521 local if that's practical.
29523 There should be no result data from this function.
29526 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
29528 The result data from this function should be a description of
29532 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
29534 description = <text>
29537 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
29539 The result data from this function should be the description of all
29540 groups available on the server.
29543 description-buffer = *description-line
29547 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
29549 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
29550 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
29551 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
29552 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
29553 in the active buffer format.
29555 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
29556 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
29557 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
29558 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
29559 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
29560 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
29561 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
29564 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29566 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
29568 There should be no return data.
29571 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
29573 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
29574 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
29575 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
29576 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
29577 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
29580 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
29583 There should be no result data returned.
29586 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
29588 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
29589 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
29591 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
29592 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
29593 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
29594 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
29595 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
29596 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
29598 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
29599 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
29602 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29603 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29605 There should be no data returned.
29608 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
29610 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
29611 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
29612 this function in short order.
29614 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29615 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29617 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
29618 article for that group.
29620 There should be no data returned.
29623 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
29625 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
29626 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
29628 There should be no data returned.
29631 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
29633 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
29634 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
29635 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
29637 There should be no data returned.
29640 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
29642 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
29643 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
29645 There should be no data returned.
29650 @node Error Messaging
29651 @subsubsection Error Messaging
29653 @findex nnheader-report
29654 @findex nnheader-get-report
29655 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
29656 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
29657 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
29658 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
29659 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
29660 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
29663 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
29665 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
29668 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
29669 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
29670 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
29671 takes one argument---the server symbol.
29673 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
29674 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
29675 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
29678 @node Writing New Back Ends
29679 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
29681 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
29682 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
29683 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
29684 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
29685 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
29688 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
29689 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
29690 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
29692 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
29693 package called @code{nnoo}.
29695 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
29696 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
29702 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
29703 parameters. For instance:
29706 (nnoo-declare nndir
29710 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
29711 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
29714 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
29715 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
29716 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
29718 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
29719 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
29720 a function in those back ends.
29723 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29724 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29725 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29728 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
29729 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
29730 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
29732 @item nnoo-define-basics
29733 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
29737 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29741 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
29742 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
29743 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
29745 @item nnoo-map-functions
29746 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
29747 functions from the parent back ends.
29750 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29751 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29752 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
29755 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
29756 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
29757 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
29758 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
29761 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
29762 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
29763 haven't already been defined.
29769 nnmh-request-newgroups)
29773 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
29774 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
29775 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
29780 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
29783 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
29784 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
29788 (require 'nnheader)
29792 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
29794 (nnoo-declare nndir
29797 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29798 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29799 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29801 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
29802 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
29805 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
29807 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
29808 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
29809 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
29811 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
29812 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
29814 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
29816 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29818 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
29819 (setq nndir-directory
29820 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
29822 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
29823 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
29824 (push `(nndir-current-group
29825 ,(file-name-nondirectory
29826 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29828 (push `(nndir-top-directory
29829 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29831 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
29833 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29834 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29835 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29836 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
29837 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
29841 nnmh-status-message
29843 nnmh-request-newgroups))
29849 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29850 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29852 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
29853 @findex gnus-declare-backend
29854 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
29855 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
29856 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
29858 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
29859 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
29864 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
29867 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
29869 The abilities can be:
29873 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
29875 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
29877 This back end supports both mail and news.
29879 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
29882 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
29883 articles and groups.
29885 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
29886 true for almost all back ends.
29887 @item prompt-address
29888 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
29889 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
29890 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
29894 @node Mail-like Back Ends
29895 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
29897 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
29898 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
29899 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
29900 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
29903 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
29904 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
29905 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
29908 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
29909 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
29912 This function takes four parameters.
29916 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
29919 @item exit-function
29920 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
29922 @item temp-directory
29923 Where the temporary files should be stored.
29926 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
29927 performed for one group only.
29930 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
29931 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
29932 find the article number assigned to this article.
29934 The function also uses the following variables:
29935 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
29936 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
29937 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
29938 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
29942 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
29943 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
29947 @node Score File Syntax
29948 @subsection Score File Syntax
29950 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
29951 malleable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
29952 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
29954 Here's a typical score file:
29958 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
29965 BNF definition of a score file:
29968 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
29969 element = rule / atom
29970 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
29971 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
29972 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
29973 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
29975 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
29976 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
29977 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
29978 date-header = "date"
29979 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29980 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29981 score = "nil" / <integer>
29982 date = "nil" / <natural number>
29983 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
29984 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
29985 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
29986 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
29987 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29988 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29989 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
29990 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29991 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
29992 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
29993 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
29994 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
29995 exclude-files / read-only / touched
29996 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
29997 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
29998 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
29999 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
30000 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
30001 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
30002 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
30003 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
30004 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
30005 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
30006 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
30007 eval = "eval" space <form>
30008 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
30011 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
30014 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
30015 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
30016 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
30017 one looong line, then that's ok.
30019 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
30020 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
30024 @subsection Headers
30026 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
30027 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
30028 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
30029 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
30031 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
30032 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
30033 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
30034 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
30035 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
30036 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
30037 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
30039 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
30040 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
30041 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
30042 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
30043 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
30045 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
30046 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
30052 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
30053 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
30055 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
30056 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
30057 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
30058 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
30060 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
30064 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
30067 is transformed into
30070 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
30073 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
30074 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
30077 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
30080 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
30081 is slightly tricky:
30084 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
30090 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
30093 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
30099 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
30106 and is equal to the previous range.
30108 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
30109 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
30110 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
30114 range = simple-range / normal-range
30115 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
30116 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
30117 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
30118 number *[ " " contents ]
30121 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
30122 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
30123 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
30124 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
30125 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
30130 @subsection Group Info
30132 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
30133 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
30134 describes the group.
30136 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
30137 second is a more complex one:
30140 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
30142 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
30143 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
30145 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
30148 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
30149 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
30150 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
30151 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
30152 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
30153 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
30154 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
30155 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
30156 this section is about.
30158 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
30159 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
30160 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
30162 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
30165 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
30166 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
30167 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30168 group = quote <string> quote
30169 ralevel = rank / level
30170 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
30171 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
30172 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
30174 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
30175 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
30176 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
30177 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
30180 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
30181 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
30184 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
30185 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
30188 @item gnus-info-group
30189 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
30190 @findex gnus-info-group
30191 @findex gnus-info-set-group
30192 Get/set the group name.
30194 @item gnus-info-rank
30195 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
30196 @findex gnus-info-rank
30197 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
30198 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
30200 @item gnus-info-level
30201 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
30202 @findex gnus-info-level
30203 @findex gnus-info-set-level
30204 Get/set the group level.
30206 @item gnus-info-score
30207 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
30208 @findex gnus-info-score
30209 @findex gnus-info-set-score
30210 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
30212 @item gnus-info-read
30213 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
30214 @findex gnus-info-read
30215 @findex gnus-info-set-read
30216 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
30218 @item gnus-info-marks
30219 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
30220 @findex gnus-info-marks
30221 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
30222 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
30224 @item gnus-info-method
30225 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
30226 @findex gnus-info-method
30227 @findex gnus-info-set-method
30228 Get/set the group select method.
30230 @item gnus-info-params
30231 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
30232 @findex gnus-info-params
30233 @findex gnus-info-set-params
30234 Get/set the group parameters.
30237 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
30238 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
30240 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
30241 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
30242 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
30243 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
30246 @node Extended Interactive
30247 @subsection Extended Interactive
30248 @cindex interactive
30249 @findex gnus-interactive
30251 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
30252 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
30253 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
30256 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
30257 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
30262 The best thing to do would have been to implement
30263 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
30264 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
30265 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
30266 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
30267 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
30268 @code{interactive}.
30270 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
30275 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
30276 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
30280 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
30281 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
30282 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
30285 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
30289 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
30293 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
30299 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
30300 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
30304 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
30305 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
30306 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
30308 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
30309 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
30310 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
30311 Gnus, that's very useful.
30313 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
30314 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
30315 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
30316 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
30317 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
30318 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
30319 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
30320 following function:
30323 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
30327 (,function ,@@args))
30331 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
30332 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
30333 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
30336 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
30337 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
30338 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
30340 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
30341 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
30342 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
30345 @node Various File Formats
30346 @subsection Various File Formats
30349 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
30350 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
30354 @node Active File Format
30355 @subsubsection Active File Format
30357 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
30358 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
30361 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
30364 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
30365 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
30366 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
30367 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
30368 no.general 1000 900 y
30371 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
30374 active = *group-line
30375 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
30376 group = <non-white-space string>
30378 high-number = <non-negative integer>
30379 low-number = <positive integer>
30380 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
30383 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
30384 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
30387 @node Newsgroups File Format
30388 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
30390 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
30391 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
30392 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
30395 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
30396 Here's the definition:
30400 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
30401 group = <non-white-space string>
30403 description = <string>
30408 @node Emacs for Heathens
30409 @section Emacs for Heathens
30411 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
30412 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
30413 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
30414 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
30415 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
30416 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
30417 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
30421 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
30422 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
30427 @subsection Keystrokes
30431 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
30434 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
30437 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
30438 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
30439 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
30440 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
30441 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
30442 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
30444 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
30445 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
30446 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
30447 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
30448 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
30449 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
30450 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
30452 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
30453 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
30454 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
30455 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
30456 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
30457 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
30458 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
30460 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
30461 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
30462 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
30463 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
30464 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
30470 @subsection Emacs Lisp
30472 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
30473 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
30474 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
30475 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
30477 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
30478 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
30479 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
30480 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
30481 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
30482 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
30483 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
30484 file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
30485 in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
30486 @file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
30488 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
30489 write the following:
30492 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
30495 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
30496 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
30497 you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
30498 change how Gnus works.
30500 If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
30501 read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
30502 start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
30503 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
30504 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
30506 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
30507 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
30508 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
30512 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
30516 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
30519 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server-file} to
30520 @samp{/etc/nntpserver}'', that means:
30523 (setq gnus-nntp-server-file "/etc/nntpserver")
30526 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
30527 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
30530 @include gnus-faq.texi
30532 @node GNU Free Documentation License
30533 @chapter GNU Free Documentation License
30534 @include doclicense.texi
30552 @c Local Variables: