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4 @settitle Pterodactyl Gnus 0.51 Manual
9 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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264 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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273 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97,98 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
275 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
276 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
277 are preserved on all copies.
279 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
280 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
281 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
282 permission notice identical to this one.
284 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
285 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
294 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
296 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
299 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
300 are preserved on all copies.
303 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
304 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
305 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
306 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
309 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
310 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
311 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
312 permission notice identical to this one.
314 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
315 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
321 @title Pterodactyl Gnus 0.51 Manual
323 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
326 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
327 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
329 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
330 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
331 are preserved on all copies.
333 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
334 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
335 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
336 permission notice identical to this one.
338 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
339 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
348 @top The Gnus Newsreader
352 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
353 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
354 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
357 This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus 0.51.
368 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
369 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
371 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
372 being accused of plagiarism:
374 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
375 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
376 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
377 even read news with it!
379 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
380 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
381 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
382 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
383 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
390 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
391 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
392 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
393 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
394 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
395 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
396 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
397 * Various:: General purpose settings.
398 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
399 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
400 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
401 * Key Index:: Key Index.
405 @chapter Starting Gnus
410 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
411 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
414 @findex gnus-other-frame
415 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
416 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
417 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
419 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
420 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
421 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
423 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
424 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
427 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
428 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
429 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
430 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
431 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
432 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
433 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
434 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
435 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
436 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
437 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
441 @node Finding the News
442 @section Finding the News
445 @vindex gnus-select-method
447 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
448 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
449 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
450 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
453 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
454 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
457 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
460 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
463 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
466 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
467 certainly be much faster.
469 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
471 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
472 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
473 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
474 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
475 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
476 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
478 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
479 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
480 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
481 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
483 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
484 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
485 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
486 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
487 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
488 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
490 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
492 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
493 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
494 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
495 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
496 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
497 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
499 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
501 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
502 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
503 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
504 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
505 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
506 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
509 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
510 would typically set this variable to
513 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
518 @section The First Time
519 @cindex first time usage
521 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
522 be subscribed by default.
524 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
525 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
526 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
527 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
530 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
531 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
532 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
534 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
535 help you with most common problems.
537 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
538 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
542 @node The Server is Down
543 @section The Server is Down
544 @cindex server errors
546 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
547 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
548 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
550 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
551 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
552 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
553 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
554 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
555 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
556 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
558 @findex gnus-no-server
559 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
561 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
562 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
563 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
564 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
565 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
566 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
571 @section Slave Gnusae
574 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
575 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
576 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
577 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
579 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
582 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
583 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
584 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
585 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
586 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
587 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
588 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
590 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
591 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
592 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
593 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
594 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
595 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
596 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
597 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
599 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
600 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
603 @node Fetching a Group
604 @section Fetching a Group
605 @cindex fetching a group
607 @findex gnus-fetch-group
608 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
609 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
610 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
611 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
612 It takes the group name as a parameter.
620 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
621 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
622 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
623 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
624 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
625 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
626 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
627 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
628 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
631 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
632 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
633 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
637 @node Checking New Groups
638 @subsection Checking New Groups
640 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
641 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
642 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
643 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
644 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
645 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
646 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
647 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
648 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
649 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
651 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
652 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
653 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
654 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
655 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
656 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
657 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
658 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
659 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
660 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
661 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
663 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
664 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
665 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
666 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
667 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
668 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
671 @node Subscription Methods
672 @subsection Subscription Methods
674 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
675 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
676 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
678 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
679 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
681 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
685 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
686 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
687 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
688 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
689 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
691 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
692 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
693 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
694 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
696 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
697 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
698 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
700 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
701 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
702 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
703 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
704 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
705 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
706 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
707 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
708 up. Or something like that.
710 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
711 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
712 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
713 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
714 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
716 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
717 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
722 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
723 A closely related variable is
724 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
725 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
726 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
727 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
730 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
731 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
732 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
733 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
736 @node Filtering New Groups
737 @subsection Filtering New Groups
739 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
740 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
741 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
744 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
747 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
748 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
749 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
750 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
751 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
752 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
753 subscribing these groups.
754 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
755 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
757 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
758 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
759 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
760 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
761 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
762 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
763 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
764 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
766 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
767 Yet another variable that meddles here is
768 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
769 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
770 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
771 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
772 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
773 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
774 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
775 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
777 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
778 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
781 @node Changing Servers
782 @section Changing Servers
783 @cindex changing servers
785 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
786 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
787 very flaky and you want to use another.
789 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
790 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
794 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
795 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
796 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
797 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
800 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
801 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
802 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
803 functions more than absolutely necessary.
805 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
806 @findex gnus-change-server
807 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
808 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
809 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
810 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
811 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
813 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
814 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
815 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
816 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
817 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
819 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
820 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
821 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
822 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
823 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
824 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
826 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
827 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
828 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
832 @section Startup Files
833 @cindex startup files
838 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
839 information is traditionally stored in this file.
841 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
842 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
843 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
844 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
845 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
846 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
847 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
849 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
850 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
851 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
852 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
853 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
854 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
856 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
857 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
858 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
859 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
860 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
861 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
863 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
864 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
865 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
866 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
867 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
868 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
869 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
870 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
871 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
872 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
873 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
874 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
876 @vindex gnus-startup-file
877 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
878 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
879 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
881 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
882 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
883 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
884 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
885 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
886 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
887 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
888 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
889 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
890 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
893 (defun turn-off-backup ()
894 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
896 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
897 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
900 @vindex gnus-init-file
901 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
902 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
903 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
904 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
905 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
906 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
907 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
908 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
909 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
918 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
919 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
920 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
921 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
922 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
925 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
926 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
929 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
930 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
931 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
933 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
934 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
935 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
936 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
937 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
938 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
940 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
941 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
942 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
945 @node The Active File
946 @section The Active File
948 @cindex ignored groups
950 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
951 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
952 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
954 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
955 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
956 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
957 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
958 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
959 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
960 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
963 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
964 @c if you set it to anything else.
966 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
968 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
969 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
970 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
972 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
973 you actually subscribe to.
975 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
976 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
977 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
978 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
980 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
981 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
982 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
983 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
984 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
985 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
987 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
988 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
989 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
990 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
991 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
992 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
994 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
995 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
997 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
998 secondary select methods.
1001 @node Startup Variables
1002 @section Startup Variables
1006 @item gnus-load-hook
1007 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1008 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1009 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1010 times you start Gnus.
1012 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1013 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1014 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1016 @item gnus-startup-hook
1017 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1018 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1020 @item gnus-started-hook
1021 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1022 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1025 @item gnus-started-hook
1026 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1027 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1028 generating the group buffer.
1030 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1031 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1032 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1033 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1034 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1035 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1036 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1037 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1039 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1040 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1041 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1042 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1043 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1044 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1046 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1047 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1048 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1050 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1051 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1052 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1054 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1055 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1056 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1057 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1062 @node The Group Buffer
1063 @chapter The Group Buffer
1064 @cindex group buffer
1066 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1067 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1068 long as Gnus is active.
1072 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1073 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1074 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1075 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1076 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1077 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1078 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1079 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1085 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1086 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1087 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1088 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1089 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1090 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1091 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1092 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1093 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1094 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1095 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1096 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1097 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1098 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1099 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1100 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1101 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1105 @node Group Buffer Format
1106 @section Group Buffer Format
1109 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1110 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1111 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1115 @node Group Line Specification
1116 @subsection Group Line Specification
1117 @cindex group buffer format
1119 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1120 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1122 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1125 25: news.announce.newusers
1126 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1131 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1132 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1133 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1134 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1136 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1137 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1138 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1139 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1140 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1141 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1143 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1145 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1146 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1147 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1148 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1151 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1152 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1153 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1155 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1160 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1163 Whether the group is subscribed.
1166 Level of subscribedness.
1169 Number of unread articles.
1172 Number of dormant articles.
1175 Number of ticked articles.
1178 Number of read articles.
1181 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1182 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1185 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1188 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1197 Newsgroup description.
1200 @samp{m} if moderated.
1203 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1212 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1216 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1219 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1220 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1221 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1222 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1223 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1226 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1228 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1232 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1236 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1237 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1238 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1239 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1240 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1241 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1246 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1247 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1248 group, or a bogus native group.
1251 @node Group Modeline Specification
1252 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1253 @cindex group modeline
1255 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1256 The mode line can be changed by setting
1257 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1258 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1262 The native news server.
1264 The native select method.
1268 @node Group Highlighting
1269 @subsection Group Highlighting
1270 @cindex highlighting
1271 @cindex group highlighting
1273 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1274 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1275 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1276 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1277 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1279 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1283 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1
1284 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1285 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2
1286 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1287 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3
1288 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1289 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4
1290 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1291 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5
1292 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1294 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1295 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1296 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1297 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1298 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1299 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1302 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1304 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1311 The number of unread articles in the group.
1315 Whether the group is a mail group.
1317 The level of the group.
1319 The score of the group.
1321 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1323 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1324 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1326 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1327 topic being inserted.
1330 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1331 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1332 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1334 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1335 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1336 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1337 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1338 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1341 @node Group Maneuvering
1342 @section Group Maneuvering
1343 @cindex group movement
1345 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1346 expected, hopefully.
1352 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1353 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1354 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1360 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1361 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1362 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1366 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1367 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1371 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1372 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1376 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1377 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1378 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1382 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1383 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1384 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1387 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1393 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1394 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1395 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1400 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1401 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1402 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1406 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1407 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1408 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1411 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1412 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1413 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1414 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1418 @node Selecting a Group
1419 @section Selecting a Group
1420 @cindex group selection
1425 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1426 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1427 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1428 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1429 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1430 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1431 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1432 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1433 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1434 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1438 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1439 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1440 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1441 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1442 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1446 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1447 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1448 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1449 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1450 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1451 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1452 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1453 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1454 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1455 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1458 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1459 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1460 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1461 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1462 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1465 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1466 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1467 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1468 doing any processing of its contents
1469 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1470 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1471 manner will have no permanent effects.
1475 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1476 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1477 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1478 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1479 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1480 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1481 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1482 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1485 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1486 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1487 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1488 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1493 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1494 full summary buffer.
1497 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1500 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1505 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
1506 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
1507 Useful functions include:
1510 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
1511 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
1512 don't select the article.
1514 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
1515 Select the first unread article.
1517 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
1518 Select the highest-scored unread article.
1522 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1523 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1524 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1528 @node Subscription Commands
1529 @section Subscription Commands
1530 @cindex subscription
1538 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1539 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1540 Toggle subscription to the current group
1541 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1547 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1548 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1549 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1550 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1556 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1557 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1558 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1564 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1565 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1568 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1569 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1570 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1571 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1572 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1578 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1579 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1583 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1584 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1587 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1588 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1589 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1590 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1591 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1592 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1593 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1594 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1595 @file{.newsrc} file.
1599 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1609 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1610 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1611 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1612 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1613 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1614 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1619 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1620 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1621 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1625 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1626 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1627 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1629 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1630 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1631 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1632 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1633 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1634 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1641 @section Group Levels
1645 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1646 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1647 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1648 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1649 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1651 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1657 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1658 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1659 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1660 prompted for a level.
1663 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1664 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1665 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1666 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1667 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1668 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1669 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1670 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1671 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1672 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1673 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1674 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1675 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1676 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1677 reasons of efficiency.
1679 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1680 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1682 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1683 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1684 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1686 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1687 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1688 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1689 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1690 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1691 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1692 relevant valid ranges.
1694 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1695 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1696 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1697 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1698 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1699 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1702 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1703 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1704 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1707 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1708 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1709 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1710 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1713 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1714 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1715 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1716 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1718 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1719 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1720 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1721 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1722 to 5. The default is 6.
1726 @section Group Score
1731 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1732 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1733 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1736 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1737 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1738 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1739 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1740 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1741 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1742 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1744 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1745 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1746 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1747 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1748 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1749 action after each summary exit, you can add
1750 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1751 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1752 slow things down somewhat.
1755 @node Marking Groups
1756 @section Marking Groups
1757 @cindex marking groups
1759 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1760 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1761 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1762 bidding on those groups.
1764 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1765 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1766 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1774 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1775 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1781 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1782 Remove the mark from the current group
1783 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1787 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1788 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1792 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1793 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1797 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1798 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1802 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1803 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1804 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1807 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1809 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1810 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1811 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1812 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1813 the command to be executed.
1816 @node Foreign Groups
1817 @section Foreign Groups
1818 @cindex foreign groups
1820 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1821 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1822 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1823 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1830 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1831 @cindex making groups
1832 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1833 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1834 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1838 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1839 @cindex renaming groups
1840 Rename the current group to something else
1841 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1842 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1848 @findex gnus-group-customize
1849 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1853 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1854 @cindex renaming groups
1855 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1856 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1860 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1861 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1862 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1866 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1867 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1868 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1872 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1874 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1875 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1880 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1881 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1885 @cindex (ding) archive
1886 @cindex archive group
1887 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1888 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1889 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1890 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1891 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1892 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1893 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1897 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1899 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1900 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1901 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1902 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1906 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1908 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1909 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1910 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1914 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1915 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1917 Make a group based on some file or other
1918 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1919 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1920 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1921 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1922 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1923 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1924 @xref{Document Groups}.
1928 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
1929 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
1930 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
1931 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
1935 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1940 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1941 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1942 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1943 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1944 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1945 @xref{Web Searches}.
1947 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1948 to a particular group by using a match string like
1949 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1952 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1953 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1954 This function will delete the current group
1955 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1956 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1957 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1958 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1959 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1963 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1964 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1965 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1969 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1970 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1971 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1974 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1977 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1978 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1979 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1980 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1981 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1982 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1986 @node Group Parameters
1987 @section Group Parameters
1988 @cindex group parameters
1990 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
1991 Here's an example group parameter list:
1994 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
1998 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
1999 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2000 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2001 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2003 The following group parameters can be used:
2008 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2011 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2014 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2015 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2016 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2017 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2018 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2020 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2021 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2022 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2023 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2024 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2025 list address instead.
2029 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2032 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2035 It is totally ignored
2036 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2037 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2039 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2040 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2041 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2042 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2043 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2045 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2046 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2047 sending the message.
2051 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2052 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2053 of whether it has any unread articles.
2055 @item broken-reply-to
2056 @cindex broken-reply-to
2057 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2058 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2059 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2060 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2061 broken behavior. So there!
2065 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2066 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2070 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2071 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2072 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2077 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2078 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2079 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2080 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2081 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2082 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2083 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2087 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2088 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2089 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2092 @cindex total-expire
2093 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2094 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2095 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2096 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2101 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2102 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2103 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2104 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2105 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2106 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2109 @cindex score file group parameter
2110 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2111 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2112 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2115 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2116 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2117 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2118 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2121 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2122 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2123 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2124 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2127 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2128 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2132 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2135 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2140 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2141 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2142 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2146 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2147 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2148 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2150 @item @var{(variable form)}
2151 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2152 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2153 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2154 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2155 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2156 @code{eval}ed there.
2158 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2159 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2160 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2161 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2162 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2166 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2167 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2171 @node Listing Groups
2172 @section Listing Groups
2173 @cindex group listing
2175 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2183 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2184 List all groups that have unread articles
2185 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2186 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2187 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2188 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2195 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2196 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2197 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2198 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2199 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2200 unsubscribed groups).
2204 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2205 List all unread groups on a specific level
2206 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2207 with no unread articles.
2211 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2212 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2213 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2214 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2219 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2220 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2224 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2225 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2226 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2230 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2231 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2235 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2236 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2237 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2238 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2239 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2240 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2241 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2242 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2246 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2247 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2248 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2252 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2253 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2254 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2258 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2259 @cindex visible group parameter
2260 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2261 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2262 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2263 get the same effect.
2265 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2266 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2267 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2268 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2269 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2272 @node Sorting Groups
2273 @section Sorting Groups
2274 @cindex sorting groups
2276 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2277 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2278 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2279 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2280 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2281 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2286 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2287 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2288 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2290 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2291 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2292 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2294 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2295 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2296 Sort by group level.
2298 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2299 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2300 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2302 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2303 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2304 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2305 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2307 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2308 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2309 Sort by number of unread articles.
2311 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2312 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2313 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2318 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2319 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2323 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2324 some sorting criteria:
2328 @kindex G S a (Group)
2329 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2330 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2331 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2334 @kindex G S u (Group)
2335 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2336 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2337 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2340 @kindex G S l (Group)
2341 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2342 Sort the group buffer by group level
2343 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2346 @kindex G S v (Group)
2347 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2348 Sort the group buffer by group score
2349 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2352 @kindex G S r (Group)
2353 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2354 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2355 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2358 @kindex G S m (Group)
2359 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2360 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2361 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2365 All the commands below obeys the process/prefix convention
2366 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2368 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2369 commands will sort in reverse order.
2371 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2375 @kindex G P a (Group)
2376 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2377 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2378 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2381 @kindex G P u (Group)
2382 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2383 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2384 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2387 @kindex G P l (Group)
2388 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2389 Sort the groups by group level
2390 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2393 @kindex G P v (Group)
2394 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2395 Sort the groups by group score
2396 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2399 @kindex G P r (Group)
2400 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2401 Sort the groups by group rank
2402 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2405 @kindex G P m (Group)
2406 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2407 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
2408 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2414 @node Group Maintenance
2415 @section Group Maintenance
2416 @cindex bogus groups
2421 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2422 Find bogus groups and delete them
2423 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2427 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2428 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2429 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2430 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2431 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2435 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2436 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2437 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2438 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2441 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2442 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2443 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2444 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2449 @node Browse Foreign Server
2450 @section Browse Foreign Server
2451 @cindex foreign servers
2452 @cindex browsing servers
2457 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2458 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2459 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2460 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2463 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2464 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2465 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2466 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2468 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2473 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2474 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2478 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2479 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2482 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2483 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2484 Enter the current group and display the first article
2485 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2488 @kindex RET (Browse)
2489 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2490 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2494 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2495 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2496 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2502 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2503 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2507 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2508 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2509 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2514 @section Exiting Gnus
2515 @cindex exiting Gnus
2517 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2522 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2523 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2524 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2525 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2529 @findex gnus-group-exit
2530 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2531 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2535 @findex gnus-group-quit
2536 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2537 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2540 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2541 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2542 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2543 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2544 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2549 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2550 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2551 trying to customize meta-variables.
2556 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2557 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2558 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2564 @section Group Topics
2567 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2568 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2569 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2570 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2571 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2572 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2576 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2577 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2588 2: alt.religion.emacs
2591 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2593 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2594 13: comp.sources.unix
2597 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2599 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2600 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2601 is a toggling command.)
2603 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2604 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2605 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2606 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2609 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2610 the hook for the group mode:
2613 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2617 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2618 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2619 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2620 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2621 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2625 @node Topic Variables
2626 @subsection Topic Variables
2627 @cindex topic variables
2629 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2630 really neat, I think.
2632 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2633 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2634 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2647 Number of groups in the topic.
2649 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2651 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2654 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2655 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2656 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2659 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2660 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2662 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2663 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2664 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2667 @node Topic Commands
2668 @subsection Topic Commands
2669 @cindex topic commands
2671 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2672 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2673 definitions slightly.
2679 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2680 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2681 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2685 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2686 Move the current group to some other topic
2687 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2688 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2692 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2693 Copy the current group to some other topic
2694 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2695 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2699 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2700 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2701 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2702 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2703 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2704 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2705 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2708 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2709 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2713 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2714 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2715 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2719 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2720 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2721 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2725 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2726 Toggle hiding empty topics
2727 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2731 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2732 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2733 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2736 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2737 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2738 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2739 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2743 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2745 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2746 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2747 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2748 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2751 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2752 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2753 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2754 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2758 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2760 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2761 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2762 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2763 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2764 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2765 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2768 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
2769 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
2770 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
2771 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
2775 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2776 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2777 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2781 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2782 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2783 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2788 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2789 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2792 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2793 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2794 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2798 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2799 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2800 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2804 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2805 @cindex group parameters
2806 @cindex topic parameters
2808 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2809 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2815 @subsection Topic Sorting
2816 @cindex topic sorting
2818 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2824 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2825 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2826 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2827 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2830 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2831 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2832 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2833 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2836 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2837 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2838 Sort the current topic by group level
2839 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2842 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2843 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2844 Sort the current topic by group score
2845 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2848 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2849 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2850 Sort the current topic by group rank
2851 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2854 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2855 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2856 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2857 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2861 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2864 @node Topic Topology
2865 @subsection Topic Topology
2866 @cindex topic topology
2869 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2875 2: alt.religion.emacs
2878 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2880 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2881 13: comp.sources.unix
2884 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2885 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2886 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2891 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2892 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2896 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2897 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2898 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2899 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2900 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2901 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2903 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2904 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2905 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2908 @node Topic Parameters
2909 @subsection Topic Parameters
2910 @cindex topic parameters
2912 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2913 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2914 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2916 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2917 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2918 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2919 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2925 2: alt.religion.emacs
2929 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2931 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2932 13: comp.sources.unix
2936 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2937 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2938 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2939 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2940 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2941 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2943 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2944 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2945 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2946 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2947 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2949 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2950 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2951 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2952 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2953 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2954 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2955 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2956 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2959 @node Misc Group Stuff
2960 @section Misc Group Stuff
2963 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2964 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2965 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2966 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2973 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2974 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2975 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2979 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2980 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2981 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2985 @findex gnus-group-mail
2986 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2990 Variables for the group buffer:
2994 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2995 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2996 is called after the group buffer has been
2999 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3000 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3001 is called after the group buffer is
3002 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3005 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3006 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3007 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3008 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3010 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3011 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3012 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3013 whether they are empty or not.
3018 @node Scanning New Messages
3019 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3020 @cindex new messages
3021 @cindex scanning new news
3027 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3028 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3029 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3030 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3031 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3032 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3037 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3038 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3039 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3040 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3041 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3042 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3043 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3045 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3046 @cindex activating groups
3048 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3049 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3054 @findex gnus-group-restart
3055 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3056 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3057 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3061 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3062 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3064 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3065 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3069 @node Group Information
3070 @subsection Group Information
3071 @cindex group information
3072 @cindex information on groups
3079 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3080 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3083 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3084 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3085 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3086 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3087 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3088 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3089 for fetching the file.
3091 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3092 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3096 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3098 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3099 @cindex describing groups
3100 @cindex group description
3101 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3102 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3103 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3107 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3108 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3109 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3116 @findex gnus-version
3117 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3121 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3122 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3125 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3128 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3129 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3133 @node Group Timestamp
3134 @subsection Group Timestamp
3136 @cindex group timestamps
3138 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3139 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3140 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3143 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3146 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3148 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3149 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3152 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3153 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3156 This will result in lines looking like:
3159 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3160 0: custom 19961002T012713
3163 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3164 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3168 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3169 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3174 @subsection File Commands
3175 @cindex file commands
3181 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3182 @vindex gnus-init-file
3183 @cindex reading init file
3184 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3185 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3189 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3190 @cindex saving .newsrc
3191 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3192 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3193 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3196 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3197 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3198 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3203 @node The Summary Buffer
3204 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3205 @cindex summary buffer
3207 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3208 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3210 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3211 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3213 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3216 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3217 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3218 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3219 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3220 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3221 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3222 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3223 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3224 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3225 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3226 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3227 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3228 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3229 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3230 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3231 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3232 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3233 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3234 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3235 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3236 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3237 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3238 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3239 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3240 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3241 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3242 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3243 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3247 @node Summary Buffer Format
3248 @section Summary Buffer Format
3249 @cindex summary buffer format
3253 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3254 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3255 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3261 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3262 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3263 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3264 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3267 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3268 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3269 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3270 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3271 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3272 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3273 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3274 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3275 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3276 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3277 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3280 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3281 'mail-extract-address-components)
3284 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3285 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3286 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3287 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3290 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3291 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3293 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3294 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3295 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3296 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3297 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3299 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3301 The following format specification characters are understood:
3309 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3310 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3311 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3313 Full @code{From} header.
3315 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3317 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3318 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3320 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3321 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3322 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3323 may be more thorough.
3325 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3328 Number of lines in the article.
3330 Number of characters in the article.
3332 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3334 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3335 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3337 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3338 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3340 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3341 for adopted articles.
3343 One space for each thread level.
3345 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3350 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3351 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3355 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3357 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3358 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3359 default level. If the difference between
3360 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3361 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3369 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3371 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3377 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3378 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3380 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3381 article has any children.
3387 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3388 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3389 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3390 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3391 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3392 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3395 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3396 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3397 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3398 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3399 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3400 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3402 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3403 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3405 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3408 @node To From Newsgroups
3409 @subsection To From Newsgroups
3413 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
3414 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
3415 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
3416 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
3417 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
3421 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
3422 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
3423 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
3427 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3428 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
3431 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
3432 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
3435 @findex gnus-extra-header
3436 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
3437 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
3438 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
3441 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
3445 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3446 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
3447 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
3448 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
3449 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
3450 headers are used instead.
3454 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
3455 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
3456 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files.
3458 In summary, you'd typically do something like the following:
3461 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3463 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
3464 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
3465 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
3466 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3471 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3472 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3474 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3475 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3476 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3477 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3479 Here are the elements you can play with:
3485 Unprefixed group name.
3487 Current article number.
3489 Current article score.
3493 Number of unread articles in this group.
3495 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3498 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3499 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3500 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3501 and no unselected ones.
3503 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3504 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3506 Subject of the current article.
3508 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3510 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3512 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3514 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3516 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3518 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3522 @node Summary Highlighting
3523 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3527 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3528 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3529 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3530 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3531 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3533 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3534 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3535 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3536 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3538 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3539 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3540 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3541 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3543 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3544 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3545 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3546 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3547 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3548 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3550 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3551 ((> score default) . bold))
3553 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3554 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3558 @node Summary Maneuvering
3559 @section Summary Maneuvering
3560 @cindex summary movement
3562 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3563 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3565 None of these commands select articles.
3570 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3571 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3572 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3573 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3574 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3578 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3579 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3580 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3581 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3582 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3587 @kindex G j (Summary)
3588 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3589 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3590 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3593 @kindex G g (Summary)
3594 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3595 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3596 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3599 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3600 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3601 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3602 to the group buffer.
3604 Variables related to summary movement:
3608 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3609 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3610 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3611 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3612 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3613 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3614 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3615 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3616 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3617 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3618 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3619 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3620 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3621 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3623 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3624 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3625 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3626 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3627 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3628 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
3629 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
3631 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3633 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3634 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3635 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3636 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3637 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3639 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3640 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3641 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3642 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3643 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3644 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3645 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3646 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3649 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
3650 the given number of lines from the top.
3655 @node Choosing Articles
3656 @section Choosing Articles
3657 @cindex selecting articles
3660 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3661 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3665 @node Choosing Commands
3666 @subsection Choosing Commands
3668 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3669 and they all select and display an article.
3673 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3674 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3675 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3676 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3681 @kindex G n (Summary)
3682 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3683 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3684 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3689 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3690 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3691 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3696 @kindex G N (Summary)
3697 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3698 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3703 @kindex G P (Summary)
3704 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3705 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3708 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3709 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3710 Go to the next article with the same subject
3711 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3714 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3715 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3716 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3717 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3721 @kindex G f (Summary)
3723 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3724 Go to the first unread article
3725 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3729 @kindex G b (Summary)
3731 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3732 Go to the article with the highest score
3733 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3738 @kindex G l (Summary)
3739 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3740 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3743 @kindex G o (Summary)
3744 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3746 @cindex article history
3747 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3748 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3749 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3750 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3751 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3752 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3756 @node Choosing Variables
3757 @subsection Choosing Variables
3759 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3762 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3763 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3764 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3765 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3766 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3767 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3769 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3770 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3771 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3772 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3774 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3775 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3776 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3777 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3778 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3779 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3780 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3781 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3782 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3783 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3784 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3785 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3786 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3787 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3792 @node Paging the Article
3793 @section Scrolling the Article
3794 @cindex article scrolling
3799 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3800 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3801 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3802 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3803 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3806 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3807 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3808 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3811 @kindex RET (Summary)
3812 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3813 Scroll the current article one line forward
3814 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3817 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
3818 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
3819 Scroll the current article one line backward
3820 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
3824 @kindex A g (Summary)
3826 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3827 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3828 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3829 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3830 the way it came from the server.
3835 @kindex A < (Summary)
3836 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3837 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3838 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3843 @kindex A > (Summary)
3844 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3845 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3849 @kindex A s (Summary)
3851 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3852 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3853 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3857 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3858 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3863 @node Reply Followup and Post
3864 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3867 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3868 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3872 @node Summary Mail Commands
3873 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3875 @cindex composing mail
3877 Commands for composing a mail message:
3883 @kindex S r (Summary)
3885 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3886 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3887 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3888 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3889 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3894 @kindex S R (Summary)
3895 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3896 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3897 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3898 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3899 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3902 @kindex S w (Summary)
3903 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3904 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3905 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3906 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3907 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3910 @kindex S W (Summary)
3911 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3912 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3913 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3914 the process/prefix convention.
3917 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3918 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3919 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3920 Forward the current article to some other person
3921 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3922 headers of the forwarded article.
3927 @kindex S m (Summary)
3928 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3929 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3930 Send a mail to some other person
3931 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3934 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3935 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3936 @cindex bouncing mail
3937 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3938 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3939 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3940 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3941 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3942 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3943 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3944 very well fail, though.
3947 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3948 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3949 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3950 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3951 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3952 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3953 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3954 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3955 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3956 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3958 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3959 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3960 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3961 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3962 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3964 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3965 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3968 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3969 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3970 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3971 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3972 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3975 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3976 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3977 @cindex crossposting
3978 @cindex excessive crossposting
3979 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3980 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3982 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3983 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
3984 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3985 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3986 command understands the process/prefix convention
3987 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3991 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3994 @node Summary Post Commands
3995 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3997 @cindex composing news
3999 Commands for posting a news article:
4005 @kindex S p (Summary)
4006 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4007 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4008 Post an article to the current group
4009 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4014 @kindex S f (Summary)
4015 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4016 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4017 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4021 @kindex S F (Summary)
4023 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4024 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4025 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4026 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4027 process/prefix convention.
4030 @kindex S n (Summary)
4031 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4032 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4033 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4036 @kindex S N (Summary)
4037 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4038 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4039 message through mail and include the original message
4040 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4041 the process/prefix convention.
4044 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4045 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4046 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4047 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4048 headers of the forwarded article.
4051 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4052 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4054 @cindex making digests
4055 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4056 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4057 process/prefix convention.
4060 @kindex S u (Summary)
4061 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4062 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4063 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4064 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4067 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4070 @node Canceling and Superseding
4071 @section Canceling Articles
4072 @cindex canceling articles
4073 @cindex superseding articles
4075 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4076 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4078 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4080 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4082 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4083 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4084 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4085 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4086 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4087 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4089 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4090 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4093 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4094 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4095 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4097 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4098 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4099 your original article.
4101 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4103 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4104 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4105 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4108 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4109 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4110 have posted almost the same article twice.
4112 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4113 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4114 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4115 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4116 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4117 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4118 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4119 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4120 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4121 canceled/superseded.
4123 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4126 @node Marking Articles
4127 @section Marking Articles
4128 @cindex article marking
4129 @cindex article ticking
4132 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4134 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4135 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4136 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4138 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4141 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4142 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4143 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4147 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4151 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4152 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4156 @node Unread Articles
4157 @subsection Unread Articles
4159 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4164 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4165 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4167 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4168 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4169 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4170 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4171 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4175 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4176 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4178 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4179 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4180 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4183 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4184 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4186 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4191 @subsection Read Articles
4192 @cindex expirable mark
4194 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4199 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4200 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4201 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4204 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4205 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4208 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4209 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4210 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4213 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4214 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4217 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4218 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4221 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4222 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4225 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4226 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4229 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4230 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4233 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4234 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4237 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4238 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4242 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4243 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4244 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4248 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4249 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4251 One more special mark, though:
4255 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4256 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4258 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4259 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4260 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4261 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4267 @subsection Other Marks
4268 @cindex process mark
4271 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4277 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4278 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4279 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4280 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4281 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
4284 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4285 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4286 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4287 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4290 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4291 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4292 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4295 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4296 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4297 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4298 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4301 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4302 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4303 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4304 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4305 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4308 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4309 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4310 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4311 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4312 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4313 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4317 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4318 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4319 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4321 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4322 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4323 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4327 @subsection Setting Marks
4328 @cindex setting marks
4330 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4335 @kindex M c (Summary)
4336 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4337 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4338 @cindex mark as unread
4339 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4340 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4346 @kindex M t (Summary)
4347 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4348 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4349 @xref{Article Caching}.
4354 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4355 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4356 Mark the current article as dormant
4357 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4361 @kindex M d (Summary)
4363 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4364 Mark the current article as read
4365 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4369 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4370 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4371 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4376 @kindex M k (Summary)
4377 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4378 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4379 and then select the next unread article
4380 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4384 @kindex M K (Summary)
4385 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4386 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4387 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4388 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4391 @kindex M C (Summary)
4392 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4393 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4394 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4397 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4398 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4399 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4400 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4403 @kindex M H (Summary)
4404 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4405 Catchup the current group to point
4406 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4409 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4410 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4411 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4412 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4415 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4416 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4417 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4418 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4422 @kindex M e (Summary)
4424 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4425 Mark the current article as expirable
4426 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4429 @kindex M b (Summary)
4430 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4431 Set a bookmark in the current article
4432 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4435 @kindex M B (Summary)
4436 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4437 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4438 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4441 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4442 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4443 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4444 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4447 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4448 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4449 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4450 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4453 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4454 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4455 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4456 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4457 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4460 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4461 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4462 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4463 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4464 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4465 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4466 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4467 The default is @code{t}.
4470 @node Setting Process Marks
4471 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4472 @cindex setting process marks
4479 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4480 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4481 Mark the current article with the process mark
4482 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4483 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4487 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4488 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4489 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4490 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4493 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4494 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4495 Remove the process mark from all articles
4496 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4499 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4500 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4501 Invert the list of process marked articles
4502 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4505 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4506 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4507 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4508 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4511 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4512 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4513 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4516 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4517 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4518 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4519 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4522 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4523 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4524 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4525 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4528 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4529 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4530 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4531 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4534 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4535 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4536 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4539 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4540 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4541 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4542 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4545 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4546 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4547 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4550 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4551 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4552 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4553 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4556 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4557 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4558 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4559 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4562 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4563 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4564 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4565 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4568 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4569 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4570 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4571 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4580 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4581 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4582 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4585 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4586 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4587 additional articles.
4593 @kindex / / (Summary)
4594 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4595 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4596 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4599 @kindex / a (Summary)
4600 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4601 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4602 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4606 @kindex / u (Summary)
4608 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4609 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4610 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4611 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4612 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4615 @kindex / m (Summary)
4616 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4617 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4618 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4621 @kindex / t (Summary)
4622 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4623 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4624 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4625 articles younger than that number of days.
4628 @kindex / n (Summary)
4629 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4630 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4631 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4632 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4635 @kindex / w (Summary)
4636 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4637 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4638 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4642 @kindex / v (Summary)
4643 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4644 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4645 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4649 @kindex M S (Summary)
4650 @kindex / E (Summary)
4651 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4652 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4653 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4656 @kindex / D (Summary)
4657 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4658 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4659 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4662 @kindex / * (Summary)
4663 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4664 Include all cached articles in the limit
4665 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4668 @kindex / d (Summary)
4669 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4670 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4671 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4674 @kindex / T (Summary)
4675 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4676 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4679 @kindex / c (Summary)
4680 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4681 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4682 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4685 @kindex / C (Summary)
4686 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4687 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4688 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4689 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4697 @cindex article threading
4699 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4700 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4701 hierarchical fashion.
4703 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4704 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4705 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4706 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4707 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4708 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4709 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4711 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4715 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4718 A tree-like article structure.
4721 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4724 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4725 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4726 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4727 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4728 called loose threads.
4730 @item thread gathering
4731 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4733 @item sparse threads
4734 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4735 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4741 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4742 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4746 @node Customizing Threading
4747 @subsection Customizing Threading
4748 @cindex customizing threading
4751 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4752 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4753 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4754 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4759 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4762 @cindex loose threads
4765 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4766 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4767 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4768 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4769 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4770 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4772 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4773 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4774 There are four possible values:
4778 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4779 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4780 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4781 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4782 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4787 @cindex adopting articles
4792 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4793 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4794 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4795 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4798 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4799 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4800 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4801 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4802 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4803 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4804 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4807 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4808 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4809 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4813 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4814 display them after one another.
4817 Don't gather loose threads.
4820 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4821 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4822 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4823 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4824 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4825 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4826 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4827 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4828 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4829 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4830 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4832 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4833 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4834 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4837 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4838 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4839 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4840 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4841 simplification is used.
4843 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4844 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4845 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4846 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4848 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4850 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4856 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4857 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4858 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4859 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4864 (mapconcat 'identity
4865 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4867 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4870 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4873 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4874 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4875 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4876 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4877 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4878 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4880 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4883 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4884 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4885 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4887 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4888 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4891 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4892 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4893 Remove excessive whitespace.
4896 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4899 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4900 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4901 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4902 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4903 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4904 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4905 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4906 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4908 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4909 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4910 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4911 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4912 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4913 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4914 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4915 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4916 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4920 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4921 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4922 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4923 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4925 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4926 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4927 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4930 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4934 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4935 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4941 @node Filling In Threads
4942 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4945 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4946 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4947 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4948 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4949 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4950 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4951 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4952 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4953 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4954 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4955 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4956 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4958 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4959 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4960 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4962 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4963 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4964 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4965 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4966 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4967 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4968 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4969 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4970 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4971 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4972 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4973 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4974 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4975 @code{nil} by default.
4980 @node More Threading
4981 @subsubsection More Threading
4984 @item gnus-show-threads
4985 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4986 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4987 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4988 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4989 slower and more awkward.
4991 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4992 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4993 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4996 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4997 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4998 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4999 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5000 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5001 threads are expunged.
5003 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5004 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5005 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5008 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5009 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5010 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5011 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5012 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5015 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5016 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5017 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5023 @node Low-Level Threading
5024 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5028 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5029 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5030 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5032 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5033 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5034 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5035 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5036 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5037 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5038 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5039 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5040 meaningful. Here's one example:
5043 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5045 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5046 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5048 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5050 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5057 @node Thread Commands
5058 @subsection Thread Commands
5059 @cindex thread commands
5065 @kindex T k (Summary)
5066 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5067 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5068 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5069 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5070 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5075 @kindex T l (Summary)
5076 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5077 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5078 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5079 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5082 @kindex T i (Summary)
5083 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5084 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5085 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5088 @kindex T # (Summary)
5089 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5090 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5091 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5094 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5095 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5096 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5097 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5100 @kindex T T (Summary)
5101 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5102 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5105 @kindex T s (Summary)
5106 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5107 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5108 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5111 @kindex T h (Summary)
5112 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5113 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5116 @kindex T S (Summary)
5117 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5118 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5121 @kindex T H (Summary)
5122 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5123 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5126 @kindex T t (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5128 Re-thread the current article's thread
5129 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5130 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5133 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5134 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5135 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5136 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5140 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5141 understand the numeric prefix.
5146 @kindex T n (Summary)
5147 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5148 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5151 @kindex T p (Summary)
5152 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5153 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5156 @kindex T d (Summary)
5157 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5158 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5161 @kindex T u (Summary)
5162 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5163 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5166 @kindex T o (Summary)
5167 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5168 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5171 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5172 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5173 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5174 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5175 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5176 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5177 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5178 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5179 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5180 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5181 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5182 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5189 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5190 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5191 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5192 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5193 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5194 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5195 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5196 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5197 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
5198 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
5199 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
5201 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5202 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5203 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5204 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5205 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5207 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5208 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5209 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
5211 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
5212 last function in the list. You should probably always include
5213 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5214 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5215 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5216 ascending article order.
5218 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
5219 by number, you could do something like:
5222 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5223 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5224 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5225 (reverse gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
5228 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5229 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5230 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5231 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5232 which the articles arrived.
5234 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5238 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5240 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5241 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5244 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5245 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5246 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5247 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5250 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5251 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5252 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5253 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5254 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5255 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5256 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5257 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5258 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5259 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5260 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5261 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5262 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5264 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5268 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5269 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5270 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5275 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5276 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5277 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5278 @cindex article pre-fetch
5281 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5282 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5283 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5284 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5285 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5287 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5288 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5290 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5291 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5292 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5293 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5294 connection is blocked.
5296 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5297 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5298 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5299 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5301 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5302 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5303 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5304 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5307 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5310 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5311 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5312 happen automatically.
5314 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5315 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5316 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5317 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5318 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5319 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5320 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5322 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5323 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5324 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5325 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5326 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5327 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5328 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5329 data structure as the only parameter.
5331 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5334 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5335 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5336 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5337 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5340 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5343 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5344 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5345 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5347 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5348 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5349 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5350 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5354 Remove articles when they are read.
5357 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5360 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5362 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5363 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5364 @c from the next group.
5367 @node Article Caching
5368 @section Article Caching
5369 @cindex article caching
5372 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5373 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5374 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5375 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5376 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5378 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5380 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5381 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5382 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5383 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5384 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5385 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5386 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5387 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5389 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5390 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5391 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5392 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5393 as dormant, and don't worry.
5395 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5397 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5398 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5399 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5400 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5401 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5402 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5403 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5404 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5405 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5406 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5408 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5409 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5410 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5411 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5412 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5413 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5414 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5415 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5416 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5417 not then be downloaded by this command.
5419 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5420 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
5421 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
5422 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5423 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5424 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
5426 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
5427 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
5428 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
5429 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
5430 variables, the group is not cached.
5432 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5433 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5434 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5435 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5436 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5437 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5438 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5439 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5440 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5444 @node Persistent Articles
5445 @section Persistent Articles
5446 @cindex persistent articles
5448 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5449 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5450 useful in my opinion.
5452 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5453 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5454 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5455 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5456 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5457 the expiry going on at the news server.
5459 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5460 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5461 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5467 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5468 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5471 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5472 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5473 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5474 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5478 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5480 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5481 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5482 interested in persistent articles:
5485 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5489 @node Article Backlog
5490 @section Article Backlog
5492 @cindex article backlog
5494 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5495 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5496 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5497 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5498 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5499 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5500 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5501 increase memory usage some.
5503 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5504 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5505 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5506 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5507 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5508 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5509 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5511 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5514 @node Saving Articles
5515 @section Saving Articles
5516 @cindex saving articles
5518 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5519 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5520 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5521 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5522 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5524 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5525 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5526 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5528 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5529 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5530 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5531 deleted before saving.
5537 @kindex O o (Summary)
5539 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5540 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5541 Save the current article using the default article saver
5542 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5545 @kindex O m (Summary)
5546 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5547 Save the current article in mail format
5548 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5551 @kindex O r (Summary)
5552 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5553 Save the current article in rmail format
5554 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5557 @kindex O f (Summary)
5558 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5559 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5560 Save the current article in plain file format
5561 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5564 @kindex O F (Summary)
5565 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5566 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5567 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5570 @kindex O b (Summary)
5571 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5572 Save the current article body in plain file format
5573 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5576 @kindex O h (Summary)
5577 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5578 Save the current article in mh folder format
5579 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5582 @kindex O v (Summary)
5583 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5584 Save the current article in a VM folder
5585 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5588 @kindex O p (Summary)
5589 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5590 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5591 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5594 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5595 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5596 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5597 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5598 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5599 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5600 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5601 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5602 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5603 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5604 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5605 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5609 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5610 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5611 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
5612 functions below, or you can create your own.
5616 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5617 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5618 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5619 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5620 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5621 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5622 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5624 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5625 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5626 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5627 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5628 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5629 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5631 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5632 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5633 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5634 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5635 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5636 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5637 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5639 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5640 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5641 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5642 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5643 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5645 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5646 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5647 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5648 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5649 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5652 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5653 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5654 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5655 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5656 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5658 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5659 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5660 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5661 reader to use this setting.
5664 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5665 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5666 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5667 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5670 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5671 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5672 available functions that generate names:
5676 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5677 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5678 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5680 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5681 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5682 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5684 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5685 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5686 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5688 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5689 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5690 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5693 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5694 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5695 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5696 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5697 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5701 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5702 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5703 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5704 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5707 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5708 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5709 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5710 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5711 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5712 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5713 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5714 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5715 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5717 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5718 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5719 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5720 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5722 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5723 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5724 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5727 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5728 lots of mail groups called things like
5729 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5730 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5731 following will do just that:
5734 (defun my-save-name (group)
5735 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5736 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5738 (setq gnus-split-methods
5739 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5744 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5745 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5746 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5747 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5748 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5749 all the files in the top level directory
5750 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5751 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5752 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5753 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5755 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5756 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5757 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5758 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5759 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5762 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5766 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5767 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5770 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5771 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5772 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5773 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5776 @node Decoding Articles
5777 @section Decoding Articles
5778 @cindex decoding articles
5780 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5781 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5784 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5785 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5786 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5787 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5788 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5789 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5793 @cindex article series
5794 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5795 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5796 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5797 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5798 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5800 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5801 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5802 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5804 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5805 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5806 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5808 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5809 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5810 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5813 @node Uuencoded Articles
5814 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5816 @cindex uuencoded articles
5821 @kindex X u (Summary)
5822 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5823 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5824 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5827 @kindex X U (Summary)
5828 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5829 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5830 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5833 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5834 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5835 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5838 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5839 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5840 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5841 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5845 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5846 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5847 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5848 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5849 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5851 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5852 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5853 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5854 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5857 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5858 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5859 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5860 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5861 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5862 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5866 @node Shell Archives
5867 @subsection Shell Archives
5869 @cindex shell archives
5870 @cindex shared articles
5872 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5873 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5874 some commands to deal with these:
5879 @kindex X s (Summary)
5880 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5881 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5884 @kindex X S (Summary)
5885 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5886 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5889 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5890 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5891 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5894 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5895 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5896 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5897 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5901 @node PostScript Files
5902 @subsection PostScript Files
5908 @kindex X p (Summary)
5909 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5910 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5913 @kindex X P (Summary)
5914 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5915 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5916 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5919 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5920 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5921 View the current PostScript series
5922 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5925 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5926 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5927 View and save the current PostScript series
5928 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5933 @subsection Other Files
5937 @kindex X o (Summary)
5938 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5939 Save the current series
5940 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5943 @kindex X b (Summary)
5944 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5945 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5946 doesn't really work yet.
5950 @node Decoding Variables
5951 @subsection Decoding Variables
5953 Adjective, not verb.
5956 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5957 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5958 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5962 @node Rule Variables
5963 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5964 @cindex rule variables
5966 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5967 variables are of the form
5970 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5977 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5978 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5980 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5981 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5984 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5985 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5988 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5989 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5990 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5991 user and default view rules.
5993 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5994 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5995 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6000 @node Other Decode Variables
6001 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6004 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6006 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6007 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6008 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6009 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6010 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6014 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6015 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6018 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6019 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6020 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6023 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6024 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6025 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6026 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6027 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6030 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6031 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6032 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6034 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6035 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6036 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6037 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6038 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6041 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6042 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6043 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6045 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6046 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6047 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6048 looking for files to display.
6050 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6051 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6052 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6055 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6056 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6057 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6060 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6061 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6062 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6065 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6066 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6067 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6070 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6071 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6072 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6073 decoded articles as unread.
6075 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6076 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6077 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6078 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6080 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6081 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6082 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6084 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6085 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6087 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6088 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6089 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6090 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6092 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6093 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6094 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6095 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6096 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6097 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
6098 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6099 simply dropped them.
6104 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6105 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6109 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6110 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6111 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6112 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6113 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6114 for you when you post the article.
6116 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6117 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6118 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6119 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6121 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6122 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6123 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6124 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6125 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6126 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6127 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6129 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6130 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6131 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6132 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6133 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6134 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6135 Default is @code{t}.
6141 @subsection Viewing Files
6142 @cindex viewing files
6143 @cindex pseudo-articles
6145 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6146 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6147 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6148 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6149 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6150 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6151 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6153 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6154 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6155 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6156 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6158 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6159 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6160 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6162 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6163 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6164 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6165 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6166 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6168 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6169 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6170 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6171 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6172 a list of parameters to that command.
6174 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6175 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6176 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6178 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6179 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6180 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6183 @node Article Treatment
6184 @section Article Treatment
6186 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6187 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6188 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6189 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6190 these articles easier.
6193 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6194 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6195 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6196 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6197 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6198 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6199 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6203 @node Article Highlighting
6204 @subsection Article Highlighting
6205 @cindex highlighting
6207 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6208 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6213 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6214 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6215 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6216 Do much highlighting of the current article
6217 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6218 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6220 Most users would prefer using @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} in
6221 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}) instead.
6222 This is a bit less agressive---it highlights only the headers, the
6223 signature and adds buttons.
6226 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6227 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6228 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6229 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6230 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6231 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6232 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6233 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6234 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6235 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6236 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6239 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6240 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6241 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6243 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6246 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6248 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6249 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6250 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6252 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6253 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6254 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6256 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6257 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6258 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6260 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6261 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6262 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6263 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6264 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6265 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6267 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6268 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6269 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6271 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6272 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6273 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6275 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6276 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6277 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6278 that it's a citation.
6280 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6281 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6282 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6284 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6285 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6286 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6288 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6289 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6290 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6291 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6297 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6298 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6299 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6300 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6301 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6302 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6303 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6304 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6309 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to highlight articles automatically.
6312 @node Article Fontisizing
6313 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6315 @cindex article emphasis
6317 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6318 @kindex W e (Summary)
6319 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6320 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6321 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6322 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6324 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6325 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6326 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6327 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6328 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6329 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6330 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6331 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6335 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6336 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6337 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6340 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6341 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6342 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6343 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6344 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6345 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6346 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6347 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6348 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6349 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6350 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6351 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6352 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6354 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6355 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6356 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6360 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6363 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to fontize articles automatically.
6366 @node Article Hiding
6367 @subsection Article Hiding
6368 @cindex article hiding
6370 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6371 too much cruft in most articles.
6376 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6377 @findex gnus-article-hide
6378 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
6379 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
6380 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
6383 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6384 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6385 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6389 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6390 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6391 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6392 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6395 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6396 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6397 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6401 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6402 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6403 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6404 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6405 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6406 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
6407 articles that have signatures in them do:
6409 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
6411 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp)
6413 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
6414 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
6416 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6419 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
6424 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6425 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6426 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6427 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6430 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6431 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6432 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6433 customizing the hiding:
6437 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6438 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6439 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6440 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6441 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6442 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6443 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6448 Starting point of the hidden text.
6450 Ending point of the hidden text.
6452 Number of characters in the hidden region.
6454 Number of lines of hidden text.
6457 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6458 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6459 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6464 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
6465 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
6467 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
6468 following two variables:
6471 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6472 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6473 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6474 50), hide the cited text.
6476 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6477 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6478 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6483 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6484 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6485 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6486 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6487 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6488 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6492 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6493 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6494 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6496 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6497 citation customization.
6499 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to hide article elements
6503 @node Article Washing
6504 @subsection Article Washing
6506 @cindex article washing
6508 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6509 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6511 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6512 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6518 @kindex W l (Summary)
6519 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6520 Remove page breaks from the current article
6521 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article} for page
6525 @kindex W r (Summary)
6526 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6527 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6528 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6529 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6530 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6531 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6533 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6534 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6535 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6536 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6539 @kindex W t (Summary)
6540 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6541 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6542 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6545 @kindex W v (Summary)
6546 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6547 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6548 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6551 @kindex W m (Summary)
6552 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6553 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6554 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6557 @kindex W o (Summary)
6558 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6559 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6562 @kindex W d (Summary)
6563 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6564 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
6566 @cindex M******** sm*rtq**t*s
6568 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s according to
6569 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
6570 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}).
6573 @kindex W w (Summary)
6574 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6575 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6576 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6577 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6579 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6583 @kindex W c (Summary)
6584 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6585 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
6586 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
6587 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
6588 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6591 @kindex W q (Summary)
6592 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6593 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6594 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6595 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6596 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6600 @kindex W f (Summary)
6602 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6603 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6604 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6605 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6611 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6612 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6613 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6614 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6615 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6616 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6617 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6618 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6619 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6620 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6621 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6622 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6623 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6624 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6628 @kindex W b (Summary)
6629 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6630 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6631 @xref{Article Buttons}.
6634 @kindex W B (Summary)
6635 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6636 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6637 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6640 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6641 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6642 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6643 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6646 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6647 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6648 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6649 lines with a single empty line.
6650 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6653 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6654 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6655 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6656 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6659 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6660 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6661 Do all the three commands above
6662 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6665 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6666 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6667 Remove all blank lines
6668 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6671 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6672 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6673 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6674 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6678 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to wash articles automatically.
6681 @node Article Buttons
6682 @subsection Article Buttons
6685 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6686 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6687 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6688 button on these references.
6690 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6691 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6692 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6697 @item gnus-button-alist
6698 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6699 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6702 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6708 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6709 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6710 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6713 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6714 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6715 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6718 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6719 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6720 avoid false matches.
6723 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6726 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6727 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6731 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6734 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6737 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6738 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6739 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6740 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6741 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6744 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6747 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6749 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6750 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6751 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6752 default values of the variables above.
6754 @item gnus-article-button-face
6755 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6756 Face used on buttons.
6758 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6759 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6760 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6764 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to buttonize articles automatically.
6768 @subsection Article Date
6770 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6771 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6772 when the article was sent.
6777 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6778 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6779 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6780 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6783 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6784 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6786 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6787 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6790 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6791 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6792 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6795 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6796 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6797 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6798 @findex format-time-string
6799 Display the date using a user-defined format
6800 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6801 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6802 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6803 for a list of possible format specs.
6806 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6807 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6808 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6809 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6810 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6811 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
6812 updated continually, you can put
6815 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6818 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6819 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6823 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6824 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6825 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6826 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6827 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6828 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6829 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6833 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to display the date in your
6834 preferred format automatically.
6837 @node Article Signature
6838 @subsection Article Signature
6840 @cindex article signature
6842 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6843 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6844 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6845 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6846 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6847 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6848 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6849 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6850 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6853 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6854 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6855 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6856 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6857 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6858 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6859 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6860 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6863 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6866 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6867 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6872 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6875 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6878 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6879 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6881 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6882 in question is not a signature.
6885 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6886 listed above. Here's an example:
6889 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6890 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6893 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6894 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6895 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6896 signature after all.
6900 @section MIME Commands
6901 @cindex MIME decoding
6905 @kindex W M w (Summary)
6906 Decode RFC2047-encoded words in the article headers
6907 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
6910 @kindex W M c (Summary)
6911 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
6912 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
6914 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
6915 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
6916 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
6917 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
6918 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
6919 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
6922 @kindex W M v (Summary)
6923 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
6924 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
6931 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
6932 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
6933 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
6934 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
6937 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
6940 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
6944 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
6945 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
6946 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
6947 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
6948 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
6949 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
6950 save all jpegs into some directory).
6952 Here's an example function the does the latter:
6955 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
6956 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
6958 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
6959 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
6960 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
6961 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
6962 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
6968 @node Article Commands
6969 @section Article Commands
6976 @kindex A P (Summary)
6977 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6978 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6979 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6980 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6981 run just before printing the buffer.
6986 @node Summary Sorting
6987 @section Summary Sorting
6988 @cindex summary sorting
6990 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6991 can't really see why you'd want that.
6996 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6997 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6998 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
7001 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
7002 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
7003 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
7006 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
7007 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
7008 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
7011 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
7012 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
7013 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
7016 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
7017 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
7018 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
7021 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
7022 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
7023 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
7026 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
7027 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
7028 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
7029 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
7030 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
7034 @node Finding the Parent
7035 @section Finding the Parent
7036 @cindex parent articles
7037 @cindex referring articles
7042 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
7043 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
7044 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
7045 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
7046 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
7047 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
7048 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
7049 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
7050 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
7052 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
7053 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
7054 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
7055 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
7056 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
7060 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
7061 @kindex A R (Summary)
7062 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
7063 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
7066 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
7067 @kindex A T (Summary)
7068 Display the full thread where the current article appears
7069 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
7070 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
7071 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
7072 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
7073 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
7074 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
7076 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
7077 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
7078 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
7079 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
7080 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
7081 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
7084 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
7085 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
7087 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
7088 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
7089 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
7090 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
7091 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
7092 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
7093 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
7096 The current select method will be used when fetching by
7097 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
7098 by giving this command a prefix.
7100 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
7101 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
7102 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
7103 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
7104 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
7105 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
7108 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
7109 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
7110 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
7111 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
7112 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
7113 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
7116 @node Alternative Approaches
7117 @section Alternative Approaches
7119 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
7120 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
7123 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
7124 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
7129 @subsection Pick and Read
7130 @cindex pick and read
7132 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
7133 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
7134 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
7135 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
7137 @findex gnus-pick-mode
7138 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
7139 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
7140 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
7141 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
7142 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
7144 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
7149 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
7150 Pick the article or thread on the current line
7151 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7152 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
7153 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
7154 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
7155 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
7156 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
7159 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
7160 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
7161 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
7162 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
7166 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
7167 Unpick the thread or article
7168 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7169 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
7170 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
7171 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
7172 the thread or article at that line.
7176 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
7177 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
7178 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
7179 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
7180 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
7181 will still be visible when you are reading.
7185 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
7186 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
7187 which is mapped to the same function
7188 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
7190 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
7193 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
7196 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
7197 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
7199 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
7200 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
7201 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
7203 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
7204 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
7205 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
7206 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
7207 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
7208 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
7209 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
7213 @subsection Binary Groups
7214 @cindex binary groups
7216 @findex gnus-binary-mode
7217 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
7218 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
7219 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
7220 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
7221 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
7222 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
7225 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
7226 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
7227 command, when you have turned on this mode
7228 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
7230 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
7231 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
7235 @section Tree Display
7238 @vindex gnus-use-trees
7239 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
7240 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
7241 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
7244 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
7247 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
7248 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
7249 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
7251 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7252 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7253 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
7254 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
7255 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
7257 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
7258 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
7259 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
7260 default is @code{modeline}.
7262 @item gnus-tree-line-format
7263 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
7264 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
7265 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
7266 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
7267 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
7268 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7274 The name of the poster.
7276 The @code{From} header.
7278 The number of the article.
7280 The opening bracket.
7282 The closing bracket.
7287 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7289 Variables related to the display are:
7292 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7293 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7294 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7295 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
7296 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
7297 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7299 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7300 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7301 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7302 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7306 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7307 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7308 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
7309 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
7310 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7311 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7312 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7313 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7314 other windows displayed next to it.
7316 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7317 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7318 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7319 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7320 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7321 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7322 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7326 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7329 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7339 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7343 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7344 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7346 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7348 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7353 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7354 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7355 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7358 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7359 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7360 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7361 (gnus-add-configuration
7365 (summary 0.75 point)
7370 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7373 @node Mail Group Commands
7374 @section Mail Group Commands
7375 @cindex mail group commands
7377 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7378 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7380 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7381 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7386 @kindex B e (Summary)
7387 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7388 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7389 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7392 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7393 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7394 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7395 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7396 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7397 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7400 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7401 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7402 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7403 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7404 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7405 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7408 @kindex B m (Summary)
7410 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7411 Move the article from one mail group to another
7412 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7415 @kindex B c (Summary)
7417 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7418 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7419 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7420 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7423 @kindex B B (Summary)
7424 @cindex crosspost mail
7425 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7426 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7427 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7428 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7429 be properly updated.
7432 @kindex B i (Summary)
7433 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7434 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7435 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7436 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7439 @kindex B r (Summary)
7440 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7441 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
7442 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7443 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7444 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7448 @kindex B w (Summary)
7450 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7451 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7452 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7453 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7454 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7455 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7458 @kindex B q (Summary)
7459 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7460 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7461 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7462 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7465 @kindex B t (Summary)
7466 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7467 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7468 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7471 @kindex B p (Summary)
7472 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7473 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7474 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7475 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7476 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7477 article from your news server (or rather, from
7478 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7479 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7480 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7481 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7482 just not have arrived yet.
7486 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7487 @cindex moving articles
7488 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7489 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7490 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7491 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7492 suggestions you find reasonable.
7495 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7496 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7497 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7498 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7502 @node Various Summary Stuff
7503 @section Various Summary Stuff
7506 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7507 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7508 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7509 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7513 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7514 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7515 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7517 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7518 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7519 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7520 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7521 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7522 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7525 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7526 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7527 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7528 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7529 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7531 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7532 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7533 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
7536 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7537 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7538 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7539 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7540 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7541 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7542 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7543 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7544 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7545 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7550 @node Summary Group Information
7551 @subsection Summary Group Information
7556 @kindex H f (Summary)
7557 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7558 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7559 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7560 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7561 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7562 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7563 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7564 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7565 be used for fetching the file.
7568 @kindex H d (Summary)
7569 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7570 Give a brief description of the current group
7571 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7572 rereading the description from the server.
7575 @kindex H h (Summary)
7576 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7577 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7578 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7581 @kindex H i (Summary)
7582 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7583 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7587 @node Searching for Articles
7588 @subsection Searching for Articles
7593 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7594 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7595 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7596 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7599 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7600 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7601 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7602 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7606 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7607 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7608 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7609 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7613 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7614 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7615 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7616 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7619 @node Summary Generation Commands
7620 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7625 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7626 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7627 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7630 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7631 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7632 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7633 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7638 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7639 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7644 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7645 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7646 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7647 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7648 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7649 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7650 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7651 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7652 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7656 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7657 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7658 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7659 several documents into one biiig group
7660 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7661 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7662 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7663 command understands the process/prefix convention
7664 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7667 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7668 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7669 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7670 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7671 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7672 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7676 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7677 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7678 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7681 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7682 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7683 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7684 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7687 @kindex M-C-g (Summary)
7688 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
7689 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7690 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
7695 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7696 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7697 @cindex summary exit
7698 @cindex exiting groups
7700 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7701 group and return you to the group buffer.
7707 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7709 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7710 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7711 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7712 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7713 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7714 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7715 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7716 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7717 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7718 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7719 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7723 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7725 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7726 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7727 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7731 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7733 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7734 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7735 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7736 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7739 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7740 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7741 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7742 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7745 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7746 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7747 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7748 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7751 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7752 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7753 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7754 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7755 all articles, both read and unread.
7759 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7760 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7761 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7762 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7763 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7764 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7765 articles, both read and unread.
7768 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7769 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7770 Exit the group and go to the next group
7771 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7774 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7775 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7776 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7777 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7780 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7781 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7782 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7783 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7784 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7785 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7788 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7789 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7792 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7793 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7794 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7795 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7796 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7797 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7798 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7799 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7800 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7801 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7802 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7803 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7805 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7807 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7808 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7809 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7810 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7811 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7812 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7813 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7814 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7815 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7818 @node Crosspost Handling
7819 @section Crosspost Handling
7823 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7824 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7825 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7826 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7827 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7828 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7831 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7832 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7833 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7834 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7835 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7837 @cindex cross-posting
7840 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7841 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7842 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7843 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7844 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7845 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7846 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7847 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7848 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7849 the cross reference mechanism.
7851 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7852 @cindex overview.fmt
7853 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7854 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7855 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7856 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7857 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7858 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7861 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7862 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7863 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7868 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7871 @node Duplicate Suppression
7872 @section Duplicate Suppression
7874 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7875 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7876 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7877 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7882 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7883 is evil and not very common.
7886 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7887 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7890 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7891 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7894 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7897 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7898 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7900 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7901 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7902 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7903 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7904 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7905 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7906 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7909 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7910 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7911 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7912 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7913 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7917 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7918 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7919 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7921 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7922 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7923 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7924 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7925 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7926 session are suppressed.
7928 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7929 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7930 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7931 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7933 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7934 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7935 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7936 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7939 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7940 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7941 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7942 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7943 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7944 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7945 to you to figure out, I think.
7948 @node The Article Buffer
7949 @chapter The Article Buffer
7950 @cindex article buffer
7952 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7953 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7954 tell Gnus otherwise.
7957 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7958 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7959 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7960 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7961 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7965 @node Hiding Headers
7966 @section Hiding Headers
7967 @cindex hiding headers
7968 @cindex deleting headers
7970 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7971 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7973 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7974 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7975 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7976 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7977 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7978 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7979 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7980 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7981 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7983 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7987 @item gnus-visible-headers
7988 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7989 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7990 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7991 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7993 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7994 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7997 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
8000 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8003 @item gnus-ignored-headers
8004 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
8005 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
8006 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
8007 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
8008 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
8010 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
8011 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
8014 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
8017 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8020 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
8021 variable will have no effect.
8025 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
8026 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
8027 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
8028 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
8029 the headers are to be displayed.
8031 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
8032 and then the subject, you might say something like:
8035 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
8038 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
8039 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
8041 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8042 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8043 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
8044 You can hide further boring headers by entering
8045 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
8046 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
8047 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
8048 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
8049 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
8051 These conditions are:
8054 Remove all empty headers.
8056 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
8057 @code{Newsgroups} header.
8059 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
8062 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
8065 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
8068 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
8070 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
8073 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
8076 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
8077 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
8080 This is also the default value for this variable.
8084 @section Using @sc{mime}
8087 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
8088 while people stand around yawning.
8090 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
8091 while all newsreaders die of fear.
8093 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
8094 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
8095 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
8097 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
8098 @findex gnus-display-mime
8099 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
8100 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
8101 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
8102 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
8104 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
8108 @findex gnus-article-press-button
8110 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
8111 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
8112 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
8114 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
8115 @item M-RET (Article)
8117 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
8118 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
8120 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
8122 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
8123 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
8125 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
8127 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
8128 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
8130 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
8132 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
8135 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
8136 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
8139 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
8140 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
8141 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
8142 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
8143 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
8144 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
8145 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
8146 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
8147 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
8149 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
8152 @node Customizing Articles
8153 @section Customizing Articles
8154 @cindex article customization
8156 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8157 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
8158 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
8159 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
8161 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8162 @findex gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers
8163 By default this hook just contains
8164 @code{gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers},
8165 @code{gnus-hide-boring-headers}, @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike},
8166 and @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} (and under XEmacs,
8167 @code{gnus-article-display-x-face}), but there are thousands, nay
8168 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
8169 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
8170 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
8171 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
8172 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
8174 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
8175 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
8176 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
8177 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
8178 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
8181 @node Article Keymap
8182 @section Article Keymap
8184 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
8185 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
8186 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
8187 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
8190 A few additional keystrokes are available:
8195 @kindex SPACE (Article)
8196 @findex gnus-article-next-page
8197 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
8200 @kindex DEL (Article)
8201 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
8202 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
8205 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
8206 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
8207 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
8208 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
8209 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
8212 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
8213 @findex gnus-article-mail
8214 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
8215 given a prefix, include the mail.
8219 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
8220 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
8221 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
8225 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
8226 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
8227 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
8230 @kindex TAB (Article)
8231 @findex gnus-article-next-button
8232 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
8233 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
8236 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
8237 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
8238 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
8244 @section Misc Article
8248 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
8249 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
8250 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
8251 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
8254 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
8255 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
8257 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
8258 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
8260 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
8261 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
8262 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
8263 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
8264 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
8265 the contents of the article buffer.
8267 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8268 @item gnus-article-display-hook
8269 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
8270 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
8271 hiding headers, and the like.
8273 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
8274 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
8275 Hook called in article mode buffers.
8277 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8278 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8279 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
8280 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
8282 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
8283 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
8284 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
8285 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
8286 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
8291 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
8292 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
8296 @vindex gnus-break-pages
8298 @item gnus-break-pages
8299 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
8300 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
8301 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
8302 paging will not be done.
8304 @item gnus-page-delimiter
8305 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
8306 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8311 @node Composing Messages
8312 @chapter Composing Messages
8313 @cindex composing messages
8316 @cindex sending mail
8321 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8322 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8323 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8324 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8325 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8326 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8327 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8330 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8331 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8332 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8333 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8334 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8335 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8336 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8337 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8340 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8341 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8347 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8350 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8351 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8352 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8353 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8355 @item gnus-add-to-list
8356 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8357 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8358 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8366 Variables for composing news articles:
8369 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8370 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8371 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8372 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8373 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8374 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8375 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8376 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8377 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
8380 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8381 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8382 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8383 file. It is 1000 by default.
8388 @node Posting Server
8389 @section Posting Server
8391 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8392 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8394 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8396 @vindex gnus-post-method
8398 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8399 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8400 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8401 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8402 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8405 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8408 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8409 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8410 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8411 the ``current'' server for posting.
8413 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8414 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8416 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8417 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8420 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8421 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8422 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8427 @section Mail and Post
8429 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8433 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8434 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8435 @cindex mailing lists
8437 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8438 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8439 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8440 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8441 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8442 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8443 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8444 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8445 still a pain, though.
8449 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8450 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8451 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8454 @findex ispell-message
8456 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8460 @node Archived Messages
8461 @section Archived Messages
8462 @cindex archived messages
8463 @cindex sent messages
8465 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8466 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8467 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8468 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8471 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8472 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8473 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8477 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8478 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8479 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8480 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8483 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8484 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8485 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8486 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8489 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8490 '(nnfolder "archive"
8491 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8492 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8493 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8496 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8498 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8499 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8500 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8502 This variable can be used to do the following:
8506 Messages will be saved in that group.
8507 @item a list of strings
8508 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8509 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8510 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8512 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8517 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8519 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8522 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8524 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8527 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8529 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8530 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8531 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8532 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8537 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8538 '((if (message-news-p)
8543 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8544 messages in one file per month:
8547 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8548 '((if (message-news-p)
8550 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8551 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8554 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8555 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8557 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8558 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8559 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8560 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8561 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8562 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8563 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8564 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8565 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8566 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8568 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8569 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8570 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8571 this will disable archiving.
8574 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8575 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8576 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8577 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8578 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8581 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8582 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8583 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8586 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8587 but the latter is the preferred method.
8591 @node Posting Styles
8592 @section Posting Styles
8593 @cindex posting styles
8596 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8598 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8599 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8600 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8603 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8604 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8605 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8606 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8607 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8612 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8613 (organization "What me?"))
8615 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8616 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8617 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8620 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8621 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8622 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8623 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8624 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8625 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8626 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8627 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8629 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8630 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8631 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8632 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8633 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8634 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8637 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8638 attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8639 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8640 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
8641 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8642 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8645 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8646 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8647 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8649 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
8650 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
8651 of the two dynamically bound variables @code{message-this-is-news} and
8652 @code{message-this-is-mail}.
8654 @vindex message-this-is-mail
8655 @vindex message-this-is-news
8657 So here's a new example:
8660 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8662 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8664 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8665 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8667 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8668 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8669 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8670 (message-this-is-news
8671 (signature my-news-signature))
8672 (posting-from-work-p
8673 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8674 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8675 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
8676 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8678 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8686 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8687 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8688 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8689 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8690 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8692 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8693 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8694 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8695 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8696 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8700 @vindex nndraft-directory
8701 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8702 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8703 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8704 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8705 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8706 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8708 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8709 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8712 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8713 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8714 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8715 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8716 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8717 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8718 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8719 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8720 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8721 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8722 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8723 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8724 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8725 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8727 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8728 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8729 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8731 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8733 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8734 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8735 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8737 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8740 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8741 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8742 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8743 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8744 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8745 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8746 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8749 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8750 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8751 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8754 @node Rejected Articles
8755 @section Rejected Articles
8756 @cindex rejected articles
8758 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8759 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8760 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8761 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8763 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8764 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8765 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8766 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8767 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8769 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8770 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8771 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8774 @node Select Methods
8775 @chapter Select Methods
8776 @cindex foreign groups
8777 @cindex select methods
8779 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8780 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8781 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8782 personal mail group.
8784 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8785 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8786 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8787 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8788 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8789 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8791 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8792 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8794 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8797 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8798 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8799 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8800 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8801 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8803 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8806 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8807 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8808 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8809 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8810 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8811 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8815 @node The Server Buffer
8816 @section The Server Buffer
8818 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8819 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8820 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8821 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8822 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8823 backend represents a virtual server.
8825 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8826 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8827 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8828 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8830 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8831 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8832 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8833 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8834 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8835 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8836 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8838 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8839 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8842 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8843 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8844 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8845 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8846 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8847 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8848 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8851 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8852 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8855 @node Server Buffer Format
8856 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8857 @cindex server buffer format
8859 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8860 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8861 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8862 variable, with some simple extensions:
8867 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8870 The name of this server.
8873 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8876 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8879 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8880 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8881 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
8882 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
8892 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8895 @node Server Commands
8896 @subsection Server Commands
8897 @cindex server commands
8903 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8904 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8908 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8909 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8912 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8913 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8914 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8918 @findex gnus-server-exit
8919 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8923 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8924 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8928 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8929 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8933 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8934 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8938 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8939 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8943 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8944 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8945 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8950 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8951 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8952 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8953 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8958 @node Example Methods
8959 @subsection Example Methods
8961 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8964 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8967 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8973 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8974 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8977 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8978 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8980 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8981 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8985 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8988 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8989 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8991 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8992 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8993 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8997 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
9000 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
9003 Here's the method for a public spool:
9007 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
9008 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
9011 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
9012 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
9013 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
9014 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
9015 should probably look something like this:
9019 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
9020 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9021 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9022 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9023 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
9026 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
9027 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
9028 server that would look something like this:
9032 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
9033 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
9034 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9035 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9036 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9037 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
9040 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
9041 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
9042 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
9043 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
9046 @node Creating a Virtual Server
9047 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
9049 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
9050 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
9052 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
9053 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
9054 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
9056 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
9058 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
9059 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
9060 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
9061 will contain the following:
9071 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
9072 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
9073 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
9076 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
9077 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
9078 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
9081 @node Server Variables
9082 @subsection Server Variables
9084 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
9085 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
9086 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
9087 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
9088 won't change the "derived" variables.
9090 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
9091 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
9092 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
9093 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
9094 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
9095 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
9096 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
9097 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
9098 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
9102 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
9103 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
9104 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
9108 @node Servers and Methods
9109 @subsection Servers and Methods
9111 Wherever you would normally use a select method
9112 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
9113 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
9114 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
9118 @node Unavailable Servers
9119 @subsection Unavailable Servers
9121 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
9122 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
9123 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
9124 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
9125 actually the case or not.
9127 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
9128 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
9129 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
9130 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
9131 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
9132 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
9133 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
9134 it will regard that server as ``down''.
9136 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
9137 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
9139 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
9140 with the following commands:
9146 @findex gnus-server-open-server
9147 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
9148 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
9152 @findex gnus-server-close-server
9153 Close the connection (if any) to the server
9154 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
9158 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
9159 Mark the current server as unreachable
9160 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
9163 @kindex M-o (Server)
9164 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
9165 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
9166 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
9169 @kindex M-c (Server)
9170 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
9171 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
9172 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
9176 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
9177 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
9178 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
9184 @section Getting News
9185 @cindex reading news
9186 @cindex news backends
9188 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
9189 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
9190 or it can read from a local spool.
9193 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
9194 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
9199 @subsection @sc{nntp}
9202 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
9203 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
9204 server as the, uhm, address.
9206 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
9207 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
9208 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
9209 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9211 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
9212 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
9213 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
9215 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
9220 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
9221 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
9222 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
9224 @cindex authentification
9225 @cindex nntp authentification
9226 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9227 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
9228 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
9229 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
9230 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
9231 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
9232 present in this hook.
9234 @item nntp-authinfo-function
9235 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
9236 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9237 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
9238 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
9239 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
9240 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
9241 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
9242 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
9243 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
9244 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
9245 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
9249 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
9252 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
9253 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
9254 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
9255 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
9256 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
9261 Here's an example file:
9264 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
9265 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
9268 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
9269 have to be first, for instance.
9271 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
9272 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
9273 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
9274 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
9275 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
9276 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
9277 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
9279 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
9280 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
9286 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
9287 previously mentioned.
9289 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
9291 @item nntp-server-action-alist
9292 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
9293 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
9294 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
9295 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
9298 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
9302 You probably don't want to do that, though.
9304 The default value is
9307 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
9308 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
9311 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
9312 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
9314 @item nntp-maximum-request
9315 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
9316 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
9317 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
9318 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
9319 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9320 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9321 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9323 @item nntp-connection-timeout
9324 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9325 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9326 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9327 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9328 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9329 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9330 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9331 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9332 no timeouts are done.
9334 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9335 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9336 @c @cindex PPP connections
9337 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9338 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9339 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9340 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9341 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9342 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9343 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9344 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9345 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9346 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9348 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9349 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9350 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9351 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9354 @item nntp-server-hook
9355 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9356 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9359 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9360 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9361 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9362 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9363 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9364 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9365 functions are supplied:
9368 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9369 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9372 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9373 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9374 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9377 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9381 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9382 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9383 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9384 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9386 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9387 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9388 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9390 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9391 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9392 User name on the remote system.
9396 @item nntp-open-telnet
9397 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9398 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9400 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9403 @item nntp-telnet-command
9404 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9405 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9407 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9408 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9409 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9411 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9412 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9413 User name for log in on the remote system.
9415 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9416 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9417 Password to use when logging in.
9419 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9420 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9421 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9424 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9425 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9426 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9427 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9429 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9430 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9431 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9432 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9433 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9437 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9438 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9439 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9440 you must have SSLay installed
9441 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9442 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9443 define a server as follows:
9446 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9448 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9450 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9451 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9452 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9453 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9458 @item nntp-end-of-line
9459 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9460 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9461 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9462 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9464 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9465 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9466 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9470 @vindex nntp-address
9471 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9473 @item nntp-port-number
9474 @vindex nntp-port-number
9475 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9478 @item nntp-buggy-select
9479 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9480 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9482 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9483 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9484 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9485 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9488 @item nntp-xover-commands
9489 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9492 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9493 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9497 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9498 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9499 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9500 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9501 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9502 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9503 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9504 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9505 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9506 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9507 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9509 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9510 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9511 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9513 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9514 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9515 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9516 server closes connection.
9518 @item nntp-record-commands
9519 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9520 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9521 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9522 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9523 that doesn't seem to work.
9529 @subsection News Spool
9533 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9534 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9535 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9538 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9539 anything else) as the address.
9541 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9542 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9543 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9544 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9548 @item nnspool-inews-program
9549 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9550 Program used to post an article.
9552 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9553 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9554 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9556 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9557 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9558 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9559 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9561 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9562 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9563 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9564 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9566 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9567 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9568 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9570 @item nnspool-active-file
9571 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9572 The path to the active file.
9574 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9575 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9576 The path to the group descriptions file.
9578 @item nnspool-history-file
9579 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9580 The path to the news history file.
9582 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9583 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9584 The path to the active date file.
9586 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9587 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9588 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9591 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9592 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9594 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9595 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9596 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9602 @section Getting Mail
9603 @cindex reading mail
9606 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9610 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9611 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9612 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9613 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9614 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
9615 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9616 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9617 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9618 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9619 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9620 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9624 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9625 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9627 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9628 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9629 and things will happen automatically.
9631 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9632 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9635 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9636 '((nnml "private")))
9639 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9640 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9641 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9642 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9643 like any other group.
9645 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9648 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9649 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9650 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9654 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9655 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9656 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9659 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9660 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9661 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9664 @node Splitting Mail
9665 @subsection Splitting Mail
9666 @cindex splitting mail
9667 @cindex mail splitting
9669 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9670 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9671 to be split into groups.
9674 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9675 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9676 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9680 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9681 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9682 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9683 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9684 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9685 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9686 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9689 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9692 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9693 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9694 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9695 mail belongs in that group.
9697 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9698 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9699 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9700 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9701 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9702 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9704 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9705 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9706 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9707 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9708 thinks should carry this mail message.
9710 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9711 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9712 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9713 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9715 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9716 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9717 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9718 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9719 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9721 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9724 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9725 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9726 links. If that's the case for you, set
9727 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9728 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9730 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9731 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9732 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9733 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9735 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9736 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9737 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9738 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9739 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9740 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9741 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9742 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9746 @node Mail Backend Variables
9747 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9749 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9753 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9754 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9755 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9756 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9758 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9759 @item nnmail-spool-file
9763 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9764 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9765 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9766 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9767 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9768 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9769 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9770 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9771 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9772 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9773 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9774 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9775 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9776 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9777 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9779 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9781 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9782 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9785 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9786 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9787 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9788 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9789 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9790 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9792 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9793 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9794 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9795 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9796 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9797 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9798 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9801 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9802 @item nnmail-crash-box
9803 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9804 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9805 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9808 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9809 @item nnmail-split-hook
9810 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
9811 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9812 @findex RFC2047 decoding
9813 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9814 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9815 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9816 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9817 in the buffer will show up in any files.
9818 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
9821 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9822 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9823 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9824 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9825 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9826 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9827 starting to handle the new mail) and
9828 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9829 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9830 default file modes the new mail files get:
9833 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9834 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9836 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9837 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9840 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9841 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9842 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9843 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9844 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9845 it will be used instead.
9847 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9848 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9849 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9850 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9852 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9853 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9856 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9857 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9858 @cindex incoming mail files
9859 @cindex deleting incoming files
9860 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9861 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9864 @c This is @code{nil} by
9865 @c default for reasons of security.
9867 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9868 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9869 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9870 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9871 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9874 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9876 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9877 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9878 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9879 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9880 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9881 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9882 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9884 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9885 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9887 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9889 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9890 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9891 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9892 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9893 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9898 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9899 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9900 @cindex mail splitting
9901 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9903 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9904 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9905 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9906 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9907 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9908 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9910 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9913 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9914 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9915 ;; from real errors.
9916 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9918 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9919 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9920 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9921 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9922 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9923 ;; Other mailing lists...
9924 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9925 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9927 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9928 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9932 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9933 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9934 the five possible split syntaxes:
9939 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
9940 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
9944 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9945 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9946 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9949 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9950 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9951 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9952 be stored in one or more groups.
9955 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9956 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9959 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9960 this message. Use with extreme caution.
9963 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9964 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9965 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9969 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
9973 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9974 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9975 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9976 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9977 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9979 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9980 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9981 are expanded as specified by the variable
9982 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9983 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9986 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9987 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9988 when all this splitting is performed.
9990 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9991 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9992 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
9995 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9998 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
9999 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
10000 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
10001 groupings 1 through 9.
10004 @node Mail and Procmail
10005 @subsection Mail and Procmail
10010 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
10011 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
10012 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
10013 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
10014 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
10016 If you have a combined @code{procmail}/POP/mailbox setup, you can do
10017 something like the following:
10019 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
10021 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
10022 (setq nnmail-spool-file
10023 '("/usr/spool/mail/my-name" "po:my-name"))
10026 This also means that you probably don't want to set
10027 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
10030 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
10031 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
10032 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
10033 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
10034 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
10035 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
10037 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
10040 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
10042 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
10043 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
10045 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
10046 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
10047 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
10048 to include all your mail groups.
10050 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
10051 method will be created automatically.
10053 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
10054 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
10055 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
10056 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
10057 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
10058 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
10059 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
10060 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
10062 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
10063 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
10064 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
10065 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
10066 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
10068 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10069 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
10070 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
10071 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
10072 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
10073 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
10075 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
10076 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
10077 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
10078 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
10079 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
10082 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
10083 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
10084 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
10085 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
10086 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
10090 @node Incorporating Old Mail
10091 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
10093 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
10094 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
10095 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
10098 Doing so can be quite easy.
10100 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
10101 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
10102 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
10103 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
10104 your @code{nnml} groups.
10110 Go to the group buffer.
10113 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
10114 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10117 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
10120 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
10121 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
10124 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
10125 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
10128 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
10129 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
10130 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
10131 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
10132 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
10134 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
10135 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
10136 using the new mail backend.
10139 @node Expiring Mail
10140 @subsection Expiring Mail
10141 @cindex article expiry
10143 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
10144 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
10145 different approach to mail reading.
10147 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
10148 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
10149 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
10150 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
10151 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
10152 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
10155 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
10156 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
10157 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
10158 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
10159 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
10160 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
10161 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
10162 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
10164 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10165 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
10166 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
10167 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
10168 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
10169 column in the summary buffer.
10171 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
10172 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
10173 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
10174 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
10177 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
10179 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
10180 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
10181 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
10184 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
10185 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
10186 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
10187 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
10188 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
10190 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
10191 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
10194 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10195 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
10198 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
10199 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
10201 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
10202 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
10203 don't really mix very well.
10205 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
10206 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
10207 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
10208 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
10211 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
10212 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
10213 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
10214 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
10217 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10219 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10221 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
10223 ((string= group "mail.junk")
10225 ((string= group "important")
10231 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
10232 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
10234 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
10235 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
10236 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
10239 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
10240 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
10242 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10243 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
10244 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
10245 easier for procmail users.
10247 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
10248 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
10249 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
10250 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
10251 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
10252 caution. Even more dangerous is the
10253 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
10254 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
10255 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
10256 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
10257 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
10258 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
10259 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
10262 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
10264 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
10265 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
10266 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
10267 auto-expire turned on.
10271 @subsection Washing Mail
10272 @cindex mail washing
10273 @cindex list server brain damage
10274 @cindex incoming mail treatment
10276 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
10277 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
10278 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
10279 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
10280 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
10281 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
10283 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
10284 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
10285 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
10288 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
10289 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
10290 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
10291 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
10294 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10295 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10296 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
10297 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
10298 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
10301 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10302 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10303 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
10304 Emacs running on MS machines.
10308 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10309 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10310 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
10311 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
10314 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10315 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10316 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
10317 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
10319 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10320 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10321 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
10322 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
10323 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
10324 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
10325 also be a list of regexp.
10327 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10328 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10331 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10332 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10335 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10336 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10337 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10341 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10342 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10343 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10347 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10348 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10349 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10356 @subsection Duplicates
10358 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10359 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10360 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10361 @cindex duplicate mails
10362 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10363 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10364 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10365 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10366 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10367 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10368 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10369 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10370 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10371 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10372 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10373 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10374 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10376 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10377 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10378 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10379 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10381 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10384 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10385 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10389 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10390 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10391 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10392 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10393 (any mail "mail.misc")
10400 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10401 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10406 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10407 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10408 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10409 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10410 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10413 @node Not Reading Mail
10414 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10416 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10417 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10418 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10420 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
10421 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
10423 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10424 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10425 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10426 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10427 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10428 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10429 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10430 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10431 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10432 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10433 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10435 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10436 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10440 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10441 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
10443 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
10444 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
10445 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
10448 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
10449 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
10450 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
10451 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
10452 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
10456 @node Unix Mail Box
10457 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
10459 @cindex unix mail box
10461 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10462 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10463 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
10464 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
10465 which group it belongs in.
10467 Virtual server settings:
10470 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
10471 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10472 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
10474 @item nnmbox-active-file
10475 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10476 The name of the active file for the mail box.
10478 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
10479 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10480 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
10486 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
10490 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10491 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10492 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
10493 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
10494 article to say which group it belongs in.
10496 Virtual server settings:
10499 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
10500 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10501 The name of the rmail mbox file.
10503 @item nnbabyl-active-file
10504 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10505 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
10507 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10508 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10509 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
10514 @subsubsection Mail Spool
10516 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
10518 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
10519 format. It should be used with some caution.
10521 @vindex nnml-directory
10522 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
10523 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
10524 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10525 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10527 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10530 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10531 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10532 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10533 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10534 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10535 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10536 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10537 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10539 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10540 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10541 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10542 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10544 Virtual server settings:
10547 @item nnml-directory
10548 @vindex nnml-directory
10549 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10551 @item nnml-active-file
10552 @vindex nnml-active-file
10553 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10555 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10556 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10557 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10560 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10561 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10562 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10564 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10565 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10566 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10568 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10569 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10570 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10572 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10573 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10574 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10578 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10579 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10580 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10581 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10582 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10583 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10584 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10589 @subsubsection MH Spool
10591 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10593 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10594 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10595 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10596 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10598 Virtual server settings:
10601 @item nnmh-directory
10602 @vindex nnmh-directory
10603 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
10605 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
10606 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10607 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
10610 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
10611 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
10612 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
10613 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
10614 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
10615 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
10616 to set this variable to @code{t}.
10621 @subsubsection Mail Folders
10623 @cindex mbox folders
10624 @cindex mail folders
10626 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
10627 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
10628 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
10631 Virtual server settings:
10634 @item nnfolder-directory
10635 @vindex nnfolder-directory
10636 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
10638 @item nnfolder-active-file
10639 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
10640 The name of the active file.
10642 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10643 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10644 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
10646 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
10647 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10648 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
10650 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
10651 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
10652 @cindex backup files
10653 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
10654 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
10655 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
10656 your @file{.emacs} file:
10659 (defun turn-off-backup ()
10660 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
10662 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
10665 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
10666 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
10667 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
10668 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
10669 extract some information from it before removing it.
10674 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
10675 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
10676 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
10677 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
10678 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
10679 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
10682 @node Other Sources
10683 @section Other Sources
10685 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
10686 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
10690 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
10691 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
10692 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
10693 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
10694 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
10695 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
10699 @node Directory Groups
10700 @subsection Directory Groups
10702 @cindex directory groups
10704 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
10705 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
10708 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
10709 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
10710 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
10711 backend to read directories. Big deal.
10713 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
10714 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
10715 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
10716 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
10717 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
10719 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
10721 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
10722 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
10723 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10724 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10727 @node Anything Groups
10728 @subsection Anything Groups
10731 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10732 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10733 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10736 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10737 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10738 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10739 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10740 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10741 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10742 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10743 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10744 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10745 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10748 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10749 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10750 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10751 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10753 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10754 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10755 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10756 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10758 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10759 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10760 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10761 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10762 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10763 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10764 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10765 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10770 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10771 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10772 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10773 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10775 @item nneething-exclude-files
10776 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10777 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10778 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10780 @item nneething-map-file
10781 @vindex nneething-map-file
10782 Name of the map files.
10786 @node Document Groups
10787 @subsection Document Groups
10789 @cindex documentation group
10792 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10793 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10800 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10805 The standard Unix mbox file.
10807 @cindex MMDF mail box
10809 The MMDF mail box format.
10812 Several news articles appended into a file.
10815 @cindex rnews batch files
10816 The rnews batch transport format.
10817 @cindex forwarded messages
10820 Forwarded articles.
10823 MIME multipart messages, besides digests.
10827 @cindex MIME digest
10828 @cindex 1153 digest
10829 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10830 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10831 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10833 @item standard-digest
10834 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10837 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10840 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10841 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10842 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10845 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10846 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10847 group. And that's it.
10849 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10850 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10851 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10852 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10853 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10854 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10855 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10856 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10857 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10858 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10860 Virtual server variables:
10863 @item nndoc-article-type
10864 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10865 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10866 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10867 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{mime-digest},
10868 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or
10871 @item nndoc-post-type
10872 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10873 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10874 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10879 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10883 @node Document Server Internals
10884 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10886 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10887 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10888 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10889 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10891 First, here's an example document type definition:
10895 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10896 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10899 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10900 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10901 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10902 types can be defined with very few settings:
10905 @item first-article
10906 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10907 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10910 @item article-begin
10911 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10912 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10914 @item head-begin-function
10915 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10918 @item nndoc-head-begin
10919 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10922 @item nndoc-head-end
10923 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10924 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10926 @item body-begin-function
10927 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10931 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10934 @item body-end-function
10935 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10939 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10942 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10943 regexp will be totally ignored.
10947 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10948 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10949 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10950 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10951 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10954 @item prepare-body-function
10955 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10956 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10957 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10959 @item article-transform-function
10960 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10961 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10962 body of the article.
10964 @item generate-head-function
10965 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10966 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10967 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10968 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10972 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10977 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10978 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10979 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10980 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10981 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10982 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10983 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10984 (subtype digest guess))
10987 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10988 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10989 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10990 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10991 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10993 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10994 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10995 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10996 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10997 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
10998 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10999 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
11000 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
11001 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
11002 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
11010 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
11011 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
11012 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
11014 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
11015 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
11016 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
11019 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
11020 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
11021 that interested in doing things properly.
11023 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
11024 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
11027 First some terminology:
11032 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
11033 get news and/or mail from.
11036 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
11037 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
11040 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
11044 @item message packets
11045 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
11046 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
11047 default, where @var{X} is a number.
11049 @item response packets
11050 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
11051 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
11052 default, where @var{X} is a number.
11062 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
11063 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
11064 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
11065 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
11068 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
11071 You put the packet in your home directory.
11074 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
11075 the native or secondary server.
11078 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
11079 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
11082 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
11086 You transfer this packet to the server.
11089 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
11092 You then repeat until you die.
11096 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
11097 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
11100 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
11101 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
11102 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
11106 @node SOUP Commands
11107 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
11109 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
11113 @kindex G s b (Group)
11114 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
11115 Pack all unread articles in the current group
11116 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
11117 process/prefix convention.
11120 @kindex G s w (Group)
11121 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
11122 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
11125 @kindex G s s (Group)
11126 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
11127 Send all replies from the replies packet
11128 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
11131 @kindex G s p (Group)
11132 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
11133 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
11136 @kindex G s r (Group)
11137 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
11138 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
11141 @kindex O s (Summary)
11142 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
11143 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
11144 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
11145 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11150 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
11155 @item gnus-soup-directory
11156 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
11157 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
11158 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
11160 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
11161 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
11162 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
11163 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
11165 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
11166 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
11167 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
11168 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
11170 @item gnus-soup-packer
11171 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
11172 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
11173 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
11175 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
11176 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
11177 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
11178 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
11180 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
11181 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
11182 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
11184 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
11185 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
11186 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
11187 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
11193 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
11196 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
11197 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
11198 you can read them at leisure.
11200 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
11204 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
11205 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
11206 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
11207 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
11209 @item nnsoup-directory
11210 @vindex nnsoup-directory
11211 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
11212 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
11214 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
11215 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
11216 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
11217 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
11219 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
11220 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
11221 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
11222 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
11223 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
11225 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
11226 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
11227 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
11228 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
11230 @item nnsoup-active-file
11231 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
11232 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
11233 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
11234 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
11235 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
11237 @item nnsoup-packer
11238 @vindex nnsoup-packer
11239 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
11240 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
11242 @item nnsoup-unpacker
11243 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
11244 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
11245 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
11247 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
11248 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
11249 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
11252 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
11253 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
11254 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
11257 @item nnsoup-always-save
11258 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
11259 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
11265 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
11267 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
11268 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
11269 more for that to happen.
11271 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
11272 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
11273 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
11276 In specific, this is what it does:
11279 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
11280 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
11283 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
11284 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
11285 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
11289 @subsection Web Searches
11293 @cindex InReference
11294 @cindex Usenet searches
11295 @cindex searching the Usenet
11297 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
11298 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
11299 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
11300 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
11301 searches without having to use a browser.
11303 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
11304 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
11305 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
11306 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
11307 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
11309 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
11310 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
11311 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
11312 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
11313 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
11314 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
11315 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
11316 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
11317 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
11318 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
11321 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
11322 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
11323 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
11324 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
11325 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
11326 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
11328 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
11329 to use @code{nnweb}.
11331 Virtual server variables:
11336 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
11337 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
11341 @vindex nnweb-search
11342 The search string to feed to the search engine.
11344 @item nnweb-max-hits
11345 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
11346 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
11349 @item nnweb-type-definition
11350 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
11351 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
11352 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11357 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11361 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11364 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11367 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11371 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11378 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
11379 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
11380 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
11383 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
11384 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
11385 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
11387 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
11393 @item nngateway-address
11394 @vindex nngateway-address
11395 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
11397 @item nngateway-header-transformation
11398 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
11399 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
11400 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
11401 transformation should be called, and defaults to
11402 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
11403 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
11406 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
11407 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
11408 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
11411 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
11414 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
11417 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
11420 The following pre-defined functions exist:
11422 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11425 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11426 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11427 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
11429 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11431 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11432 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11433 @code{nngateway-address}.
11438 (setq gnus-post-method
11439 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
11440 (nngateway-header-transformation
11441 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
11449 So, to use this, simply say something like:
11452 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
11456 @node Combined Groups
11457 @section Combined Groups
11459 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
11463 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
11464 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
11468 @node Virtual Groups
11469 @subsection Virtual Groups
11471 @cindex virtual groups
11472 @cindex merging groups
11474 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
11477 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
11478 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
11479 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
11481 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
11482 regexp to match component groups.
11484 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
11485 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
11486 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
11487 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
11488 the virtual group.)
11490 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
11491 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
11494 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
11497 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
11498 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
11500 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
11501 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
11502 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
11503 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
11506 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
11509 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
11510 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
11511 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
11513 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
11514 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
11515 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
11516 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
11517 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
11519 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
11520 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
11521 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
11523 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
11524 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
11525 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
11526 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
11527 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
11528 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
11529 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
11530 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
11531 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
11532 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
11533 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
11535 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
11536 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
11537 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
11538 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
11539 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
11540 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
11541 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
11543 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
11544 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
11548 @node Kibozed Groups
11549 @subsection Kibozed Groups
11553 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
11554 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
11555 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
11556 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
11558 @kindex G k (Group)
11559 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
11562 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
11563 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
11564 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
11565 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
11567 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
11568 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
11569 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
11571 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
11572 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
11573 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
11574 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
11575 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
11576 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
11577 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
11578 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
11580 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
11581 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
11582 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
11583 Stranger things have happened.
11585 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
11586 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
11588 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
11589 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
11590 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
11591 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
11592 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
11593 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
11595 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11596 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11599 @node Gnus Unplugged
11600 @section Gnus Unplugged
11605 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
11607 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
11608 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
11609 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
11610 read news. Believe it or not.
11612 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
11613 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
11614 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
11615 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
11616 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
11618 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
11619 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
11620 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
11621 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
11622 reading news on a machine.
11624 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
11628 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
11629 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
11633 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
11634 @file{.gnus.el} file:
11641 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
11643 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
11646 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
11647 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
11648 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
11649 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
11650 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
11651 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
11652 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
11653 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
11654 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
11659 @subsection Agent Basics
11661 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
11663 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
11664 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
11665 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
11666 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
11668 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
11669 connected to the net continuously.
11671 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
11672 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
11674 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
11679 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
11680 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
11681 already fetched while in this mode.
11684 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
11685 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
11686 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
11689 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
11690 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
11691 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
11692 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
11695 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
11696 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
11697 then you read the news offline.
11700 And then you go to step 2.
11703 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
11709 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
11710 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
11711 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
11712 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
11713 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
11714 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
11717 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
11724 @node Agent Categories
11725 @subsection Agent Categories
11727 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
11728 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
11729 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
11730 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
11731 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
11732 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
11733 you're interested in the articles anyway.
11735 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
11736 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
11737 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
11740 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
11741 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
11742 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
11746 @node Category Syntax
11747 @subsubsection Category Syntax
11749 A category consists of two things.
11753 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
11754 are eligible for downloading; and
11757 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
11758 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
11759 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
11762 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
11763 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
11764 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
11765 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
11767 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
11768 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
11769 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as descibed below.
11771 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
11772 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
11773 operators sprinkled in between.
11775 Perhaps some examples are in order.
11777 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
11778 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
11784 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
11785 short (for some value of ``short'').
11787 Here's a more complex predicate:
11796 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11797 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11800 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11801 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11802 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11804 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11805 you want to do, you can write your own.
11809 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11810 lines; default 100.
11813 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11814 lines; default 200.
11817 True iff the article has a download score less than
11818 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11821 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11822 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11825 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11826 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11827 checksum and sees whether articles match.
11836 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11837 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11838 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11841 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
11842 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
11843 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
11844 something along the lines of the following:
11847 (defun my-article-old-p ()
11848 "Say whether an article is old."
11849 (< (time-to-day (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
11850 (- (time-to-day (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
11853 with the predicate then defined as:
11856 (not my-article-old-p)
11859 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
11860 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
11861 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
11862 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
11865 (defvar gnus-category-predicate-alist
11866 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
11867 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
11870 and simply specify your predicate as:
11876 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
11877 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
11878 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
11879 just don't give a damm.
11882 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
11883 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
11884 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
11885 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
11886 parameters like so:
11889 (agent-predicate . short)
11892 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category
11893 default. Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this,
11894 the @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair
11897 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
11900 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
11903 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
11904 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
11905 predicate is assumed to be a list.
11908 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11909 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11910 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
11911 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
11912 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
11913 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
11915 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
11916 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
11917 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
11918 if it's to be specific to that group.
11920 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
11927 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
11928 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
11934 Category specification
11938 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
11944 Group Parameter specification
11947 (agent-score ("from"
11948 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
11953 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
11959 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
11966 Category specification
11969 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
11975 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
11979 Group Parameter specification
11982 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
11985 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
11990 Use @code{normal} score files
11992 If you dont want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
11993 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
11994 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
11995 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
11997 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
11998 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
11999 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
12000 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
12004 Category Specification
12011 Group Parameter specification
12014 (agent-score . file)
12019 @node The Category Buffer
12020 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
12022 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
12023 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
12024 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
12026 The following commands are available in this buffer:
12030 @kindex q (Category)
12031 @findex gnus-category-exit
12032 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
12035 @kindex k (Category)
12036 @findex gnus-category-kill
12037 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
12040 @kindex c (Category)
12041 @findex gnus-category-copy
12042 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
12045 @kindex a (Category)
12046 @findex gnus-category-add
12047 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
12050 @kindex p (Category)
12051 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
12052 Edit the predicate of the current category
12053 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
12056 @kindex g (Category)
12057 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
12058 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
12059 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
12062 @kindex s (Category)
12063 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
12064 Edit the download score rule of the current category
12065 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
12068 @kindex l (Category)
12069 @findex gnus-category-list
12070 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
12074 @node Category Variables
12075 @subsubsection Category Variables
12078 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
12079 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
12080 Hook run in category buffers.
12082 @item gnus-category-line-format
12083 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
12084 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
12085 Variables}). Valid elements are:
12089 The name of the category.
12092 The number of groups in the category.
12095 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
12096 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
12097 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
12099 @item gnus-agent-short-article
12100 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
12101 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
12103 @item gnus-agent-long-article
12104 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
12105 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
12107 @item gnus-agent-low-score
12108 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
12109 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
12112 @item gnus-agent-high-score
12113 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
12114 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
12120 @node Agent Commands
12121 @subsection Agent Commands
12123 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
12124 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
12125 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
12129 * Group Agent Commands::
12130 * Summary Agent Commands::
12131 * Server Agent Commands::
12134 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
12135 following incantation:
12137 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
12139 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
12144 @node Group Agent Commands
12145 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
12149 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
12150 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
12151 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
12152 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
12155 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
12156 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
12157 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
12160 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
12161 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
12162 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
12163 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
12166 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
12167 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
12168 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
12169 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}.
12172 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
12173 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
12174 Add the current group to an Agent category
12175 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
12180 @node Summary Agent Commands
12181 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
12185 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
12186 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
12187 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
12190 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
12191 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
12192 Remove the downloading mark from the article
12193 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
12196 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
12197 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
12198 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
12201 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
12202 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
12203 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
12208 @node Server Agent Commands
12209 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
12213 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
12214 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
12215 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
12216 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
12219 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
12220 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
12221 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
12222 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
12228 @subsection Agent Expiry
12230 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
12231 @findex gnus-agent-expire
12232 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
12233 @cindex Agent expiry
12234 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
12237 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
12238 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
12239 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
12240 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
12241 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
12242 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
12244 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
12245 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
12246 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
12247 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
12248 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
12251 @node Outgoing Messages
12252 @subsection Outgoing Messages
12254 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
12255 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
12256 after posting, and edit them at will.
12258 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
12259 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
12260 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
12261 messages in the draft group.
12265 @node Agent Variables
12266 @subsection Agent Variables
12269 @item gnus-agent-directory
12270 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
12271 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
12272 @file{~/News/agent/}.
12274 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
12275 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
12276 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
12277 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
12278 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
12281 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
12282 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
12283 Hook run when connecting to the network.
12285 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
12286 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
12287 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
12292 @node Example Setup
12293 @subsection Example Setup
12295 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
12296 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
12297 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
12300 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
12301 ;;; from your ISP's server.
12302 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
12304 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
12305 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
12306 (setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
12307 (setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
12309 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
12310 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12312 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
12316 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
12317 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
12320 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
12321 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
12322 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
12323 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
12324 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
12327 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
12328 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
12329 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
12330 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
12331 back all the killed groups.)
12333 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
12334 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
12335 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
12338 @node Batching Agents
12339 @subsection Batching Agents
12341 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
12342 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
12343 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
12347 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
12351 @node Agent Caveats
12352 @subsection Agent Caveats
12354 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
12355 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
12359 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
12364 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
12365 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
12371 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
12372 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
12379 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
12380 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
12381 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
12384 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
12385 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
12386 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
12387 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
12388 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
12390 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
12391 before generating the summary buffer.
12393 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
12394 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
12395 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
12397 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
12398 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
12399 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
12400 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
12403 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
12404 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
12405 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
12406 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
12407 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
12408 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
12409 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
12410 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
12411 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
12412 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
12413 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
12414 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
12415 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
12416 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
12417 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
12418 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
12422 @node Summary Score Commands
12423 @section Summary Score Commands
12424 @cindex score commands
12426 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
12427 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
12428 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
12429 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
12430 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
12432 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
12433 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
12434 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
12435 score file the current one.
12437 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
12442 @kindex V s (Summary)
12443 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
12444 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
12447 @kindex V S (Summary)
12448 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
12449 Display the score of the current article
12450 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
12453 @kindex V t (Summary)
12454 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
12455 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
12456 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
12459 @kindex V R (Summary)
12460 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
12461 Run the current summary through the scoring process
12462 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
12463 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
12464 effect you're having.
12467 @kindex V c (Summary)
12468 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
12469 Make a different score file the current
12470 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
12473 @kindex V e (Summary)
12474 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
12475 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
12476 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
12480 @kindex V f (Summary)
12481 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
12482 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
12483 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
12486 @kindex V F (Summary)
12487 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12488 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
12489 after editing score files.
12492 @kindex V C (Summary)
12493 @findex gnus-score-customize
12494 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
12495 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
12499 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
12504 @kindex V m (Summary)
12505 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
12506 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
12507 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
12510 @kindex V x (Summary)
12511 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
12512 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
12513 expunge all articles below this score
12514 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
12517 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
12518 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
12521 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
12522 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
12526 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
12527 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
12529 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
12530 keys are available:
12534 Score on the author name.
12537 Score on the subject line.
12540 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
12543 Score on the References line.
12549 Score on the number of lines.
12552 Score on the Message-ID.
12555 Score on followups.
12569 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
12570 what headers you are scoring on.
12582 Substring matching.
12585 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
12614 Greater than number.
12619 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
12620 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
12621 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
12625 Temporary score entry.
12628 Permanent score entry.
12631 Immediately scoring.
12636 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
12637 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
12638 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
12639 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
12641 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
12642 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
12643 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
12644 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
12645 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
12647 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
12648 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
12649 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
12650 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
12651 current score file.
12653 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
12654 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
12655 pretend they are keymaps or not.
12658 @node Group Score Commands
12659 @section Group Score Commands
12660 @cindex group score commands
12662 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
12667 @kindex W f (Group)
12668 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12669 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
12670 all the time. This command will flush the cache
12671 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
12675 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
12677 @findex gnus-batch-score
12678 @cindex batch scoring
12680 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
12684 @node Score Variables
12685 @section Score Variables
12686 @cindex score variables
12690 @item gnus-use-scoring
12691 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
12692 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
12693 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
12695 @item gnus-kill-killed
12696 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
12697 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
12698 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
12699 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
12700 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
12701 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
12702 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
12704 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
12705 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
12706 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
12707 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
12708 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
12710 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
12711 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
12712 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
12713 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
12715 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12716 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12717 @cindex score cache
12718 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
12719 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
12720 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
12721 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
12722 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
12723 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
12726 @item gnus-save-score
12727 @vindex gnus-save-score
12728 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
12729 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
12730 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
12732 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12733 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12734 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
12735 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
12736 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
12737 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
12738 manually entered data.
12740 @item gnus-summary-default-score
12741 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
12742 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
12744 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
12745 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
12746 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
12747 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
12748 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
12749 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
12751 @item gnus-score-over-mark
12752 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
12753 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
12754 default. Default is @samp{+}.
12756 @item gnus-score-below-mark
12757 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
12758 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
12759 default. Default is @samp{-}.
12761 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12762 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12763 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
12764 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
12766 Predefined functions available are:
12769 @item gnus-score-find-single
12770 @findex gnus-score-find-single
12771 Only apply the group's own score file.
12773 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
12774 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
12775 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
12776 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
12777 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
12778 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
12779 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
12780 then a regexp match is done.
12782 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
12783 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
12785 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
12786 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
12787 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
12788 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
12790 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12791 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12792 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
12793 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
12794 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
12797 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
12798 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
12799 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
12800 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
12801 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
12802 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
12805 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
12806 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
12807 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
12808 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
12809 are expired. It's 7 by default.
12811 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12812 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12813 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
12814 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
12815 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
12816 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
12817 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
12820 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12821 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12822 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
12824 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
12825 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
12826 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
12827 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
12828 threading---according to the current value of
12829 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
12830 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
12831 simplified in this manner.
12836 @node Score File Format
12837 @section Score File Format
12838 @cindex score file format
12840 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
12841 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
12842 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
12844 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
12848 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
12850 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
12852 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
12854 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
12859 (mark-and-expunge -10)
12863 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
12864 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
12865 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
12866 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
12870 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
12871 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
12873 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
12874 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
12875 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
12877 Six keys are supported by this alist:
12882 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
12883 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
12884 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
12885 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
12886 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
12887 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
12888 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
12889 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
12890 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
12891 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
12892 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
12893 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
12894 to articles that matches these score entries.
12896 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
12897 score entry has one to four elements.
12901 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
12902 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
12906 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
12907 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
12908 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
12909 is successful. If this element is not present, the
12910 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
12911 instead. This is 1000 by default.
12914 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
12915 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
12916 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
12917 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
12918 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
12921 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
12922 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
12923 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
12924 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
12927 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
12928 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
12929 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
12930 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
12931 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
12932 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
12933 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
12934 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
12935 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
12936 instead, if you feel like.
12939 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
12940 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
12942 These predicates are true if
12945 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
12948 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
12949 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
12956 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
12957 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
12958 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
12959 it's not. I think.)
12961 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
12962 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
12963 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
12964 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
12967 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
12968 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
12969 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
12970 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
12971 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
12972 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
12973 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
12977 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
12978 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
12979 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
12980 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
12981 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
12982 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
12983 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
12984 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
12987 @item Head, Body, All
12988 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
12992 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
12993 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
12994 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
12995 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
12996 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
12997 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
12998 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
13002 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
13003 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
13004 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
13005 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
13006 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
13007 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
13008 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
13009 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
13010 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
13011 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
13015 @cindex Score File Atoms
13017 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13018 lower than this number will be marked as read.
13021 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13022 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
13024 @item mark-and-expunge
13025 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13026 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
13029 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
13030 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
13031 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
13032 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
13033 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
13036 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
13037 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
13040 @item exclude-files
13041 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
13042 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
13046 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
13047 ignored when handling global score files.
13050 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
13051 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
13052 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
13053 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
13056 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
13057 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
13058 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
13059 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
13061 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
13065 (mark-and-expunge -100)
13068 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
13069 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
13070 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
13071 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
13072 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
13074 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
13075 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
13076 ordinary scoring rules.
13079 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
13080 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
13081 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
13082 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
13083 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
13084 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
13085 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
13086 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
13087 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
13088 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
13089 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
13093 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
13094 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
13095 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
13096 file for a number of groups.
13099 @cindex local variables
13100 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
13101 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
13102 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
13103 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
13104 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
13108 @node Score File Editing
13109 @section Score File Editing
13111 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
13112 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
13113 with a mode for that.
13115 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
13116 additional commands:
13121 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
13122 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
13123 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
13124 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
13127 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
13128 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
13129 Insert the current date in numerical format
13130 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
13131 you were wondering.
13134 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
13135 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
13136 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
13137 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
13138 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
13143 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
13145 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
13146 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
13148 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
13149 e} to begin editing score files.
13152 @node Adaptive Scoring
13153 @section Adaptive Scoring
13154 @cindex adaptive scoring
13156 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
13157 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
13158 stupidity, to be precise.
13160 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
13161 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
13162 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
13163 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
13164 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
13165 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
13166 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
13167 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
13168 variable to @code{(word line)}.
13170 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
13171 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
13172 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
13173 might look something like this:
13176 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
13177 '((gnus-unread-mark)
13178 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
13179 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
13180 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
13181 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
13182 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
13183 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
13184 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
13185 (gnus-ancient-mark)
13186 (gnus-low-score-mark)
13187 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
13190 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
13191 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
13192 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
13193 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
13194 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
13195 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
13198 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
13199 will be applied to each article.
13201 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
13202 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
13203 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
13204 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
13206 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
13207 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
13208 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
13209 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
13211 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
13212 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
13213 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
13214 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
13216 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
13217 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
13218 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
13219 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
13220 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
13221 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
13223 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
13224 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
13225 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
13226 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
13227 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
13228 aspirins afterwards.)
13230 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
13231 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
13232 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
13234 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
13235 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
13236 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
13238 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
13239 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
13240 let you use different rules in different groups.
13242 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
13243 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
13244 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
13247 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
13248 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
13249 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
13250 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
13251 the length of the match is less than
13252 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
13253 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
13256 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
13257 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
13258 headers. If you adapt on words, the
13259 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
13260 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
13263 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
13264 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
13265 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
13266 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
13267 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
13270 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
13271 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
13272 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
13273 score with 30 points.
13275 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
13276 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
13277 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
13278 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
13279 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
13281 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
13282 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
13283 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
13284 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
13286 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
13287 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
13288 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
13289 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
13291 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
13292 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
13293 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
13294 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
13295 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
13297 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
13298 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
13299 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
13301 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
13302 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
13303 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
13304 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
13307 @node Home Score File
13308 @section Home Score File
13310 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
13311 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
13312 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
13313 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
13315 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
13316 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
13317 could perhaps use the same home score file.
13319 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
13320 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
13325 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
13329 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
13330 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
13334 A list. The elements in this list can be:
13338 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
13339 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
13342 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
13343 the home score file.
13346 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
13349 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
13354 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
13357 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13358 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
13361 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
13362 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
13364 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
13366 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13367 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
13370 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
13371 Other functions include
13374 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
13375 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
13376 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
13377 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
13381 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
13382 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
13383 their own home score files:
13386 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13387 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
13388 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
13389 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
13390 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
13393 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
13394 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
13395 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
13396 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
13397 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
13399 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
13400 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
13401 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
13402 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
13403 precedence over this variable.
13406 @node Followups To Yourself
13407 @section Followups To Yourself
13409 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
13410 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
13411 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
13412 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
13413 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
13414 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
13418 @item gnus-score-followup-article
13419 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
13420 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
13423 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
13424 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
13425 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
13429 @vindex message-sent-hook
13430 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
13431 @code{message-sent-hook}.
13433 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
13434 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
13438 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
13439 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
13442 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
13443 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
13448 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
13452 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
13453 is system-dependent.
13457 @section Scoring Tips
13458 @cindex scoring tips
13464 @cindex scoring crossposts
13465 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
13466 the @code{Xref} header.
13468 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
13471 @item Multiple crossposts
13472 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
13473 more than, say, 3 groups:
13475 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
13478 @item Matching on the body
13479 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
13480 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
13481 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
13482 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
13483 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
13484 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
13485 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
13488 @item Marking as read
13489 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
13490 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
13491 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
13495 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
13497 @item Negated character classes
13498 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
13499 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
13500 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
13504 @node Reverse Scoring
13505 @section Reverse Scoring
13506 @cindex reverse scoring
13508 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
13509 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
13510 like this in your score file:
13514 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
13519 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
13520 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
13523 @node Global Score Files
13524 @section Global Score Files
13525 @cindex global score files
13527 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
13528 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
13529 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
13531 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
13532 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
13533 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
13535 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
13536 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
13537 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
13538 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
13539 files are applicable to which group.
13541 Say you want to use the score file
13542 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
13543 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
13546 (setq gnus-global-score-files
13547 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
13548 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
13551 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
13552 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
13553 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
13554 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
13555 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
13557 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
13558 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
13560 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
13561 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
13562 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
13563 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
13564 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
13565 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
13567 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
13573 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
13575 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
13577 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
13579 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
13580 lowered out of existence.
13582 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
13583 articles completely.
13586 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
13587 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
13588 old articles for a long time.
13591 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
13592 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
13593 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
13594 holding our breath yet?
13598 @section Kill Files
13601 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
13602 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
13603 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
13605 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
13606 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
13607 files into score files.
13609 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
13610 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
13611 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
13612 that isn't a very good idea.
13614 Normal kill files look like this:
13617 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13618 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
13622 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
13623 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
13625 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
13626 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
13629 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
13634 @kindex M-k (Summary)
13635 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
13636 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
13639 @kindex M-K (Summary)
13640 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
13641 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
13644 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
13649 @kindex M-k (Group)
13650 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
13651 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
13654 @kindex M-K (Group)
13655 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
13656 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
13659 Kill file variables:
13662 @item gnus-kill-file-name
13663 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
13664 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
13665 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
13666 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
13667 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
13668 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
13670 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13671 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13672 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
13673 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
13676 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
13677 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
13678 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
13679 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
13680 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
13681 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
13682 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
13683 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
13684 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
13686 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13687 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13688 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
13693 @node Converting Kill Files
13694 @section Converting Kill Files
13696 @cindex converting kill files
13698 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
13699 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
13700 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
13703 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
13704 You can fetch it from
13705 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
13707 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
13708 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
13709 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
13717 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
13718 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
13719 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
13721 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
13722 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
13723 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
13724 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
13725 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
13726 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
13727 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
13728 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
13732 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
13733 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
13734 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
13735 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
13739 @node Using GroupLens
13740 @subsection Using GroupLens
13742 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
13744 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
13745 better bit in town at the moment.
13747 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
13751 @item gnus-use-grouplens
13752 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
13753 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
13754 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
13756 @item grouplens-pseudonym
13757 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
13758 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
13759 with the Better Bit Bureau.
13761 @item grouplens-newsgroups
13762 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
13763 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
13767 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
13768 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
13769 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
13770 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
13771 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
13772 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
13775 @node Rating Articles
13776 @subsection Rating Articles
13778 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
13779 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
13780 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
13781 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
13784 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
13789 @kindex r (GroupLens)
13790 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
13791 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
13794 @kindex k (GroupLens)
13795 @findex grouplens-score-thread
13796 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
13797 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
13798 threads in rec.humor.
13802 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
13803 the score of the article you're reading.
13808 @kindex n (GroupLens)
13809 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
13810 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
13813 @kindex , (GroupLens)
13814 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
13815 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
13819 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
13820 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
13823 @node Displaying Predictions
13824 @subsection Displaying Predictions
13826 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
13827 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
13828 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
13829 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
13830 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
13832 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
13833 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
13834 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
13835 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
13836 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
13837 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
13838 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
13839 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
13840 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
13841 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
13842 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
13843 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
13844 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
13846 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
13847 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
13848 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
13849 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
13851 The following are valid values for that variable.
13854 @item prediction-spot
13855 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
13858 @item confidence-interval
13859 A numeric confidence interval.
13861 @item prediction-bar
13862 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
13864 @item confidence-bar
13865 Numerical confidence.
13867 @item confidence-spot
13868 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
13870 @item prediction-num
13871 Plain-old numeric value.
13873 @item confidence-plus-minus
13874 Prediction +/- confidence.
13879 @node GroupLens Variables
13880 @subsection GroupLens Variables
13884 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
13885 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
13886 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
13887 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
13890 @item grouplens-bbb-host
13891 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
13894 @item grouplens-bbb-port
13895 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
13897 @item grouplens-score-offset
13898 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
13899 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
13902 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
13903 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
13904 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
13909 @node Advanced Scoring
13910 @section Advanced Scoring
13912 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
13913 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
13914 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
13915 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
13916 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
13918 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
13922 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
13923 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
13924 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
13928 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
13929 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
13931 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
13932 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
13933 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
13934 non-@code{nil} value.
13936 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
13937 operator, and various match operators.
13944 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13945 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
13946 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
13951 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13952 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
13953 then this operator will return @code{false}.
13958 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
13959 logical negation of the value of its argument.
13963 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
13964 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
13965 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
13966 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
13967 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
13968 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
13969 the ancestry you want to go.
13971 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
13972 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
13973 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
13974 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
13975 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
13978 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
13979 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
13981 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
13982 when he's talking about Gnus:
13986 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13987 ("subject" "Gnus"))
13993 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
13997 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14004 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
14005 really don't want to read what he's written:
14009 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14010 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
14014 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
14015 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
14016 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
14023 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
14024 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
14025 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
14026 ("body" "white.*socks"))
14030 The possibilities are endless.
14033 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
14034 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
14036 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
14037 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
14038 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
14039 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
14040 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
14041 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
14042 @samp{subject}) first.
14044 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
14045 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
14056 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
14057 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
14063 ("subject" "Gnus")))
14070 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
14071 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
14076 @section Score Decays
14077 @cindex score decays
14080 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
14081 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
14082 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
14083 use them in any sensible way.
14085 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
14086 @findex gnus-decay-score
14087 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
14088 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
14089 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
14090 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
14091 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
14092 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
14093 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
14094 definition of that function:
14097 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
14099 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
14100 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
14103 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
14105 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
14107 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
14110 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
14111 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
14112 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
14113 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
14117 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
14120 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
14123 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
14127 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
14128 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
14129 the new score, which should be an integer.
14131 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
14132 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
14139 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
14140 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
14141 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
14142 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
14143 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
14144 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
14145 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
14146 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
14147 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
14148 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
14149 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
14150 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
14151 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
14152 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
14153 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
14154 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
14155 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
14156 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
14160 @node Process/Prefix
14161 @section Process/Prefix
14162 @cindex process/prefix convention
14164 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
14165 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
14167 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
14168 command to be performed on.
14172 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
14173 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
14174 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
14175 with the current one.
14177 @vindex transient-mark-mode
14178 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
14179 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
14181 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
14182 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
14185 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
14186 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
14188 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
14191 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
14192 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
14193 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
14194 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14196 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
14197 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
14198 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
14199 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
14200 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
14201 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
14202 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
14203 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
14207 @section Interactive
14208 @cindex interaction
14212 @item gnus-novice-user
14213 @vindex gnus-novice-user
14214 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
14215 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
14216 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
14217 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
14220 @item gnus-expert-user
14221 @vindex gnus-expert-user
14222 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
14223 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
14224 matter how strange.
14226 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
14227 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
14228 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
14229 is @code{t} by default.
14231 @item gnus-interactive-exit
14232 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
14233 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
14238 @node Symbolic Prefixes
14239 @section Symbolic Prefixes
14240 @cindex symbolic prefixes
14242 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
14243 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
14244 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
14245 rule of 900 to the current article.
14247 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
14248 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
14249 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
14250 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
14251 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
14252 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
14253 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
14255 @kindex M-i (Summary)
14256 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
14257 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
14258 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
14259 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
14260 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
14261 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
14262 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
14263 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
14265 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
14266 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
14267 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
14269 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
14273 @node Formatting Variables
14274 @section Formatting Variables
14275 @cindex formatting variables
14277 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
14278 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
14279 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
14280 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
14281 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
14284 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
14285 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
14286 lots of percentages everywhere.
14289 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
14290 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
14291 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
14292 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
14293 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
14296 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
14297 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
14298 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
14299 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
14300 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
14301 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
14302 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
14303 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
14305 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
14306 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
14308 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
14309 @findex gnus-update-format
14310 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
14311 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
14312 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
14313 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
14317 @node Formatting Basics
14318 @subsection Formatting Basics
14320 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
14321 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
14322 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
14324 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
14325 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
14326 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
14327 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
14328 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
14331 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
14332 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
14333 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
14334 less than 4 characters wide.
14337 @node Mode Line Formatting
14338 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
14340 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
14341 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
14342 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
14343 with the following two differences:
14348 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
14351 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
14352 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
14353 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
14354 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
14355 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
14356 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
14357 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
14362 @node Advanced Formatting
14363 @subsection Advanced Formatting
14365 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
14366 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
14367 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
14368 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
14370 These are the valid modifiers:
14375 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
14379 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
14384 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
14387 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
14392 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
14395 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
14398 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
14401 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
14405 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
14406 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
14407 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
14408 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
14409 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
14410 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
14411 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
14413 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
14414 last operation, padding.
14416 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
14417 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
14418 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
14419 @xref{Compilation}.
14422 @node User-Defined Specs
14423 @subsection User-Defined Specs
14425 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
14426 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
14427 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
14428 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
14429 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
14430 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
14431 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
14432 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
14433 should protect against that.
14435 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
14436 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
14437 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
14438 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
14442 @node Formatting Fonts
14443 @subsection Formatting Fonts
14445 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
14446 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
14447 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
14448 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
14451 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
14452 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
14453 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
14454 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
14455 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
14456 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
14458 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
14459 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say
14460 @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
14461 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
14462 symbols naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
14463 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
14464 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
14465 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
14467 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
14470 ;; Create three face types.
14471 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
14472 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
14474 ;; We want the article count to be in
14475 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
14476 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
14477 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
14479 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
14480 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
14482 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
14483 (setq gnus-group-line-format
14484 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
14487 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
14488 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
14490 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
14491 mode-line variables.
14494 @node Windows Configuration
14495 @section Windows Configuration
14496 @cindex windows configuration
14498 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
14500 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
14501 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
14502 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
14503 @code{t} by default.
14505 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
14506 glitches. Use at your own peril.
14508 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
14509 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
14510 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
14513 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
14514 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
14515 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14519 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
14520 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
14521 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
14522 possible names is listed below.
14524 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
14525 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
14528 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14532 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
14533 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
14534 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
14535 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
14536 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
14537 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
14538 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
14539 size spec per split.
14541 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
14542 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
14543 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
14544 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
14545 present) gets focus.
14547 Here's a more complicated example:
14550 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
14551 (summary 0.25 point)
14552 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
14556 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
14557 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
14558 occupy, not a percentage.
14560 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
14561 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
14562 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
14563 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
14564 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
14567 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
14570 (article (horizontal 1.0
14575 (summary 0.25 point)
14580 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
14581 @code{horizontal} thingie?
14583 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
14584 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
14585 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
14586 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
14587 the screen is to be given to this strip.
14589 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
14590 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
14591 lines from the splits.
14593 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
14597 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
14598 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
14599 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
14600 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
14601 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
14602 size = number | frame-params
14603 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
14606 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
14607 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
14608 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
14609 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
14611 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
14612 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
14613 @cindex window height
14614 @cindex window width
14615 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
14616 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
14617 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
14618 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
14619 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
14620 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
14622 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
14623 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
14624 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
14625 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
14627 @findex gnus-configure-frame
14628 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
14629 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
14630 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
14631 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
14632 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
14633 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
14634 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
14635 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
14636 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
14637 configuration list.
14640 (gnus-configure-frame
14644 (article 0.3 point))
14652 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
14653 @code{frame} split:
14656 (gnus-configure-frame
14659 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
14661 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
14662 (user-position . t)
14663 (left . -1) (top . 1))
14668 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
14669 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
14670 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
14671 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
14672 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
14673 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
14674 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
14675 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
14678 Here's a list of all possible keys for
14679 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
14681 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
14682 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
14683 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
14684 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
14685 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
14686 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
14688 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
14689 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
14690 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
14694 (message (horizontal 1.0
14695 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
14697 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
14702 @findex gnus-add-configuration
14703 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
14704 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
14705 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
14706 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
14709 (gnus-add-configuration
14710 '(article (vertical 1.0
14712 (summary .25 point)
14716 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
14717 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
14718 Gnus has been loaded.
14720 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
14721 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
14722 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
14723 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
14724 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
14726 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
14727 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
14728 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
14732 @node Faces and Fonts
14733 @section Faces and Fonts
14738 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
14739 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
14740 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
14745 @section Compilation
14746 @cindex compilation
14747 @cindex byte-compilation
14749 @findex gnus-compile
14751 Remember all those line format specification variables?
14752 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
14753 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
14754 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
14755 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
14756 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
14759 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
14760 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
14761 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
14762 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
14763 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
14764 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
14765 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
14769 @section Mode Lines
14772 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
14773 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
14774 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
14775 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
14776 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
14777 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
14778 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
14781 @cindex display-time
14783 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
14784 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
14785 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
14786 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
14787 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
14788 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
14789 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
14790 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
14793 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
14795 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
14796 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
14798 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
14799 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
14800 (length display-time-string)))))
14803 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
14804 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
14805 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
14806 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
14807 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
14810 @node Highlighting and Menus
14811 @section Highlighting and Menus
14813 @cindex highlighting
14816 @vindex gnus-visual
14817 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
14818 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
14819 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
14822 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
14823 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
14826 @item group-highlight
14827 Do highlights in the group buffer.
14828 @item summary-highlight
14829 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
14830 @item article-highlight
14831 Do highlights according to @code{gnus-article-display-hook} in the
14834 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
14836 Create menus in the group buffer.
14838 Create menus in the summary buffers.
14840 Create menus in the article buffer.
14842 Create menus in the browse buffer.
14844 Create menus in the server buffer.
14846 Create menus in the score buffers.
14848 Create menus in all buffers.
14851 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
14852 buffers, you could say something like:
14855 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
14858 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
14861 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
14864 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
14865 in all Gnus buffers.
14867 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
14870 @item gnus-mouse-face
14871 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
14872 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
14873 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
14877 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
14881 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
14882 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
14883 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
14885 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
14886 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
14887 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
14889 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
14890 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
14891 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
14893 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
14894 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
14895 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
14897 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
14898 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
14899 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
14901 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
14902 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
14903 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
14914 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
14915 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
14916 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
14917 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
14918 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
14922 @vindex gnus-carpal
14923 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
14924 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
14925 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
14930 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14931 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14932 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
14934 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
14935 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
14936 Face used on buttons.
14938 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
14939 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
14940 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
14942 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14943 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14944 Buttons in the group buffer.
14946 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14947 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14948 Buttons in the summary buffer.
14950 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14951 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14952 Buttons in the server buffer.
14954 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14955 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14956 Buttons in the browse buffer.
14959 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
14960 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
14961 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
14969 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
14970 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
14971 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
14972 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
14973 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
14975 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
14976 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
14977 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
14979 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
14980 been idle for thirty minutes:
14983 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
14986 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
14990 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
14993 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
14994 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
14995 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14997 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
14998 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
14999 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
15000 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
15002 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
15003 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
15004 @var{idle} minutes.
15006 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
15007 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
15010 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
15011 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
15012 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
15014 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
15015 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
15016 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
15017 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
15019 @vindex gnus-use-demon
15020 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
15021 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
15023 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
15024 your @file{.gnus} file:
15026 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
15028 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
15031 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
15032 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
15033 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
15034 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
15035 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
15036 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
15037 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
15038 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
15039 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
15040 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
15041 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
15043 @findex gnus-demon-init
15044 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
15045 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
15046 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
15047 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
15048 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
15050 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
15051 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
15052 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
15061 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
15062 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
15064 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
15065 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
15066 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
15067 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
15070 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
15071 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
15072 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
15073 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
15075 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
15076 this will make spam disappear.
15078 There are some variables to customize, of course:
15081 @item gnus-use-nocem
15082 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
15083 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
15086 @item gnus-nocem-groups
15087 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
15088 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
15089 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
15090 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
15092 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
15093 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
15094 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
15095 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
15096 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
15097 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
15098 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
15100 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
15103 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
15104 @cindex Chris Lewis
15105 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
15106 usenet abuse than anybody else.
15109 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
15110 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
15111 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
15113 @item jem@@xpat.com;
15115 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
15118 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
15119 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
15120 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
15123 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
15124 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
15125 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
15126 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
15127 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
15128 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
15129 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
15130 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
15131 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
15132 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
15134 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
15135 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
15138 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
15141 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
15142 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
15145 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
15148 The specs are applied left-to-right.
15151 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
15152 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
15154 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
15155 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
15156 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
15157 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
15159 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
15160 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
15163 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
15165 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
15173 This might be dangerous, though.
15175 @item gnus-nocem-directory
15176 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
15177 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
15178 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
15180 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
15181 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
15182 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
15183 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
15184 might then see old spam.
15188 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
15189 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
15190 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
15191 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
15198 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
15199 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
15200 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
15202 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
15203 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
15204 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
15205 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
15206 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
15207 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
15208 @code{undo} function.
15210 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
15211 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
15212 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
15213 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
15214 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
15215 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
15216 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
15217 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
15218 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
15219 never be totally undoable.
15221 @findex gnus-undo-mode
15222 @vindex gnus-use-undo
15224 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
15225 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
15226 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
15227 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
15232 @section Moderation
15235 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
15236 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
15237 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
15240 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
15244 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
15247 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
15249 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
15254 You split your incoming mail by matching on
15255 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
15256 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
15259 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
15260 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
15263 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
15264 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
15268 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
15271 (setq gnus-moderated-list
15272 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
15276 @node XEmacs Enhancements
15277 @section XEmacs Enhancements
15280 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
15284 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
15285 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
15286 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
15287 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
15300 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
15301 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
15302 over your shoulder as you read news.
15305 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
15306 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
15307 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
15308 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
15309 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
15314 @subsubsection Picon Basics
15316 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
15325 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
15326 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
15327 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
15328 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
15329 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
15330 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
15331 @code{GIF} formats.
15334 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15335 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
15336 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
15337 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
15338 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
15340 @vindex gnus-picons-database
15341 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
15342 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
15343 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
15344 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
15345 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
15348 @node Picon Requirements
15349 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
15351 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
15352 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
15355 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
15356 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
15357 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
15359 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15360 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
15361 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
15362 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
15363 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
15367 @subsubsection Easy Picons
15369 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
15370 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
15373 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
15374 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15375 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
15376 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15377 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
15380 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
15381 containing the Picons databases.
15383 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
15386 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15387 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
15392 @subsubsection Hard Picons
15400 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
15401 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
15402 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
15403 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
15404 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
15409 @item gnus-picons-database
15410 @vindex gnus-picons-database
15411 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
15412 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
15413 subdirectories. This is only useful if
15414 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
15415 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
15417 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15418 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15419 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
15420 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
15421 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
15422 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
15423 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
15425 @item gnus-picons-display-where
15426 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
15427 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
15428 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
15429 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
15430 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
15431 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
15432 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
15434 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
15435 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
15436 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
15441 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
15442 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
15444 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
15445 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
15448 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
15449 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
15451 @item gnus-article-display-picons
15452 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
15453 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
15454 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
15455 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
15457 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
15458 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
15459 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
15460 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
15464 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
15465 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
15468 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
15472 @node Picon Useless Configuration
15473 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
15481 The following variables offer further control over how things are
15482 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
15483 don't need to worry about.
15487 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
15488 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
15489 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15490 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
15492 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
15493 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
15494 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
15495 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
15497 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
15498 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
15499 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15500 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
15501 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
15503 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15504 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15505 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
15506 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
15507 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
15508 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
15509 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
15511 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15512 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15513 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
15514 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
15516 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15517 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15518 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
15519 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
15520 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
15521 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
15522 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
15524 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15525 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15526 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
15527 Defaults to @code{nil}.
15529 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
15530 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
15531 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
15532 Defaults to @code{t}.
15534 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15535 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15536 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
15537 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
15539 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15540 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15541 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
15542 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
15544 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15545 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15546 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
15547 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
15548 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
15549 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
15550 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
15551 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
15562 @subsection Smileys
15567 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
15572 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
15573 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
15575 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
15576 @file{.gnus.el} file:
15579 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
15582 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
15583 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
15584 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
15585 text and maps that to file names.
15587 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
15588 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
15589 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
15590 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
15591 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
15592 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
15594 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
15595 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
15597 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
15598 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
15599 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
15601 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
15602 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
15606 @item smiley-data-directory
15607 @vindex smiley-data-directory
15608 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
15610 @item smiley-flesh-color
15611 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
15612 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
15614 @item smiley-features-color
15615 @vindex smiley-features-color
15616 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15618 @item smiley-tongue-color
15619 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
15620 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
15622 @item smiley-circle-color
15623 @vindex smiley-circle-color
15624 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15626 @item smiley-mouse-face
15627 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
15628 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
15634 @subsection Toolbar
15644 @item gnus-use-toolbar
15645 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
15646 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
15647 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
15648 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
15650 @item gnus-group-toolbar
15651 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
15652 The toolbar in the group buffer.
15654 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
15655 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
15656 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
15658 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15659 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15660 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
15666 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
15669 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15670 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15671 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
15672 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
15673 unusual directory structure.
15675 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15676 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15677 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
15678 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
15680 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15681 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15682 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
15683 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
15684 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
15685 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
15687 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15688 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15689 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
15703 @node Fuzzy Matching
15704 @section Fuzzy Matching
15705 @cindex fuzzy matching
15707 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
15708 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
15710 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
15711 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
15712 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
15714 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
15715 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
15716 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
15717 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
15718 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
15721 @node Thwarting Email Spam
15722 @section Thwarting Email Spam
15726 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
15728 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
15729 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
15730 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
15731 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
15732 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
15733 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
15734 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
15735 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
15738 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
15739 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
15740 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
15741 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
15742 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
15743 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
15747 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
15748 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
15750 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
15751 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
15752 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
15753 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
15754 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
15755 part of the mail address.)
15758 (setq message-default-news-headers
15759 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
15762 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15763 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
15768 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
15769 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
15770 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
15776 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
15777 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
15778 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
15779 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
15781 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
15782 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
15783 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
15784 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
15785 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
15786 your fancy split rule in this way:
15791 (to "larsi" "misc")
15795 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
15796 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
15797 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
15798 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
15799 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
15801 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
15802 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
15803 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
15804 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
15805 cosmic balance somewhat.
15807 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
15808 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
15809 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
15810 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
15813 @node Various Various
15814 @section Various Various
15820 @item gnus-home-directory
15821 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
15822 defaults to @file{~/}.
15824 @item gnus-directory
15825 @vindex gnus-directory
15826 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
15827 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
15828 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
15830 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
15831 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
15832 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
15833 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
15835 @item gnus-default-directory
15836 @vindex gnus-default-directory
15837 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
15838 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
15839 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
15840 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
15841 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
15842 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
15845 @vindex gnus-verbose
15846 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
15847 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
15848 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
15849 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
15850 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
15852 @item gnus-verbose-backends
15853 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
15854 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
15855 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
15857 @item nnheader-max-head-length
15858 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
15859 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
15860 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
15861 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
15862 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
15863 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
15864 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
15865 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
15866 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
15868 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
15869 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
15870 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
15871 read when doing the operation described above.
15873 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15874 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15876 @cindex invalid characters in file names
15877 @cindex characters in file names
15878 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
15879 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
15880 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
15883 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15887 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
15888 Windows (phooey) systems.
15890 @item gnus-hidden-properties
15891 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
15892 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
15893 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
15894 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
15896 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
15897 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
15898 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
15899 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
15900 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
15902 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
15903 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
15904 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
15913 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
15914 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
15916 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
15918 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
15924 Not because of victories @*
15927 but for the common sunshine,@*
15929 the largess of the spring.
15933 but for the day's work done@*
15934 as well as I was able;@*
15935 not for a seat upon the dais@*
15936 but at the common table.@*
15941 @chapter Appendices
15944 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
15945 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
15946 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
15947 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
15948 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
15949 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
15950 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
15958 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
15959 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
15961 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
15962 can point your (feh!) web browser to
15963 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
15964 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
15965 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
15967 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
15968 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
15969 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
15970 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
15971 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
15972 appropriate name, don't you think?)
15974 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
15975 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
15976 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
15977 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
15979 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
15980 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
15981 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
15983 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
15984 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
15986 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
15987 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
15989 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
15990 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6 on March 8th 1998.
15992 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
15993 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
15994 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
15995 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
15996 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
16000 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
16001 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
16002 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
16003 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
16004 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
16005 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
16006 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
16013 What's the point of Gnus?
16015 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
16016 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
16017 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
16018 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
16019 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
16020 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
16021 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
16022 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
16023 keep track of millions of people who post?
16025 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
16026 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
16027 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
16028 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
16029 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
16030 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
16031 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
16032 every one of you to explore and invent.
16034 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
16035 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
16038 @node Compatibility
16039 @subsection Compatibility
16041 @cindex compatibility
16042 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
16043 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
16044 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
16049 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
16053 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
16056 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
16059 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
16060 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
16061 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
16062 important variables have their values copied into their global
16063 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
16064 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
16066 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
16067 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
16068 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
16069 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
16070 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
16074 @cindex highlighting
16075 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
16076 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
16077 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
16078 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
16079 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
16080 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
16083 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
16084 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
16085 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
16086 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
16088 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
16089 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
16090 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
16091 to stop doing it the old way.
16093 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
16095 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
16097 @cindex reporting bugs
16099 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
16100 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
16101 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
16103 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
16104 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
16105 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
16106 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
16111 @subsection Conformity
16113 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
16114 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
16121 There are no known breaches of this standard.
16125 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
16127 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
16128 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
16129 We do have some breaches to this one.
16134 Gnus does not yet fully handle MIME, and this standard-to-be seems to
16135 think that MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
16138 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
16139 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
16140 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
16141 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
16142 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
16147 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
16148 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
16149 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
16150 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
16154 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
16155 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
16160 @subsection Emacsen
16166 Gnus should work on :
16174 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
16178 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
16179 reliably, at least.
16181 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
16182 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
16183 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
16188 @subsection Contributors
16189 @cindex contributors
16191 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
16192 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
16193 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
16194 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
16195 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
16196 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
16197 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
16198 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
16199 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
16200 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
16202 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
16208 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
16211 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
16212 well as numerous other things).
16215 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
16218 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
16221 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el and many other things
16222 connected with @sc{mime} and other types of en/decoding.
16225 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
16226 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
16229 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
16232 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
16233 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16236 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
16239 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
16242 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
16245 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
16248 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
16249 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
16252 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
16255 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
16258 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
16261 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
16265 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
16268 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
16271 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
16274 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
16275 well as autoconf support.
16279 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
16280 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
16282 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
16291 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
16295 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
16317 Massimo Campostrini,
16325 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
16331 Michael Welsh Duggan,
16334 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
16338 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
16345 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
16347 Michelangelo Grigni,
16350 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
16352 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
16354 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
16359 François Felix Ingrand,
16360 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
16362 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
16371 Peter Skov Knudsen,
16372 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
16373 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
16374 Thor Kristoffersen,
16377 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
16394 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
16395 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
16402 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
16406 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
16409 John McClary Prevost,
16415 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
16420 Christian von Roques,
16422 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
16429 Philippe Schnoebelen,
16431 Randal L. Schwartz,
16461 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka.
16463 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
16464 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
16465 (550kB and counting).
16467 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
16470 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
16471 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
16475 @subsection New Features
16476 @cindex new features
16479 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
16480 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
16481 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
16482 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
16485 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
16486 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
16487 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
16491 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
16493 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
16498 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
16499 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
16502 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
16503 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
16506 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
16509 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
16510 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
16511 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
16514 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
16515 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
16516 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
16517 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16520 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
16521 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16524 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
16525 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
16526 (@pxref{The Active File}).
16529 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
16530 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
16533 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
16534 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
16535 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16538 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
16539 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
16540 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
16543 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
16544 the @file{.emacs} file.
16547 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
16548 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16551 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
16552 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
16555 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
16556 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16559 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
16560 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
16563 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
16564 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16567 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
16570 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
16571 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
16574 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
16575 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
16578 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
16579 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
16582 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
16585 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
16586 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16589 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
16593 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
16597 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
16598 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
16601 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
16607 @node September Gnus
16608 @subsubsection September Gnus
16612 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
16616 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
16621 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
16622 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
16626 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
16627 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
16631 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
16635 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
16636 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
16639 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
16643 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16646 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
16649 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
16652 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
16656 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
16657 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
16660 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
16664 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
16668 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
16672 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
16676 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
16679 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
16680 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
16683 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
16687 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
16688 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
16691 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
16694 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
16695 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
16696 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16699 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
16703 The Gnus cache is much faster.
16706 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
16710 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
16711 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
16714 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
16715 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
16718 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
16719 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16722 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
16723 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
16724 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
16727 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
16728 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
16731 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
16734 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16737 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16738 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
16742 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
16745 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
16748 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
16749 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
16752 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
16756 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
16759 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
16764 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
16767 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
16771 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16774 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
16778 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
16781 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
16784 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
16785 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16788 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
16789 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
16793 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
16794 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
16797 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
16801 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
16802 buffer to allow easier treatment.
16805 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
16808 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
16812 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
16816 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
16817 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
16820 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
16824 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
16825 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16828 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
16829 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16832 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
16836 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16839 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16840 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
16844 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
16847 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
16853 @subsubsection Red Gnus
16855 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
16859 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
16866 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
16869 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
16870 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16873 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
16874 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
16878 Article washing status can be displayed in the
16879 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
16882 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
16885 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
16886 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
16889 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
16893 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
16894 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
16898 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
16899 Server Internals}).
16902 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
16906 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
16909 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
16910 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
16913 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
16914 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
16915 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
16918 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
16919 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16922 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
16923 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
16926 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
16930 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
16931 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16934 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
16935 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16938 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
16942 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
16945 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
16949 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
16950 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16953 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
16954 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16957 A new command for reading collections of documents
16958 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
16959 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
16962 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
16966 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
16967 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
16970 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
16971 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
16972 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
16975 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
16976 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
16980 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
16984 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
16988 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
16993 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
16997 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
17001 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
17002 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
17005 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
17008 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
17009 'gnus-article-emphasize)
17016 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
17018 New features in Gnus 5.6:
17023 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
17024 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
17025 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
17028 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
17029 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
17030 group, which is created automatically.
17033 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
17037 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
17040 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
17041 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
17044 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
17048 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
17051 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
17052 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
17055 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
17058 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
17059 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
17062 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
17063 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
17066 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
17067 control over simplification.
17070 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
17073 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
17077 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
17080 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
17083 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
17084 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
17085 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
17088 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
17089 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
17092 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
17096 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
17097 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
17100 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
17101 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
17104 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
17108 A history of where mails have been split is available.
17111 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
17114 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
17115 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
17118 A new function for citing in Message has been
17119 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
17122 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
17125 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
17129 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
17130 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
17133 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
17134 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
17137 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
17140 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
17145 @node Newest Features
17146 @subsection Newest Features
17149 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
17152 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
17154 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
17155 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
17158 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
17163 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
17166 Really do unbinhexing.
17169 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
17170 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
17173 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
17176 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
17179 facep is not declared.
17182 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
17183 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
17186 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
17191 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
17192 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
17193 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
17194 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
17195 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
17196 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
17197 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
17202 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
17205 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
17208 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
17210 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
17211 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
17213 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
17215 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
17217 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
17218 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
17220 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
17222 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
17223 be marked as unread.
17225 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
17227 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
17229 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
17230 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
17232 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
17234 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
17236 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
17237 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
17239 topics that contain just groups with ticked
17240 articles aren't displayed.
17242 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
17244 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
17245 make the mail groups killed.
17247 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
17249 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
17250 and articles have to be removed.
17252 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
17255 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
17257 finding short score file names takes forever.
17259 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17261 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
17263 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
17265 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
17267 nnweb doesn't work properly.
17269 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
17271 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
17272 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
17276 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
17278 really unbinhex binhex files.
17280 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
17281 bar and the Gnus bar.
17284 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
17285 `(canonize-message-id id)'
17286 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
17287 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
17288 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
17289 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
17294 nnml .overview directory with splits.
17298 postponed commands.
17300 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
17302 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
17305 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
17306 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
17308 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
17309 inherit copy prompts and save files.
17311 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
17313 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
17314 for backends that support that.
17316 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
17318 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
17319 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
17321 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
17322 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
17324 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
17326 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
17328 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
17330 server mode command: close/open all connections
17332 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
17333 has been changed before using it.
17335 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
17337 hide (sub)threads with low score.
17339 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
17341 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
17343 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
17344 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
17346 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
17347 contain groups that match a regexp.
17349 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
17352 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
17355 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
17356 from subject lines.
17358 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
17360 nntp-ping-before-connect
17362 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
17364 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
17365 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
17367 message annotations.
17369 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
17371 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
17372 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
17374 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
17379 support qmail maildir spools
17381 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
17383 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
17385 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
17387 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
17388 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
17390 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
17392 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
17394 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
17395 finds and generate proper active ranges.
17397 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
17398 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
17400 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
17402 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
17404 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
17405 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
17407 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
17409 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
17411 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
17412 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
17415 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
17417 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
17419 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
17420 `C-c C-c' when posting.
17422 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
17425 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
17426 should be marker as expirable.
17428 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
17430 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
17431 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
17433 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
17434 Also consult Date headers.
17436 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
17438 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
17440 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
17441 Message-ID, delete the "original".
17443 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
17444 into a See-Also header.
17446 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
17448 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
17450 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
17451 should be listed as such and not as "K".
17453 generate font names dynamically.
17455 score file mode auto-alist.
17457 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
17458 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
17460 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
17461 absolutely all headers there is.
17463 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
17464 and pipe them to the process.
17466 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
17467 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
17468 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
17470 function for starting to edit a file to put into
17471 the current mail group.
17473 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
17475 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
17476 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
17478 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
17479 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
17481 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
17483 when replying to several process-marked articles,
17484 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
17486 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
17487 groups it has been mailed to.
17489 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
17491 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
17493 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
17495 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
17496 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
17498 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
17499 newlines) should be ignored.
17501 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
17502 groups in subtopics as well.
17504 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
17506 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
17509 add edit and forward secondary marks.
17511 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
17513 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
17515 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
17517 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
17519 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
17521 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
17522 or the formatted article.
17524 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
17526 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
17527 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
17529 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
17531 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
17533 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
17535 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
17536 even unread articles.
17538 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
17540 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
17542 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
17544 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
17546 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17548 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
17551 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
17552 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
17554 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
17555 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
17557 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
17559 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
17561 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
17562 from a particular server? Hm.
17564 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
17565 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
17567 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
17569 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
17570 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
17572 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
17573 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
17575 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
17576 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
17577 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
17580 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
17581 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
17583 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
17585 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
17587 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
17589 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
17592 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
17595 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
17596 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
17598 command to show and edit group scores
17600 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
17603 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
17605 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
17607 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
17608 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
17611 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
17612 that are of that length.
17614 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
17616 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
17618 asynchronous posting under nntp.
17620 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
17622 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
17624 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
17626 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
17627 a score lower than this number.
17629 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
17631 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
17633 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
17634 so that each copy can be edited separately.
17636 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
17638 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
17639 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
17641 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
17644 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
17645 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
17646 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
17647 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
17649 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
17652 command to remove all topic stuff.
17654 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
17655 and splitting the resulting digests.
17657 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
17659 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
17661 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
17662 matches an alist -- before saving.
17664 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
17666 variable to activate each group before entering them
17667 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
17669 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
17670 starting Gnus first if necessary.
17672 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
17673 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
17675 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
17677 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
17678 of several groups at once.
17680 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
17681 matches some regexp(s).
17683 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
17685 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
17687 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
17689 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
17691 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
17693 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
17695 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
17697 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
17698 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
17699 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
17700 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
17702 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
17703 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
17705 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
17707 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
17708 recently cited text.
17710 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
17712 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
17715 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
17716 server and just read the articles in the server
17718 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
17719 value of nnoo variables.
17721 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
17723 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
17724 listed in each group info.
17726 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
17729 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
17730 should only be applied to some groups.
17732 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
17733 mail-copies-to: never.
17735 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
17736 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
17738 the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.
17740 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
17743 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
17746 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
17748 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
17751 group user-defined meta-parameters.
17755 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
17757 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
17758 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
17759 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
17760 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
17761 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
17763 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
17764 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
17771 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
17772 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
17774 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
17775 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
17777 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
17778 "Return the date the group was last read."
17779 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
17784 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
17785 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
17786 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
17787 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
17791 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
17792 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
17794 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
17797 They could be used like this:
17801 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
17802 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
17803 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
17805 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
17807 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
17810 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
17813 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
17814 affect the summary line format.
17818 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
17820 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
17821 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
17823 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
17826 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
17828 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
17830 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
17832 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
17834 - For other files, just find them normally.
17836 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
17837 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
17840 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
17841 tell him what you are doing.
17844 Currently, I get prompted:
17848 decend into sci.something ?
17852 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
17853 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
17854 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
17855 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
17858 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
17859 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
17860 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
17861 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
17864 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
17865 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
17871 more than n blank lines
17873 more than m identical lines
17874 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
17876 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
17880 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
17881 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
17882 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
17883 "same" subject for threading purposes.
17886 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
17887 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
17888 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
17889 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
17892 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
17895 soup - bowl of soup
17896 score below - dim light bulb
17897 score over - bright light bulb
17900 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
17905 show-list-of-articles-in-group
17906 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17907 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
17908 if (articles-selected)
17909 start-reading-selected-articles;
17910 junk-unread-articles;
17915 else if (key-pressed = '.')
17916 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
17917 select-thread-under-cursor;
17919 select-article-under-cursor;
17923 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17924 if (more-pages-in-article)
17926 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
17933 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
17934 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
17935 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
17938 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
17939 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
17940 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
17941 the wildcard expression).
17944 It would be nice if it also handled
17946 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
17948 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
17953 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
17954 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
17955 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
17956 article versions) variable.
17958 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
17960 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
17961 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
17965 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
17968 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
17969 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
17970 (message-sent-hook).
17972 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
17975 * Enhancements to Gnus:
17979 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
17980 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
17983 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
17984 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
17985 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
17988 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
17989 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
17993 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
17996 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
18000 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
18001 the nnmail duplicate checking.
18004 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
18005 value of the signature file.
18008 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
18009 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
18012 (setq message-tab-alist
18013 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
18014 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
18016 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
18020 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
18023 a command to import a buffer into a group.
18026 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
18029 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
18030 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
18033 a command to process mark all unread articles.
18036 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
18037 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
18038 do more gathering by subject.
18041 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
18042 article numerical order.
18045 (gnus-thread-total-score
18046 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
18050 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
18053 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
18054 in the summary buffer.
18057 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
18058 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
18061 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
18062 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
18063 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
18064 and/or newsgroup name.
18067 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
18070 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
18073 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
18076 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
18077 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
18078 will automatically get the process mark.
18081 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
18082 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
18083 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
18086 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
18090 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
18091 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
18094 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
18095 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
18099 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
18100 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
18103 be able to post via DejaNews.
18106 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
18109 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
18110 allow them to be displayed separately.
18113 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
18114 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
18117 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
18118 articles that match a certain From header.
18121 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
18122 saving living summary buffers.
18125 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
18126 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
18129 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
18130 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
18133 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
18134 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
18137 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
18138 (goto-char (point-min))
18139 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
18140 (replace-match "`" t t))
18141 (goto-char (point-min))
18142 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
18143 (replace-match "'" t t))
18144 (goto-char (point-min))
18145 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
18146 (replace-match "\"" t t))
18147 (goto-char (point-min))
18148 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
18149 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
18154 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
18156 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
18157 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
18158 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
18159 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
18163 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
18166 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
18167 numbers and match on the age of the article.
18171 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
18172 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
18173 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
18175 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
18176 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
18178 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
18179 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
18184 all commands that react to the process mark should push
18185 the current process mark set onto the stack.
18188 gnus-article-hide-pgp
18189 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
18191 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
18193 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
18194 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
18197 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
18198 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
18201 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
18205 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
18206 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
18209 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
18212 nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.
18215 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
18218 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
18222 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
18228 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
18231 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
18235 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
18236 X characters in the body.
18239 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
18242 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
18245 format spec to "tab" to a position.
18248 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
18251 command to display all dormant articles.
18254 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
18257 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
18258 to something someone else has said.
18261 Read Netscape discussion groups:
18262 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
18265 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
18266 the displayed version.
18269 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
18273 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
18276 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
18277 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
18278 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
18282 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
18283 in the head or body.
18286 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
18289 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
18292 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
18293 in a special, unique buffer.
18296 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
18299 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
18300 is less than a certain number of days old.
18303 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
18306 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
18309 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
18310 file, for instance.
18313 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
18314 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
18315 dummy root instead of the first article.
18318 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
18319 topics for displaying.
18322 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
18323 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
18326 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
18329 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
18330 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
18331 summary buffer for each article.
18334 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
18337 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
18341 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
18344 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
18348 The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.
18351 Bouncing articles should do MIME.
18354 Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or @ mark from the other
18355 groups it has been crossposted to, or something. (Agent.)
18358 `S D r' should allow expansion of aliases.
18361 If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
18362 you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
18365 The documentation should mention pop3.el, fetchmail, smtpmail and why
18366 po:username often fails.
18369 Fetch by Message-ID from dejanews.
18371 <URL:http://search.dejanews.com/msgid.xp?MID=%3C62h9l9$hm4@@basement.replay.com%3E&fmt=raw>
18374 Solve the halting problem.
18383 @section The Manual
18387 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
18388 either @code{texi2dvi}
18390 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
18391 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
18393 to get what you hold in your hands now.
18395 The following conventions have been used:
18400 This is a @samp{string}
18403 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
18406 This is a @file{file}
18409 This is a @code{symbol}
18413 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
18417 (setq flargnoze "yes")
18420 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
18423 (setq flumphel 'yes)
18426 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
18427 ever get them confused.
18431 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
18432 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
18433 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
18434 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
18435 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
18436 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
18437 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
18445 @section Terminology
18447 @cindex terminology
18452 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
18453 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
18454 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
18455 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
18456 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
18460 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
18461 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
18462 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
18463 not posting, and replying is not following up.
18467 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
18471 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
18476 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
18477 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
18478 is all done by the backends.
18482 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
18483 default, way of getting news.
18487 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
18488 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
18493 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
18494 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
18498 A message that has been posted as news.
18501 @cindex mail message
18502 A message that has been mailed.
18506 A mail message or news article
18510 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
18515 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
18520 A line from the head of an article.
18524 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
18525 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
18529 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
18530 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
18531 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
18532 normal @sc{head} format.
18536 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
18537 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
18538 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
18539 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
18540 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
18541 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
18543 @item killed groups
18544 @cindex killed groups
18545 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
18546 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
18548 @item zombie groups
18549 @cindex zombie groups
18550 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
18553 @cindex active file
18554 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
18555 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
18556 is rather large, as you might surmise.
18559 @cindex bogus groups
18560 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
18561 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
18562 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
18565 @cindex activating groups
18566 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
18567 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
18568 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
18572 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
18574 @item select method
18575 @cindex select method
18576 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
18579 @item virtual server
18580 @cindex virtual server
18581 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
18582 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
18583 whole is a virtual server.
18587 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
18588 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
18591 @item ephemeral groups
18592 @cindex ephemeral groups
18593 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
18594 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
18595 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
18598 @cindex solid groups
18599 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
18600 group buffer are solid groups.
18602 @item sparse articles
18603 @cindex sparse articles
18604 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
18605 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
18609 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
18610 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
18614 @cindex thread root
18615 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
18616 articles in the thread.
18620 An article that has responses.
18624 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
18628 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
18629 specified by RFC1153.
18635 @node Customization
18636 @section Customization
18637 @cindex general customization
18639 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
18640 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
18641 for some quite common situations.
18644 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
18645 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
18646 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
18647 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
18651 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
18652 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
18654 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
18655 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
18656 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
18660 @item gnus-read-active-file
18661 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
18662 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
18663 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18664 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
18665 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
18667 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
18668 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
18669 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
18670 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
18674 @node Slow Terminal Connection
18675 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
18677 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
18678 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
18679 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
18683 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
18684 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
18685 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
18686 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
18687 horizontal and vertical recentering.
18689 @item gnus-visible-headers
18690 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
18691 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
18692 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
18693 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
18695 @item gnus-article-display-hook
18696 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
18698 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
18699 '(gnus-article-hide-headers
18700 gnus-article-hide-signature
18701 gnus-article-hide-citation))
18704 @item gnus-use-full-window
18705 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
18706 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
18707 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
18708 want to read them anyway.
18710 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
18711 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
18714 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
18715 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
18716 lines, which might save some time.
18720 @node Little Disk Space
18721 @subsection Little Disk Space
18724 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
18725 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
18729 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
18730 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
18731 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
18732 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18735 @item gnus-save-killed-list
18736 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
18737 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
18738 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
18739 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
18745 @subsection Slow Machine
18746 @cindex slow machine
18748 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
18749 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
18751 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18752 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
18754 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
18755 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
18756 summary buffer faster.
18758 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
18759 processing a bit faster.
18763 @node Troubleshooting
18764 @section Troubleshooting
18765 @cindex troubleshooting
18767 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
18775 Make sure your computer is switched on.
18778 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
18779 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
18783 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
18784 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
18785 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
18786 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
18789 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
18793 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
18794 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
18795 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
18796 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
18797 something like that.
18800 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
18803 @cindex reporting bugs
18805 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18807 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
18808 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
18809 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
18810 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
18812 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
18813 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
18814 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
18815 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
18818 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
18819 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
18820 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
18821 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
18822 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
18823 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
18825 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
18826 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
18827 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
18830 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
18831 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
18833 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
18834 @cindex ding mailing list
18835 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
18836 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
18840 @node Gnus Reference Guide
18841 @section Gnus Reference Guide
18843 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
18844 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
18845 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
18846 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
18849 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
18850 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
18851 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
18852 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
18853 and general methods of operation.
18856 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
18857 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
18858 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
18859 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
18860 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
18861 * Group Info:: The group info format.
18862 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
18863 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
18864 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
18868 @node Gnus Utility Functions
18869 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
18870 @cindex Gnus utility functions
18871 @cindex utility functions
18873 @cindex internal variables
18875 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
18876 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
18877 Below is a list of the most common ones.
18881 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
18882 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
18883 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
18885 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
18886 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
18887 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
18889 @item gnus-group-real-name
18890 @findex gnus-group-real-name
18891 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
18894 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
18895 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
18896 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
18897 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
18899 @item gnus-get-info
18900 @findex gnus-get-info
18901 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
18903 @item gnus-group-unread
18904 @findex gnus-group-unread
18905 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
18909 @findex gnus-active
18910 The active entry for @var{group}.
18912 @item gnus-set-active
18913 @findex gnus-set-active
18914 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
18916 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18917 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18918 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
18921 @item gnus-continuum-version
18922 @findex gnus-continuum-version
18923 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
18924 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
18927 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
18928 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
18929 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
18931 @item gnus-news-group-p
18932 @findex gnus-news-group-p
18933 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
18935 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18936 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18937 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
18939 @item gnus-server-to-method
18940 @findex gnus-server-to-method
18941 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
18943 @item gnus-server-equal
18944 @findex gnus-server-equal
18945 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
18947 @item gnus-group-native-p
18948 @findex gnus-group-native-p
18949 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
18951 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
18952 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
18953 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
18955 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
18956 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
18957 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
18959 @item group-group-find-parameter
18960 @findex group-group-find-parameter
18961 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
18962 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
18964 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
18965 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
18966 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
18968 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
18969 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
18970 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
18972 @item gnus-check-backend-function
18973 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
18974 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
18975 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
18978 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
18982 @item gnus-read-method
18983 @findex gnus-read-method
18984 Prompts the user for a select method.
18989 @node Backend Interface
18990 @subsection Backend Interface
18992 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
18993 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
18994 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
18995 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
18996 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
18997 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
18999 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
19000 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
19001 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
19002 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
19003 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
19004 been opened, the function should fail.
19006 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
19007 name. Take this example:
19011 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
19012 (nntp-port-number 4324))
19015 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
19016 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
19018 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
19019 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
19020 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
19022 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
19023 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
19024 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
19026 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
19027 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
19028 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
19029 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
19030 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
19031 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
19034 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
19035 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
19036 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
19037 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
19040 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
19043 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
19046 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
19047 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
19048 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
19049 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
19050 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
19051 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
19055 @node Required Backend Functions
19056 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
19060 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
19062 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
19063 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
19064 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
19065 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
19067 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
19068 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
19069 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
19070 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
19072 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
19073 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
19074 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
19075 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
19076 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
19077 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
19078 number, do maximum fetches.
19080 Here's an example HEAD:
19083 221 1056 Article retrieved.
19084 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
19085 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
19086 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
19087 Subject: Re: Something very droll
19088 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
19089 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
19091 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
19092 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
19093 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
19097 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
19098 these in the data buffer.
19100 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
19104 head = error / valid-head
19105 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
19106 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
19107 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
19108 header = <text> eol
19111 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
19112 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
19116 nov-buffer = *nov-line
19117 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
19118 field = <text except TAB>
19121 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
19125 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
19127 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
19128 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
19130 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
19131 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
19132 server. In fact, it should do so.
19134 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
19135 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
19138 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
19140 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
19141 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
19144 There should be no data returned.
19147 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
19149 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
19150 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
19151 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
19152 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
19154 There should be no data returned.
19157 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
19159 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
19160 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
19161 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
19162 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
19164 There should be no data returned.
19167 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
19169 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
19171 There should be no data returned.
19174 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
19176 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
19177 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
19178 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
19179 it would be nice if that were possible.
19181 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
19182 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
19183 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
19184 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
19185 into its article buffer.
19187 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
19188 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
19189 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
19190 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
19191 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
19192 on successful article retrieval.
19195 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
19197 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
19198 making @var{group} the current group.
19200 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
19203 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
19206 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
19209 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
19210 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
19211 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
19212 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
19213 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
19214 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
19215 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
19216 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
19219 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
19220 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
19221 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
19225 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
19227 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
19228 a no-op on most backends.
19230 There should be no data returned.
19233 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
19235 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
19238 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
19241 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
19242 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
19245 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
19246 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
19249 active-file = *active-line
19250 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
19252 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
19255 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
19256 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
19257 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
19260 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
19262 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
19263 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
19264 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
19265 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
19266 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
19267 clear if the posting could not be completed.
19269 There should be no result data from this function.
19274 @node Optional Backend Functions
19275 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
19279 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
19281 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
19282 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
19283 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
19285 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
19286 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
19287 former is in the same format as the data from
19288 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
19289 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
19292 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
19296 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
19298 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
19299 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
19300 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
19301 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
19302 should return the (altered) group info.
19304 There should be no result data from this function.
19307 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
19309 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
19310 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
19311 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
19312 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
19313 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
19314 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
19315 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
19316 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
19318 There should be no result data from this function.
19321 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
19323 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
19324 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
19325 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as IMAP) however carry all
19326 information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to propagate
19327 the mark information to the server.
19329 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
19332 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
19335 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
19336 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
19337 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
19338 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
19339 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a
19340 symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
19341 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
19342 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
19343 not limit itself to theese.
19345 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
19346 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
19347 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
19348 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
19350 An example action list:
19353 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
19354 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
19355 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
19358 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
19359 mark on (currently not used for anything).
19361 There should be no result data from this function.
19363 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
19365 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
19366 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
19367 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
19368 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
19369 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
19371 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
19372 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
19373 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
19376 There should be no result data from this function.
19379 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
19381 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
19382 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
19383 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
19384 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
19385 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
19386 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
19387 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
19389 There should be no result data from this function.
19392 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
19394 The result data from this function should be a description of
19398 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
19400 description = <text>
19403 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
19405 The result data from this function should be the description of all
19406 groups available on the server.
19409 description-buffer = *description-line
19413 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
19415 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
19416 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
19417 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
19420 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
19422 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
19424 There should be no return data.
19427 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
19429 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
19430 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
19431 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
19432 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
19433 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
19436 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
19439 There should be no result data returned.
19442 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
19445 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
19446 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
19448 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
19449 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
19450 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
19451 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
19452 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
19453 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
19455 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
19456 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
19459 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
19460 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
19462 There should be no data returned.
19465 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
19467 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
19468 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
19469 this function in short order.
19471 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
19472 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
19474 There should be no data returned.
19477 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
19479 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
19480 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
19482 There should be no data returned.
19485 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
19487 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
19488 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
19489 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
19491 There should be no data returned.
19494 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
19496 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
19497 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
19499 There should be no data returned.
19504 @node Error Messaging
19505 @subsubsection Error Messaging
19507 @findex nnheader-report
19508 @findex nnheader-get-report
19509 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
19510 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
19511 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
19512 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
19513 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
19514 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
19517 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
19519 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
19522 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
19523 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
19524 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
19525 takes one argument---the server symbol.
19527 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
19528 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
19529 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
19532 @node Writing New Backends
19533 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
19535 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
19536 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
19537 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
19538 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
19539 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
19542 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
19543 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
19544 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
19546 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
19547 package called @code{nnoo}.
19549 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
19550 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
19556 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
19557 parameters. For instance:
19560 (nnoo-declare nndir
19564 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
19565 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
19568 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
19569 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
19570 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
19572 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
19573 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
19574 a function in those backends.
19577 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19578 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19579 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19582 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
19583 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
19584 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
19586 @item nnoo-define-basics
19587 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
19591 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19595 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
19596 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
19597 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
19599 @item nnoo-map-functions
19600 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
19601 functions from the parent backends.
19604 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19605 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19606 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
19609 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
19610 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
19611 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
19612 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
19615 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
19616 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
19617 haven't already been defined.
19623 nnmh-request-newgroups)
19627 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
19628 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
19629 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
19634 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
19637 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
19638 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
19642 (require 'nnheader)
19646 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
19648 (nnoo-declare nndir
19651 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19652 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19653 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19655 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
19656 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
19659 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
19660 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
19661 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
19663 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
19664 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
19666 ;;; Interface functions.
19668 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19670 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
19671 (setq nndir-directory
19672 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
19674 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
19675 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
19676 (push `(nndir-current-group
19677 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19679 (push `(nndir-top-directory
19680 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19682 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
19684 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19685 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19686 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19687 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
19688 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
19692 nnmh-status-message
19694 nnmh-request-newgroups))
19700 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19701 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19703 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
19704 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
19705 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
19706 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
19708 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
19709 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
19714 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
19717 The abilities can be:
19721 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
19723 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
19725 This backend supports both mail and news.
19727 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
19730 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
19731 articles and groups.
19733 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
19734 true for almost all backends.
19735 @item prompt-address
19736 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
19737 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
19738 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
19742 @node Mail-like Backends
19743 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
19745 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
19746 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
19747 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
19748 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
19751 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
19752 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
19753 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
19756 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
19757 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
19760 This function takes four parameters.
19764 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
19767 @item exit-function
19768 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
19770 @item temp-directory
19771 Where the temporary files should be stored.
19774 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
19775 performed for one group only.
19778 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
19779 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
19780 find the article number assigned to this article.
19782 The function also uses the following variables:
19783 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
19784 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
19785 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
19786 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
19790 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
19791 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
19795 @node Score File Syntax
19796 @subsection Score File Syntax
19798 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
19799 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
19800 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
19802 Here's a typical score file:
19806 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
19813 BNF definition of a score file:
19816 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
19817 element = rule / atom
19818 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
19819 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
19820 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
19821 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
19823 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
19824 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
19825 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
19826 date-header = "date"
19827 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19828 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19829 score = "nil" / <integer>
19830 date = "nil" / <natural number>
19831 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
19832 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
19833 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
19834 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
19835 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19836 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19837 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
19838 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19839 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
19840 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
19841 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
19842 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
19843 exclude-files / read-only / touched
19844 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
19845 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
19846 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
19847 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
19848 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
19849 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
19850 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
19851 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
19852 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
19853 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
19854 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
19855 eval = "eval" space <form>
19856 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
19859 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
19862 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
19863 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
19864 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
19865 one looong line, then that's ok.
19867 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
19868 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19872 @subsection Headers
19874 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
19875 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
19876 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
19877 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
19879 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
19880 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
19881 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
19882 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
19883 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
19884 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
19885 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
19887 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
19888 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
19889 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
19890 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
19891 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
19893 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
19894 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
19900 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
19901 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
19903 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
19904 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
19905 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
19906 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
19908 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
19912 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
19915 is transformed into
19918 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
19921 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
19922 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
19925 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
19928 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
19929 is slightly tricky:
19932 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
19938 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
19941 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
19947 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
19954 and is equal to the previous range.
19956 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
19957 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
19958 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
19962 range = simple-range / normal-range
19963 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
19964 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
19965 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
19966 number *[ " " contents ]
19969 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
19970 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
19971 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
19972 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
19973 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
19978 @subsection Group Info
19980 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
19981 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
19982 describes the group.
19984 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
19985 second is a more complex one:
19988 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
19990 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
19991 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
19993 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
19996 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
19997 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
19998 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
19999 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
20000 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
20001 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
20002 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
20003 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
20004 this section is about.
20006 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
20007 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
20008 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
20010 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
20013 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
20014 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
20015 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20016 group = quote <string> quote
20017 ralevel = rank / level
20018 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
20019 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
20020 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
20022 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
20023 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
20024 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
20025 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
20028 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
20029 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
20032 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
20033 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
20036 @item gnus-info-group
20037 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
20038 @findex gnus-info-group
20039 @findex gnus-info-set-group
20040 Get/set the group name.
20042 @item gnus-info-rank
20043 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
20044 @findex gnus-info-rank
20045 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
20046 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
20048 @item gnus-info-level
20049 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
20050 @findex gnus-info-level
20051 @findex gnus-info-set-level
20052 Get/set the group level.
20054 @item gnus-info-score
20055 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
20056 @findex gnus-info-score
20057 @findex gnus-info-set-score
20058 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
20060 @item gnus-info-read
20061 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
20062 @findex gnus-info-read
20063 @findex gnus-info-set-read
20064 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
20066 @item gnus-info-marks
20067 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
20068 @findex gnus-info-marks
20069 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
20070 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
20072 @item gnus-info-method
20073 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
20074 @findex gnus-info-method
20075 @findex gnus-info-set-method
20076 Get/set the group select method.
20078 @item gnus-info-params
20079 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
20080 @findex gnus-info-params
20081 @findex gnus-info-set-params
20082 Get/set the group parameters.
20085 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
20086 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
20088 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
20089 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
20090 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
20091 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
20094 @node Extended Interactive
20095 @subsection Extended Interactive
20096 @cindex interactive
20097 @findex gnus-interactive
20099 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
20100 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
20101 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
20104 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
20105 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
20110 The best thing to do would have been to implement
20111 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
20112 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
20113 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
20114 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
20115 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
20116 @code{interactive}.
20118 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
20123 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
20124 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
20128 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
20129 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
20130 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
20133 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
20137 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
20141 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
20147 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
20148 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
20152 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
20153 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
20154 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
20156 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
20157 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
20158 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
20159 Gnus, that's very useful.
20161 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
20162 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
20163 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
20164 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
20165 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
20166 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
20167 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
20168 following function:
20171 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
20175 (,function ,@@args))
20179 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
20180 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
20181 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
20184 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
20185 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
20186 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
20188 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
20189 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
20190 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
20193 @node Various File Formats
20194 @subsection Various File Formats
20197 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
20198 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
20202 @node Active File Format
20203 @subsubsection Active File Format
20205 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
20206 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
20209 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
20212 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
20213 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
20214 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
20215 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
20216 no.general 1000 900 y
20219 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
20222 active = *group-line
20223 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
20224 group = <non-white-space string>
20226 high-number = <non-negative integer>
20227 low-number = <positive integer>
20228 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
20231 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
20232 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
20235 @node Newsgroups File Format
20236 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
20238 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
20239 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
20240 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
20243 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
20244 Here's the definition:
20248 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
20249 group = <non-white-space string>
20251 description = <string>
20256 @node Emacs for Heathens
20257 @section Emacs for Heathens
20259 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
20260 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
20261 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
20262 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
20263 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
20264 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
20265 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
20269 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
20270 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
20275 @subsection Keystrokes
20279 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
20282 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
20285 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
20286 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
20287 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
20288 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
20289 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
20290 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
20292 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
20293 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
20294 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
20295 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
20296 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
20297 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
20298 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
20300 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
20301 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
20302 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
20303 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
20304 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
20305 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
20306 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
20308 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
20309 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
20310 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
20311 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
20312 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
20318 @subsection Emacs Lisp
20320 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
20321 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
20322 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
20323 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
20325 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
20326 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
20327 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
20328 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
20329 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
20330 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
20331 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
20334 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
20335 write the following:
20338 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
20341 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
20342 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
20343 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
20346 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
20347 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
20348 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
20349 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
20350 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
20352 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
20353 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
20354 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
20358 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
20362 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
20365 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
20366 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
20369 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
20372 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
20373 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
20376 @include gnus-faq.texi