10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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289 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
290 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
293 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
294 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
295 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
296 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
297 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
298 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
299 License'' in the Emacs manual.
301 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
302 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
303 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
305 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
306 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
307 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
308 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
316 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
318 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
319 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
321 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
322 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
323 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
324 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
325 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
326 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
327 License'' in the Emacs manual.
329 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
330 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
331 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
333 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
334 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
335 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
336 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
344 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
347 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
348 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
349 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
351 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
352 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
353 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
354 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
355 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
356 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
357 License'' in the Emacs manual.
359 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
360 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
361 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
363 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
364 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
365 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
366 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
375 @top The Gnus Newsreader
379 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
380 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
381 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
384 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.05
395 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
396 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
398 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
399 being accused of plagiarism:
401 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
402 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
403 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
404 can even read news with it!
406 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
407 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
408 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
409 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
410 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
416 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
417 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
418 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
419 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
420 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
421 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
422 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
423 * Various:: General purpose settings.
424 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
425 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
426 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
427 * Key Index:: Key Index.
430 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
434 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
435 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
436 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
437 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
438 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
439 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
440 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
441 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
442 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
443 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
444 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
448 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
449 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
450 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
454 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
455 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
456 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
457 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
458 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
459 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
460 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
461 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
462 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
463 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
464 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
465 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
466 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
467 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
468 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
469 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
470 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
474 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
475 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
476 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
480 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
481 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
482 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
483 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
484 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
488 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
489 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
490 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
491 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
492 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
496 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
497 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
498 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
499 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
500 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
502 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
503 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
504 * Threading:: How threads are made.
505 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
506 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
507 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
508 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
509 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
510 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
511 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
512 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
513 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
514 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
515 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
516 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
517 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
518 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
519 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
520 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
521 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
522 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
523 or reselecting the current group.
524 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
525 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
526 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
527 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
529 Summary Buffer Format
531 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
532 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
533 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
534 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
538 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
539 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
541 Reply, Followup and Post
543 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
544 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
545 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
546 * Canceling and Superseding::
550 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
551 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
552 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
554 * Generic Marking Commands::
555 * Setting Process Marks::
559 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
560 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
561 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
565 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
566 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
568 Customizing Threading
570 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
571 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
572 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
573 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
577 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
578 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
579 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
580 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
581 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
582 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
586 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
587 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
588 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
592 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
593 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
594 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
595 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
596 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
597 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
598 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
599 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
600 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
601 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
603 Alternative Approaches
605 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
606 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
608 Various Summary Stuff
610 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
611 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
612 * Summary Generation Commands::
613 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
617 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
618 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
619 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
620 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
621 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
625 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
626 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
627 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
628 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
629 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
630 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
631 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
632 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
636 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
637 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
638 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
639 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
640 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
641 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
642 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
643 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
647 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
648 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
649 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
650 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
651 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
652 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
653 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
657 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
658 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
662 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
663 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
664 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
668 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
669 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
670 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
671 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
672 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
673 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
674 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
675 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
676 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
677 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
678 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
679 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
680 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
684 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
685 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
686 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
688 Choosing a Mail Back End
690 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
691 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
692 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
693 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
694 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
695 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
700 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
701 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
702 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
703 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
704 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
705 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
709 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
710 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
711 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
715 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
716 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
717 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
718 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
719 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
723 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
727 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
728 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
729 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
733 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
734 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
738 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
739 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
740 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
741 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
742 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
743 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
744 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
745 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
746 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
747 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
751 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
752 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
753 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
757 * Group Agent Commands::
758 * Summary Agent Commands::
759 * Server Agent Commands::
763 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
764 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
765 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
766 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
767 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
768 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
769 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
770 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
771 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
772 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
773 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
774 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
775 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
776 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
777 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
778 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
779 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
783 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
784 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
785 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
786 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
790 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
791 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
792 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
796 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
797 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
798 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
799 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
800 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
801 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
802 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
803 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
804 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
805 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
806 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
807 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
808 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
809 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
810 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
811 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
812 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
813 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
814 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
818 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
819 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
820 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
821 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
822 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
823 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
824 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
825 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
829 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
830 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
831 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
832 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
833 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
837 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
838 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
839 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
840 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
841 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
845 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
846 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
847 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
848 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
849 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
850 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
851 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
852 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
853 * Frequently Asked Questions::
857 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
858 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
859 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
860 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
861 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
862 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
863 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
864 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
865 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
869 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
870 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
871 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
872 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
873 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
877 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
878 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
879 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
880 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
884 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
885 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
886 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
887 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
888 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
889 * Group Info:: The group info format.
890 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
891 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
892 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
896 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
897 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
898 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
899 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
900 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
901 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
905 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
906 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
910 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
911 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
917 @chapter Starting Gnus
922 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
923 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
926 @findex gnus-other-frame
927 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
928 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
929 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
931 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
932 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
933 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
935 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
936 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
939 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
940 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
941 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
942 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
943 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
944 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
945 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
946 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
947 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
948 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
949 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
953 @node Finding the News
954 @section Finding the News
957 @vindex gnus-select-method
959 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
960 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
961 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
962 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
965 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
966 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
969 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
972 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
975 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
978 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
979 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
980 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
982 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
984 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
985 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
986 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
987 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
988 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
989 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
991 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
992 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
993 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
994 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
996 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
997 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
998 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
999 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1000 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1001 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1002 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1003 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1004 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1007 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1009 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1010 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1011 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1012 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1013 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1014 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1016 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1018 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1019 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1020 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1021 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1022 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1023 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1026 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1027 you would typically set this variable to
1030 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1034 @node The First Time
1035 @section The First Time
1036 @cindex first time usage
1038 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1039 be subscribed by default.
1041 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1042 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1043 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1044 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1047 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1048 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1049 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1051 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1052 help you with most common problems.
1054 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1055 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1059 @node The Server is Down
1060 @section The Server is Down
1061 @cindex server errors
1063 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1064 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1065 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1067 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1068 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1069 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1070 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1071 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1072 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1073 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1075 @findex gnus-no-server
1076 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1078 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1079 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1080 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1081 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1082 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1083 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1084 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1088 @section Slave Gnusae
1091 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1092 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1093 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1094 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1096 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1097 @code{.newsrc} file.
1099 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1100 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1101 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1102 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1103 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1104 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1105 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1107 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1108 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1109 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1110 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1111 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1112 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1113 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1114 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1116 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1117 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1120 @node Fetching a Group
1121 @section Fetching a Group
1122 @cindex fetching a group
1124 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1125 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1126 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1127 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1128 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1129 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1135 @cindex subscription
1137 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1138 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1139 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1140 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1141 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1142 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1143 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1144 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1145 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1148 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1149 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1150 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1154 @node Checking New Groups
1155 @subsection Checking New Groups
1157 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1158 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1159 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1160 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1161 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1162 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1163 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1164 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1165 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1166 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1168 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1169 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1170 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1171 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1172 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1173 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1174 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1175 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1176 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1177 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1178 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1180 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1181 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1182 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1183 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1184 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1185 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1188 @node Subscription Methods
1189 @subsection Subscription Methods
1191 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1192 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1193 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1195 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1196 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1198 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1202 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1203 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1204 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1205 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1206 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1208 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1209 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1210 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1211 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1213 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1214 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1215 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1217 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1218 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1219 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1220 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1221 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1222 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1223 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1224 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1225 up. Or something like that.
1227 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1229 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1230 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1231 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1233 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1234 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1235 Kill all new groups.
1237 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1238 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1239 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1240 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1241 topic parameter that looks like
1247 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1250 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1255 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1256 A closely related variable is
1257 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1258 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1259 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1260 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1263 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1264 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1265 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1266 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1269 @node Filtering New Groups
1270 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1272 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1273 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1274 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1277 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1280 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1281 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1282 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1283 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1284 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1285 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1286 subscribing these groups.
1287 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1288 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1290 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1291 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1292 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1293 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1294 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1295 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1296 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1297 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1299 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1300 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1301 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1302 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1303 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1304 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1305 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1306 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1307 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1308 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1310 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1311 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1314 @node Changing Servers
1315 @section Changing Servers
1316 @cindex changing servers
1318 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1319 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1320 very flaky and you want to use another.
1322 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1323 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1327 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1328 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1329 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1330 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1333 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1334 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1335 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1336 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1338 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1339 @findex gnus-change-server
1340 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1341 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1342 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1343 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1344 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1346 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1347 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1348 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1349 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1350 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1352 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1353 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1354 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1355 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1356 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1357 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1359 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1360 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1361 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1365 @section Startup Files
1366 @cindex startup files
1371 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1372 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1374 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1375 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1376 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1377 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1378 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1379 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1380 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1382 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1383 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1384 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1385 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1386 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1387 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1389 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1390 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1391 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1392 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1393 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1394 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1395 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1396 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1397 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1398 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1400 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1401 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1402 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1403 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1404 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1405 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1406 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1407 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1408 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1409 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1410 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1411 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1413 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1414 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1415 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1416 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1418 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1419 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1420 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1421 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1422 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1423 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1424 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1425 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1426 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1427 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1430 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1431 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1433 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1434 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1437 @vindex gnus-init-file
1438 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1439 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1440 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1441 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1442 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1443 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1444 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1445 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1446 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1452 @cindex dribble file
1455 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1456 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1457 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1458 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1459 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1462 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1463 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1466 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1467 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1468 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1470 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1471 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1472 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1473 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1474 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1475 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1477 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1478 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1479 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1482 @node The Active File
1483 @section The Active File
1485 @cindex ignored groups
1487 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1488 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1489 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1491 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1492 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1493 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1494 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1495 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1496 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1497 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1500 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1501 @c if you set it to anything else.
1503 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1505 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1506 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1507 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1509 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1510 you actually subscribe to.
1512 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1513 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1514 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1515 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1517 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1518 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1519 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1520 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1521 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1522 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1524 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1525 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1526 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1529 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1530 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1531 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1532 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1533 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1534 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1536 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1537 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1539 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1540 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1542 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1543 secondary select methods.
1546 @node Startup Variables
1547 @section Startup Variables
1551 @item gnus-load-hook
1552 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1553 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1554 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1555 times you start Gnus.
1557 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1558 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1559 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1561 @item gnus-startup-hook
1562 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1563 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1565 @item gnus-started-hook
1566 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1567 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1570 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1571 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1572 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1573 generating the group buffer.
1575 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1576 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1577 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1578 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1579 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1580 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1581 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1582 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1584 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1585 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1586 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1587 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1588 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1589 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1591 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1592 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1593 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1595 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1596 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1597 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1599 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1600 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1601 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1602 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1608 @chapter Group Buffer
1609 @cindex group buffer
1611 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1613 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1614 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1615 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1616 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1617 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1618 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1619 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1620 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1621 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1622 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1623 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1624 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1625 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1626 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1627 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1628 @c human rights at 9...
1631 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1632 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1633 long as Gnus is active.
1637 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1638 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1639 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1640 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1641 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1642 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1643 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1644 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1650 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1651 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1652 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1653 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1654 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1655 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1656 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1657 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1658 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1659 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1660 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1661 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1662 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1663 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1664 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1665 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1666 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1670 @node Group Buffer Format
1671 @section Group Buffer Format
1674 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1675 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1676 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1680 @node Group Line Specification
1681 @subsection Group Line Specification
1682 @cindex group buffer format
1684 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1685 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1687 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1690 25: news.announce.newusers
1691 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1696 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1697 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1698 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1699 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1701 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1702 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1703 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1704 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1705 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1706 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1708 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1710 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1711 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1712 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1713 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1714 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1716 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1717 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1718 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1720 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1725 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1728 Whether the group is subscribed.
1731 Level of subscribedness.
1734 Number of unread articles.
1737 Number of dormant articles.
1740 Number of ticked articles.
1743 Number of read articles.
1746 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1747 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1749 Gnus uses this estimation because the NNTP protocol provides efficient
1750 access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting the true
1751 unread message count is not possible efficiently. For hysterical
1752 raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of unread
1753 messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1754 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the
1755 back end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1756 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1759 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1762 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1771 Newsgroup description.
1774 @samp{m} if moderated.
1777 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1786 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1790 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1793 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1794 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1795 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1796 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1797 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1800 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1802 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1806 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1809 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1813 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1814 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1815 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1816 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1817 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1818 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1823 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1824 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1825 group, or a bogus native group.
1828 @node Group Modeline Specification
1829 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1830 @cindex group modeline
1832 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1833 The mode line can be changed by setting
1834 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1835 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1839 The native news server.
1841 The native select method.
1845 @node Group Highlighting
1846 @subsection Group Highlighting
1847 @cindex highlighting
1848 @cindex group highlighting
1850 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1851 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1852 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1853 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1854 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1856 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1860 (cond (window-system
1861 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1862 (defface my-group-face-1
1863 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1864 (defface my-group-face-2
1865 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1866 (defface my-group-face-3
1867 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1868 (defface my-group-face-4
1869 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1870 (defface my-group-face-5
1871 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1873 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1874 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1875 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1876 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1877 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1878 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1881 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1883 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1890 The number of unread articles in the group.
1894 Whether the group is a mail group.
1896 The level of the group.
1898 The score of the group.
1900 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1902 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1903 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1905 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1906 topic being inserted.
1909 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1910 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1911 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1913 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1914 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1915 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1916 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1917 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1920 @node Group Maneuvering
1921 @section Group Maneuvering
1922 @cindex group movement
1924 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1925 expected, hopefully.
1931 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1932 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1933 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1939 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1940 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1941 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1945 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1946 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1950 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1951 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1955 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1956 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1957 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1961 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1962 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1963 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1966 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1972 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1973 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1974 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1979 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1980 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1981 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1985 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1986 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1987 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1990 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1991 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1992 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1993 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1997 @node Selecting a Group
1998 @section Selecting a Group
1999 @cindex group selection
2004 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2005 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2006 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2007 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2008 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2009 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2010 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2011 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2012 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2013 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2015 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2016 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2017 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2019 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2020 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2025 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2026 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2027 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2028 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2029 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2033 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2034 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2035 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2036 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2037 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2038 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2039 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2040 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2041 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2042 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2045 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2046 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2047 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2048 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2049 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2052 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2053 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2054 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2055 doing any processing of its contents
2056 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2057 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2058 manner will have no permanent effects.
2062 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2063 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2064 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2065 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2066 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2067 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2068 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2069 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2072 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2073 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2074 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2075 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2076 Which article this is is controlled by the
2077 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2083 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2086 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2089 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2092 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2096 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2097 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2099 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2100 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2101 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2102 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2106 @node Subscription Commands
2107 @section Subscription Commands
2108 @cindex subscription
2116 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2117 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2118 Toggle subscription to the current group
2119 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2125 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2126 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2127 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2128 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2134 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2135 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2136 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2142 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2143 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2146 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2147 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2148 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2149 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2150 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2156 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2157 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2161 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2162 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2165 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2166 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2167 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2168 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2169 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2170 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2171 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2172 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2173 @file{.newsrc} file.
2177 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2187 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2188 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2189 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2190 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2191 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2192 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2197 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2198 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2199 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2203 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2204 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2205 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2207 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2208 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2209 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2210 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2211 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2212 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2219 @section Group Levels
2223 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2224 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2225 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2226 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2227 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2229 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2235 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2236 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2237 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2238 prompted for a level.
2241 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2242 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2243 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2244 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2245 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2246 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2247 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2248 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2249 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2250 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2251 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2252 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2253 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2254 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2255 reasons of efficiency.
2257 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2258 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2260 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2261 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2262 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2263 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2264 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2265 groups are hidden, in a way.
2267 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2268 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2269 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2270 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2271 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2272 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2274 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2275 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2276 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2277 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2278 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2279 list of killed groups.)
2281 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2282 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2283 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2285 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2286 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2287 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2288 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2289 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2290 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2291 relevant valid ranges.
2293 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2294 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2295 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2296 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2297 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2298 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2301 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2302 one with the best level.
2304 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2305 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2306 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2309 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2310 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2311 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2312 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2315 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2316 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2317 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2318 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2320 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2321 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2322 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2323 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2324 to 5. The default is 6.
2328 @section Group Score
2333 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2334 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2335 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2338 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2339 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2340 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2341 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2342 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2343 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2344 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2345 least significant part.))
2347 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2348 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2349 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2350 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2351 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2352 action after each summary exit, you can add
2353 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2354 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2355 slow things down somewhat.
2358 @node Marking Groups
2359 @section Marking Groups
2360 @cindex marking groups
2362 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2363 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2364 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2365 bidding on those groups.
2367 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2368 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2369 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2377 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2378 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2384 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2385 Remove the mark from the current group
2386 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2390 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2391 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2395 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2396 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2400 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2401 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2405 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2406 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2407 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2410 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2412 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2413 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2414 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2415 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2416 the command to be executed.
2419 @node Foreign Groups
2420 @section Foreign Groups
2421 @cindex foreign groups
2423 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2424 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2425 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2426 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2433 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2434 @cindex making groups
2435 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2436 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2437 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2441 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2442 @cindex renaming groups
2443 Rename the current group to something else
2444 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2445 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2451 @findex gnus-group-customize
2452 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2456 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2457 @cindex renaming groups
2458 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2459 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2463 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2464 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2465 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2469 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2470 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2471 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2475 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2477 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2478 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2483 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2484 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2488 @cindex (ding) archive
2489 @cindex archive group
2490 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2491 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2492 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2493 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2494 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2495 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2496 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2500 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2502 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2503 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2504 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2505 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2509 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2511 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2512 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2513 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2517 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2518 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2520 Make a group based on some file or other
2521 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2522 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2523 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2524 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2525 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2526 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2527 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2528 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2529 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2533 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2534 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2535 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2536 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2540 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2545 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2546 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2547 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2548 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2549 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2550 @xref{Web Searches}.
2552 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2553 to a particular group by using a match string like
2554 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2557 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2558 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2559 This function will delete the current group
2560 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2561 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2562 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2563 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2564 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2568 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2569 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2570 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2574 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2575 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2576 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2579 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2582 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2583 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2584 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2585 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2586 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2587 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2591 @node Group Parameters
2592 @section Group Parameters
2593 @cindex group parameters
2595 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2596 Here's an example group parameter list:
2599 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2603 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2604 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2605 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2606 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2608 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2609 is an alist of regexps and values.
2611 The following group parameters can be used:
2616 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2619 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2622 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2623 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2624 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2625 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2626 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2628 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2629 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2630 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2631 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2632 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2633 list address instead.
2635 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2639 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2642 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2645 It is totally ignored
2646 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2647 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2649 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2650 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2651 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2652 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2653 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2655 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2656 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2657 sending the message.
2659 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2660 @cindex Mail List Groups
2661 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2662 entering summary buffer.
2664 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2668 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2669 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2670 of whether it has any unread articles.
2672 @item broken-reply-to
2673 @cindex broken-reply-to
2674 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2675 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2676 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2677 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2678 broken behavior. So there!
2682 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2683 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2687 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2688 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2689 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2694 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2695 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2696 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2697 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2698 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2699 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2700 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2704 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2705 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2706 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2708 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2711 @cindex total-expire
2712 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2713 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2714 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2715 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2718 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2722 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2723 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2724 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2725 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2726 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2727 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2730 @cindex score file group parameter
2731 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2732 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2733 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2736 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2737 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2738 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2739 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2742 @cindex admin-address
2743 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2744 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2745 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2746 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2750 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2751 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2755 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2758 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2759 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2762 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2766 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2768 Here are some examples:
2772 Display only read articles.
2775 Display everything except expirable articles.
2777 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2778 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2782 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2783 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2784 @code{read}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2785 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2786 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{seen} and @code{recent}.
2790 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2791 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2792 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2796 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2797 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2798 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2803 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2804 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2805 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2807 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2809 @item ignored-charsets
2810 @cindex ignored-charset
2811 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2812 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2813 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2815 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2818 @cindex posting-style
2819 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2820 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2821 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2822 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2823 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2825 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2826 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2827 like this in the group parameters:
2832 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2837 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2838 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2842 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2843 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2844 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2845 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2846 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2850 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2851 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2852 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2853 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2855 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2856 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2857 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2858 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2861 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2862 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2866 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2869 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2870 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2871 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2872 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2873 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2874 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2875 @code{eval}ed there.
2877 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2878 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2879 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2880 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2881 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2885 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2886 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2887 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2888 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2889 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2891 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2892 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2896 (setq gnus-parameters
2898 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2899 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2900 (gnus-summary-line-format
2901 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2905 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2909 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2913 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2916 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2917 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2920 @node Listing Groups
2921 @section Listing Groups
2922 @cindex group listing
2924 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2932 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2933 List all groups that have unread articles
2934 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2935 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2936 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2937 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2944 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2945 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2946 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2947 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2948 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2949 unsubscribed groups).
2953 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2954 List all unread groups on a specific level
2955 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2956 with no unread articles.
2960 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2961 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2962 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2963 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2968 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2969 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2973 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2974 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2975 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2979 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2980 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2984 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2985 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2986 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2987 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2988 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2989 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2990 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2991 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2995 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2996 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2997 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3001 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3002 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3003 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3007 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3008 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3012 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3013 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3017 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3018 List groups limited within the current selection
3019 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3023 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3024 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3028 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3029 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3033 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3034 @cindex visible group parameter
3035 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3036 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3037 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3038 get the same effect.
3040 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3041 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3042 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3043 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3044 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3047 @node Sorting Groups
3048 @section Sorting Groups
3049 @cindex sorting groups
3051 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3052 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3053 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3054 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3055 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3056 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3061 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3062 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3063 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3065 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3066 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3067 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3069 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3070 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3071 Sort by group level.
3073 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3074 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3075 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3077 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3078 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3079 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3080 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3082 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3083 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3084 Sort by number of unread articles.
3086 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3087 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3088 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3090 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3091 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3092 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3097 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3098 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3102 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3103 some sorting criteria:
3107 @kindex G S a (Group)
3108 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3109 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3110 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3113 @kindex G S u (Group)
3114 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3115 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3116 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3119 @kindex G S l (Group)
3120 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3121 Sort the group buffer by group level
3122 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3125 @kindex G S v (Group)
3126 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3127 Sort the group buffer by group score
3128 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3131 @kindex G S r (Group)
3132 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3133 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3134 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3137 @kindex G S m (Group)
3138 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3139 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3140 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3144 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3145 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3147 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3148 commands will sort in reverse order.
3150 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3154 @kindex G P a (Group)
3155 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3156 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3157 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3160 @kindex G P u (Group)
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3162 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3163 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3166 @kindex G P l (Group)
3167 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3168 Sort the groups by group level
3169 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3172 @kindex G P v (Group)
3173 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3174 Sort the groups by group score
3175 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3178 @kindex G P r (Group)
3179 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3180 Sort the groups by group rank
3181 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3184 @kindex G P m (Group)
3185 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3186 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3187 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3191 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3195 @node Group Maintenance
3196 @section Group Maintenance
3197 @cindex bogus groups
3202 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3203 Find bogus groups and delete them
3204 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3208 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3209 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3210 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3211 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3212 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3216 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3217 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3218 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3219 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3220 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3221 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3224 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3225 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3226 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3227 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3232 @node Browse Foreign Server
3233 @section Browse Foreign Server
3234 @cindex foreign servers
3235 @cindex browsing servers
3240 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3241 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3242 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3243 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3246 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3247 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3248 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3249 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3251 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3256 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3257 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3261 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3262 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3265 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3266 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3267 Enter the current group and display the first article
3268 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3271 @kindex RET (Browse)
3272 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3273 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3277 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3278 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3279 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3285 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3286 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3290 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3291 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3292 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3297 @section Exiting Gnus
3298 @cindex exiting Gnus
3300 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3305 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3306 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3307 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3308 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3312 @findex gnus-group-exit
3313 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3314 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3318 @findex gnus-group-quit
3319 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3320 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3323 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3324 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3325 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3326 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3327 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3332 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3333 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3334 trying to customize meta-variables.
3339 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3340 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3341 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3347 @section Group Topics
3350 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3351 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3352 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3353 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3354 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3355 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3359 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3360 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3371 2: alt.religion.emacs
3374 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3376 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3377 13: comp.sources.unix
3380 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3382 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3383 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3384 is a toggling command.)
3386 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3387 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3388 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3389 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3392 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3393 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3394 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3397 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3401 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3402 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3403 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3404 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3405 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3409 @node Topic Commands
3410 @subsection Topic Commands
3411 @cindex topic commands
3413 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3414 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3415 definitions slightly.
3417 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3418 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3419 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3420 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3421 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3422 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3424 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3431 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3432 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3433 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3437 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3439 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3440 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3441 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3442 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3445 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3446 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3447 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3448 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3452 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3453 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3454 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3455 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3461 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3462 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3463 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3467 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3468 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3469 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3472 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3473 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3474 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3475 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3476 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3478 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3479 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3483 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3484 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3491 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3493 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3494 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3495 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3496 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3497 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3498 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3502 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3508 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3509 Move the current group to some other topic
3510 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3511 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3515 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3516 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3520 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3521 Copy the current group to some other topic
3522 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3523 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3527 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3528 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3529 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3533 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3534 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3535 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3539 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3540 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3541 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3542 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3543 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3544 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3545 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3548 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3549 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3553 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3554 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3555 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3559 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3560 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3561 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3565 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3566 Toggle hiding empty topics
3567 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3571 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3572 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3573 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3576 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3577 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3578 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3579 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3582 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3583 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3584 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3585 expiry process (if any)
3586 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3590 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3591 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3594 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3595 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3596 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3600 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3601 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3602 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3605 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3606 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3607 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3610 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3611 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3612 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3616 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3617 @cindex group parameters
3618 @cindex topic parameters
3620 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3621 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3626 @node Topic Variables
3627 @subsection Topic Variables
3628 @cindex topic variables
3630 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3631 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3633 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3634 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3635 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3648 Number of groups in the topic.
3650 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3652 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3655 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3656 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3657 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3660 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3661 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3663 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3664 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3665 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3669 @subsection Topic Sorting
3670 @cindex topic sorting
3672 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3678 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3679 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3680 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3681 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3684 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3685 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3686 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3687 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3690 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3691 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3692 Sort the current topic by group level
3693 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3696 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3697 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3698 Sort the current topic by group score
3699 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3702 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3703 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3704 Sort the current topic by group rank
3705 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3708 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3709 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3710 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3711 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3714 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3715 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3716 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3717 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3721 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3724 @node Topic Topology
3725 @subsection Topic Topology
3726 @cindex topic topology
3729 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3735 2: alt.religion.emacs
3738 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3740 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3741 13: comp.sources.unix
3744 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3745 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3746 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3751 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3752 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3756 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3757 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3758 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3759 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3760 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3761 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3763 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3764 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3765 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3768 @node Topic Parameters
3769 @subsection Topic Parameters
3770 @cindex topic parameters
3772 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3773 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3774 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3776 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3781 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3782 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3783 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3786 @item subscribe-level
3787 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3788 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3789 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3793 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3794 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3795 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3796 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3802 2: alt.religion.emacs
3806 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3808 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3809 13: comp.sources.unix
3813 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3814 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3815 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3816 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3817 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3818 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3820 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3821 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3822 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3823 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3824 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3826 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3827 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3828 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3829 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3830 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3831 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3832 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3833 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3836 @node Misc Group Stuff
3837 @section Misc Group Stuff
3840 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3841 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3842 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3843 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3844 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3851 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3852 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3853 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3857 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3858 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3859 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3860 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3861 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3862 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3863 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3867 @findex gnus-group-mail
3868 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3869 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3870 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3871 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3875 @findex gnus-group-news
3876 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3877 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3878 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3880 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3881 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3882 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3883 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3884 for this to work though.
3888 Variables for the group buffer:
3892 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3893 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3894 is called after the group buffer has been
3897 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3898 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3899 is called after the group buffer is
3900 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3903 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3904 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3905 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3906 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3908 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3909 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3910 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3911 whether they are empty or not.
3913 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3914 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3915 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3916 non-ASCII group names.
3920 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3921 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3924 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3925 @cindex UTF-8 group names
3926 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3927 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
3928 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
3929 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is nil.
3933 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3934 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3939 @node Scanning New Messages
3940 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3941 @cindex new messages
3942 @cindex scanning new news
3948 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3949 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3950 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3951 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3952 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3953 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3958 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3959 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3960 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3961 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3962 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3963 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3964 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3966 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3967 @cindex activating groups
3969 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3970 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3975 @findex gnus-group-restart
3976 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3977 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3978 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3982 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3983 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3985 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3986 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3990 @node Group Information
3991 @subsection Group Information
3992 @cindex group information
3993 @cindex information on groups
4000 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4001 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4004 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4005 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4006 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4007 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4008 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4009 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4010 for fetching the file.
4012 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4013 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4017 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4019 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4020 @cindex describing groups
4021 @cindex group description
4022 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4023 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4024 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4028 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4029 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4030 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4037 @findex gnus-version
4038 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4042 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4043 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4046 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4049 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4050 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4054 @node Group Timestamp
4055 @subsection Group Timestamp
4057 @cindex group timestamps
4059 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4060 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4061 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4064 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4067 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4069 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4070 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4073 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4074 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4077 This will result in lines looking like:
4080 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4081 0: custom 19961002T012713
4084 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4085 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4089 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4090 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4095 @subsection File Commands
4096 @cindex file commands
4102 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4103 @vindex gnus-init-file
4104 @cindex reading init file
4105 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4106 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4110 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4111 @cindex saving .newsrc
4112 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4113 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4114 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4117 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4118 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4119 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4124 @node Sieve Commands
4125 @subsection Sieve Commands
4126 @cindex group sieve commands
4128 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4129 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4130 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4131 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4132 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4134 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4135 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4136 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4137 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4138 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4139 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4140 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4141 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4142 regenerate the Sieve script.
4144 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4145 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4146 is generated. If it is non-nil (the default) articles is placed in
4147 all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article is only
4148 placed in the group with the first matching rule. For example, the
4149 group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4150 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4151 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is nil. (When
4152 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-nil, it looks the same except that
4153 the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4156 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4157 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4162 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4168 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4169 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4170 @cindex generating sieve script
4171 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4172 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4176 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4177 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4178 @cindex updating sieve script
4179 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4180 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4181 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4186 @node Summary Buffer
4187 @chapter Summary Buffer
4188 @cindex summary buffer
4190 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4191 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4193 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4194 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4196 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4199 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4200 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4201 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4202 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4203 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4204 * Delayed Articles::
4205 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4206 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4207 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4208 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4209 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4210 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4211 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4212 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4213 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4214 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4215 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4216 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4217 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4218 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4219 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4220 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4221 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4222 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4223 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4224 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4225 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4226 or reselecting the current group.
4227 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4228 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4229 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4230 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4234 @node Summary Buffer Format
4235 @section Summary Buffer Format
4236 @cindex summary buffer format
4240 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4241 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4242 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4248 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4249 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4250 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4251 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4254 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4255 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4256 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4257 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4258 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4259 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4260 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4261 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4262 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4263 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4264 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4267 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4268 'mail-extract-address-components)
4271 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4272 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4273 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4274 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4277 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4278 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4280 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4281 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4282 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4283 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4284 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4286 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4287 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4288 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4289 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4290 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4291 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4293 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%) %s\n}.
4295 The following format specification characters and extended format
4296 specification(s) are understood:
4302 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4303 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4305 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4306 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4307 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4309 Full @code{From} header.
4311 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4313 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
4314 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
4316 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4317 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4318 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4319 may be more thorough.
4321 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4324 Number of lines in the article.
4326 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4327 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4329 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4331 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4334 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4335 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4337 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4338 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4340 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4341 for adopted articles.
4343 One space for each thread level.
4345 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4347 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4350 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4351 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4352 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4355 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4357 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4358 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4359 default level. If the difference between
4360 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4361 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4369 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4371 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4377 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4378 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4380 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4381 article has any children.
4387 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4388 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4390 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4391 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4392 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4393 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4394 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4395 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4398 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4399 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4400 There can only be one such area.
4402 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4403 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4404 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4405 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4406 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4407 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4409 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4410 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4412 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4415 @node To From Newsgroups
4416 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4420 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4421 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4422 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4423 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4424 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4428 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4429 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4430 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4434 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4435 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4438 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4439 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4442 @findex gnus-extra-header
4443 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4444 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4445 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4448 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4452 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4453 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4454 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4455 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4456 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4457 headers are used instead.
4461 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4462 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4463 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4464 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4467 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4468 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4469 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4470 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4472 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4476 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4478 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4479 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4480 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4481 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4485 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4488 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4489 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4496 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4497 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4500 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4501 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4503 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4504 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4505 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4506 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4508 Here are the elements you can play with:
4514 Unprefixed group name.
4516 Current article number.
4518 Current article score.
4522 Number of unread articles in this group.
4524 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4527 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4528 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4529 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4530 and no unselected ones.
4532 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4533 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4535 Subject of the current article.
4537 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4539 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4541 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4543 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4545 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4547 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4551 @node Summary Highlighting
4552 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4556 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4557 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4558 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4559 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4560 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4562 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4563 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4564 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4565 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4567 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4568 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4569 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4570 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4572 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4573 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4574 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4575 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4576 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4577 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4580 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4581 ((> score default) . bold))
4583 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4584 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4588 @node Summary Maneuvering
4589 @section Summary Maneuvering
4590 @cindex summary movement
4592 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4593 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4595 None of these commands select articles.
4600 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4601 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4602 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4603 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4604 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4608 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4609 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4610 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4611 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4612 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4615 @kindex G g (Summary)
4616 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4617 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4618 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4621 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4622 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4623 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4624 to the group buffer.
4626 Variables related to summary movement:
4630 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4631 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4632 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4633 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4634 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4635 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4636 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4637 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4638 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
4639 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4640 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4641 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4642 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4643 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4645 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4646 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4647 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4648 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4649 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4650 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4651 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4653 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4655 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4656 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4657 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4658 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4659 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4661 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4662 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4663 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4664 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4665 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4666 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4667 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4668 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4671 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4672 the given number of lines from the top.
4677 @node Choosing Articles
4678 @section Choosing Articles
4679 @cindex selecting articles
4682 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4683 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4687 @node Choosing Commands
4688 @subsection Choosing Commands
4690 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4691 and they all select and display an article.
4693 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4694 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4698 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4699 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4700 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4701 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4706 @kindex G n (Summary)
4707 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4708 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4709 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4714 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4715 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4716 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4721 @kindex G N (Summary)
4722 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4723 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4728 @kindex G P (Summary)
4729 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4730 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4733 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4734 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4735 Go to the next article with the same subject
4736 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4739 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4740 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4741 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4742 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4746 @kindex G f (Summary)
4748 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4749 Go to the first unread article
4750 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4754 @kindex G b (Summary)
4756 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4757 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4758 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4759 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4764 @kindex G l (Summary)
4765 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4766 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4769 @kindex G o (Summary)
4770 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4772 @cindex article history
4773 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4774 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4775 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4776 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4777 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4778 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4783 @kindex G j (Summary)
4784 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4785 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4786 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4791 @node Choosing Variables
4792 @subsection Choosing Variables
4794 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4797 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4798 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4799 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4800 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4801 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4802 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4804 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4805 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4806 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4807 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4809 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4810 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4811 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4812 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4813 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4814 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4815 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4816 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4817 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4818 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4819 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4820 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4821 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4822 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4827 @node Paging the Article
4828 @section Scrolling the Article
4829 @cindex article scrolling
4834 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4835 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4836 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4837 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4838 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4841 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4842 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4843 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4846 @kindex RET (Summary)
4847 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4848 Scroll the current article one line forward
4849 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4852 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4853 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4854 Scroll the current article one line backward
4855 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4859 @kindex A g (Summary)
4861 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4862 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4863 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4864 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4865 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4866 the way it came from the server.
4868 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4869 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4870 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4873 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4878 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4883 @kindex A < (Summary)
4884 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4885 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4886 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4891 @kindex A > (Summary)
4892 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4893 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4897 @kindex A s (Summary)
4899 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4900 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4901 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4905 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4906 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4911 @node Reply Followup and Post
4912 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4915 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4916 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4917 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4918 * Canceling and Superseding::
4922 @node Summary Mail Commands
4923 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4925 @cindex composing mail
4927 Commands for composing a mail message:
4933 @kindex S r (Summary)
4935 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4936 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4937 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4938 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4939 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4944 @kindex S R (Summary)
4945 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4946 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4947 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4948 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4949 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4952 @kindex S w (Summary)
4953 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4954 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4955 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4956 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4957 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4960 @kindex S W (Summary)
4961 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4962 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4963 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4964 the process/prefix convention.
4967 @kindex S v (Summary)
4968 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
4969 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
4970 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
4971 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4972 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
4973 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
4977 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4978 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4979 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4980 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4981 Forward the current article to some other person
4982 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
4983 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
4984 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4985 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4986 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4987 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4988 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4989 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4990 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4995 @kindex S m (Summary)
4996 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4997 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4998 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
4999 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5000 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5005 @kindex S i (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5007 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5008 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5009 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5011 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5012 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5013 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5014 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5015 for this to work though.
5018 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5019 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5020 @cindex bouncing mail
5021 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5022 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5023 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5024 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5025 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5026 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5027 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5028 very well fail, though.
5031 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5032 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5033 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5034 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5035 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5036 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5037 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5038 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5039 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5040 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5042 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5043 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5044 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5045 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5046 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
5048 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5049 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5052 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5053 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5054 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5055 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5056 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5059 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5060 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5061 @cindex crossposting
5062 @cindex excessive crossposting
5063 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5064 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5066 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5067 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5068 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5069 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5070 command understands the process/prefix convention
5071 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5075 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5076 Manual}, for more information.
5079 @node Summary Post Commands
5080 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5082 @cindex composing news
5084 Commands for posting a news article:
5090 @kindex S p (Summary)
5091 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5092 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5093 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5094 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5095 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5100 @kindex S f (Summary)
5101 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5102 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5103 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5107 @kindex S F (Summary)
5109 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5110 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5111 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5112 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5113 process/prefix convention.
5116 @kindex S n (Summary)
5117 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5118 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5119 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5122 @kindex S N (Summary)
5123 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5124 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5125 message through mail and include the original message
5126 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5127 the process/prefix convention.
5130 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5131 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5132 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5133 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5134 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5135 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5136 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5137 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5138 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5139 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5140 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5141 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5142 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
5145 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5146 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5148 @cindex making digests
5149 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5150 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5151 process/prefix convention.
5154 @kindex S u (Summary)
5155 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5156 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5157 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5158 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5161 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5162 Manual}, for more information.
5165 @node Summary Message Commands
5166 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5170 @kindex S y (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5172 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5173 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5174 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5175 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5180 @node Canceling and Superseding
5181 @subsection Canceling Articles
5182 @cindex canceling articles
5183 @cindex superseding articles
5185 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5186 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5188 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5190 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5192 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5193 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5194 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5195 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5196 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5197 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5199 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5200 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5203 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5204 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5205 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5207 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5208 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5209 your original article.
5211 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5213 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5214 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5215 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5218 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5219 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5220 have posted almost the same article twice.
5222 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5223 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5224 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5225 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5226 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5227 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5228 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5229 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5230 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5231 canceled/superseded.
5233 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5235 @node Delayed Articles
5236 @section Delayed Articles
5237 @cindex delayed sending
5238 @cindex send delayed
5240 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5241 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5242 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5243 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5246 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5249 @findex gnus-delay-article
5250 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5251 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5252 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5253 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5257 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5258 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5259 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5260 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5263 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5264 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5265 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5268 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5269 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5270 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5271 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5272 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5273 that means a time tomorrow.
5276 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5277 couple of variables:
5280 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5281 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5282 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5283 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5285 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5286 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5287 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5288 formats described above.
5290 @item gnus-delay-group
5291 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5292 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5293 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5294 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5296 @item gnus-delay-header
5297 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5298 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5299 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5300 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5303 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5304 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5305 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5306 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5307 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5309 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5310 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5311 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5312 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5313 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5314 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5317 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5318 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5319 By default, this function installs the @kbd{C-c C-j} key binding in
5320 Message mode and @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5321 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts two optional arguments,
5322 @code{no-keymap} and @code{no-check}. If @code{no-keymap} is non-nil,
5323 the @kbd{C-c C-j} binding is not intalled. If @code{no-check} is
5324 non-nil, @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed.
5326 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to change the
5327 keymap but not to change @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. Presumably, you
5328 want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles. Just don't
5329 forget to set that up :-)
5333 @node Marking Articles
5334 @section Marking Articles
5335 @cindex article marking
5336 @cindex article ticking
5339 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5341 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5342 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5343 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5345 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5348 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5349 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5350 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5354 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5358 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5359 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5360 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5364 @node Unread Articles
5365 @subsection Unread Articles
5367 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5372 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5373 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5375 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5376 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5377 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5378 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5379 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5380 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5381 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5384 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5385 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5387 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5388 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5389 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5390 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5394 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5395 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5397 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5402 @subsection Read Articles
5403 @cindex expirable mark
5405 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5410 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5411 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5412 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5415 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5416 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5419 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5420 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5421 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5424 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5425 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5428 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5429 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5432 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5433 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5436 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5437 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5440 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5441 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5444 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5445 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5448 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5449 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5453 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5454 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5455 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5459 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5460 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5462 One more special mark, though:
5466 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5467 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5469 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5470 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5471 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5472 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5478 @subsection Other Marks
5479 @cindex process mark
5482 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5488 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5489 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5490 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5491 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5492 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5495 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5496 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5497 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5498 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5500 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5501 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5502 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5504 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5505 Articles that are ``recently'' arrived in the group will be marked
5506 with an @samp{N} in the second column (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Most
5507 back end doesn't support the mark, in which case it's not shown.
5510 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5511 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5512 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5515 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5516 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5517 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5518 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5521 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5522 Articles that according to the back end haven't been seen by the user
5523 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5524 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all back ends support this
5525 mark, in which case it simply never appear.
5528 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5529 Articles that haven't been seen by the user before are marked with a
5530 @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5533 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5534 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5535 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5536 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5537 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5540 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5541 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5542 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5543 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5544 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5545 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5549 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5550 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5551 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5553 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5554 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5555 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5559 @subsection Setting Marks
5560 @cindex setting marks
5562 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5567 @kindex M c (Summary)
5568 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5569 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5570 @cindex mark as unread
5571 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5572 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5578 @kindex M t (Summary)
5579 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5580 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5581 @xref{Article Caching}.
5586 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5587 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5588 Mark the current article as dormant
5589 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5593 @kindex M d (Summary)
5595 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5596 Mark the current article as read
5597 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5601 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5602 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5603 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5608 @kindex M k (Summary)
5609 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5610 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5611 and then select the next unread article
5612 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5616 @kindex M K (Summary)
5617 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5618 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5619 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5620 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5623 @kindex M C (Summary)
5624 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5625 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5626 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5629 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5630 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5631 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5632 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5635 @kindex M H (Summary)
5636 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5637 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5638 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5641 @kindex M h (Summary)
5642 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5643 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5644 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5647 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5648 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5649 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5650 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5653 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5654 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5655 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5656 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5660 @kindex M e (Summary)
5662 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5663 Mark the current article as expirable
5664 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5667 @kindex M b (Summary)
5668 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5669 Set a bookmark in the current article
5670 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5673 @kindex M B (Summary)
5674 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5675 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5676 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5679 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5680 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5681 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5682 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5685 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5686 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5687 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5688 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5691 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5692 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5693 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5694 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5695 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5698 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5699 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5700 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5701 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5702 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5703 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5704 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5705 The default is @code{t}.
5708 @node Generic Marking Commands
5709 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5711 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5712 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5713 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5714 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5715 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5718 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5719 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5722 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5723 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5724 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5725 to list in this manual.
5727 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5728 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5729 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5730 article, you could say something like:
5733 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5734 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5735 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5741 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5742 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5746 @node Setting Process Marks
5747 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5748 @cindex setting process marks
5755 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5756 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5757 Mark the current article with the process mark
5758 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5759 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5763 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5764 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5765 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5766 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5769 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5770 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5771 Remove the process mark from all articles
5772 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5775 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5776 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5777 Invert the list of process marked articles
5778 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5781 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5782 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5783 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5784 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5787 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5788 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5789 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5790 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5793 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5794 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5795 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5798 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5799 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5800 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5801 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5804 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5805 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5806 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5807 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5810 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5811 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5812 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5813 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5816 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5817 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5818 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5821 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5822 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5823 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5824 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5827 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5828 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5829 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5832 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5833 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5834 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5835 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5838 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5839 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5840 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5841 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5844 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5845 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5846 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5847 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5850 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5851 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5852 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5853 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5857 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5858 set process marks based on article body contents.
5865 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5866 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5867 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5870 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5871 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5872 additional articles.
5878 @kindex / / (Summary)
5879 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5880 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5881 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
5885 @kindex / a (Summary)
5886 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5887 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5888 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
5892 @kindex / x (Summary)
5893 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5894 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5895 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5896 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
5901 @kindex / u (Summary)
5903 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5904 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5905 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5906 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5907 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5910 @kindex / m (Summary)
5911 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5912 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5913 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5916 @kindex / t (Summary)
5917 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5918 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5919 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5920 articles younger than that number of days.
5923 @kindex / n (Summary)
5924 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5925 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5926 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5927 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5930 @kindex / w (Summary)
5931 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5932 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5933 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5937 @kindex / v (Summary)
5938 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5939 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5940 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5943 @kindex / p (Summary)
5944 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-parameter
5945 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
5946 group parameter predicate
5947 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-parameter}). See @pxref{Group
5948 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
5952 @kindex M S (Summary)
5953 @kindex / E (Summary)
5954 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5955 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5956 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5959 @kindex / D (Summary)
5960 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5961 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5962 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5965 @kindex / * (Summary)
5966 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5967 Include all cached articles in the limit
5968 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5971 @kindex / d (Summary)
5972 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5973 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5974 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5977 @kindex / M (Summary)
5978 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5979 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5982 @kindex / T (Summary)
5983 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5984 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5987 @kindex / c (Summary)
5988 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5989 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5990 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5993 @kindex / C (Summary)
5994 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5995 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5996 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5997 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6000 @kindex / N (Summary)
6001 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6002 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6003 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6006 @kindex / o (Summary)
6007 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6008 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6009 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6017 @cindex article threading
6019 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6020 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6021 hierarchical fashion.
6023 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6024 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6025 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6026 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6027 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6028 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6029 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6031 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6035 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6038 A tree-like article structure.
6041 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6044 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6045 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6046 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6047 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6048 called loose threads.
6050 @item thread gathering
6051 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6053 @item sparse threads
6054 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6055 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6061 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6062 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6066 @node Customizing Threading
6067 @subsection Customizing Threading
6068 @cindex customizing threading
6071 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6072 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6073 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6074 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6079 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6082 @cindex loose threads
6085 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6086 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6087 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6088 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6089 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6090 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6092 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6093 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6094 There are four possible values:
6098 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6099 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6100 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6101 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6102 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6107 @cindex adopting articles
6112 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6113 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6114 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6115 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6118 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6119 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6120 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6121 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6122 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6123 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6124 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6127 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6128 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6129 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6133 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6134 display them after one another.
6137 Don't gather loose threads.
6140 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6141 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6142 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6143 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6144 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6145 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6146 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6147 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6148 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6149 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6150 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6152 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6153 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6154 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6157 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6158 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6159 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6160 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6161 simplification is used.
6163 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6164 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6165 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6166 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6168 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6170 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6176 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6177 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6178 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6179 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6184 (mapconcat 'identity
6185 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6187 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6190 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6193 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6194 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6195 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6196 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6197 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6198 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6200 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6203 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6204 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6205 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6207 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6208 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6211 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6212 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6213 Remove excessive whitespace.
6216 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6219 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6220 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6221 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6222 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6223 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6224 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6225 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6226 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6228 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6229 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6230 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6231 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6232 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6233 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6234 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6235 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6236 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6240 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6241 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6242 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6243 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6245 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6246 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6247 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6250 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6254 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6255 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6261 @node Filling In Threads
6262 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6265 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6266 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6267 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6268 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6269 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6270 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6271 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6272 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6273 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6274 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
6275 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
6276 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
6278 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6279 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6280 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6282 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6283 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6284 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6285 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6286 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6287 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6288 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6289 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6290 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6291 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6292 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6293 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6294 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6295 @code{nil} by default.
6297 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6298 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6299 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6300 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6301 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6302 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6303 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6305 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6306 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6307 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6312 @node More Threading
6313 @subsubsection More Threading
6316 @item gnus-show-threads
6317 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6318 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6319 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6320 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6321 slower and more awkward.
6323 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6324 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6325 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6328 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6329 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6330 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6331 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6332 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6333 threads are expunged.
6335 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6336 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6337 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6340 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6341 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6342 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6343 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6344 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6345 result in a new thread.
6347 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6348 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6349 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6352 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6353 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6354 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6355 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6356 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6357 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6358 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6359 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6360 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6361 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6362 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6367 @node Low-Level Threading
6368 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6372 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6373 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6374 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6376 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6377 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6378 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6379 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6380 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6381 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6382 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6383 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6384 meaningful. Here's one example:
6387 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6389 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6390 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6392 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6394 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6401 @node Thread Commands
6402 @subsection Thread Commands
6403 @cindex thread commands
6409 @kindex T k (Summary)
6410 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6411 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6412 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6413 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6414 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6419 @kindex T l (Summary)
6420 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6421 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6422 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6423 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6426 @kindex T i (Summary)
6427 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6428 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6429 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6432 @kindex T # (Summary)
6433 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6434 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6435 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6438 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6439 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6440 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6441 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6444 @kindex T T (Summary)
6445 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6446 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6449 @kindex T s (Summary)
6450 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6451 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6452 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6455 @kindex T h (Summary)
6456 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6457 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6460 @kindex T S (Summary)
6461 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6462 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6465 @kindex T H (Summary)
6466 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6467 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6470 @kindex T t (Summary)
6471 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6472 Re-thread the current article's thread
6473 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6474 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6477 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6478 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6479 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6480 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6484 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6485 understand the numeric prefix.
6490 @kindex T n (Summary)
6492 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6494 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6495 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6496 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6499 @kindex T p (Summary)
6501 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6503 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6504 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6505 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6508 @kindex T d (Summary)
6509 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6510 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6513 @kindex T u (Summary)
6514 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6515 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6518 @kindex T o (Summary)
6519 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6520 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6523 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6524 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6525 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6526 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6527 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6528 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6529 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6530 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6531 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6532 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6533 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6534 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6538 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6539 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6541 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6542 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6543 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6544 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6545 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6546 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6547 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6548 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6549 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6550 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6551 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6553 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6554 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6555 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6556 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6557 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6559 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6560 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6561 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6563 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6564 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6565 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6566 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6567 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6568 ascending article order.
6570 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6571 by number, you could do something like:
6574 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6575 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6576 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6577 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6580 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6581 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6582 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6583 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6584 which the articles arrived.
6586 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6590 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6592 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6593 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6596 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6597 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6598 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6599 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6602 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6603 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6604 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6605 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6606 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6607 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6608 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6609 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6610 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6611 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6612 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6613 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6614 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6616 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6620 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6621 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6622 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6627 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6628 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6629 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6630 @cindex article pre-fetch
6633 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6634 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6635 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6636 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6637 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6639 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6640 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6642 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6643 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6644 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6645 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6646 connection is blocked.
6648 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6649 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6650 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6651 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6653 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6654 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6655 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6656 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6659 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6662 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6663 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6664 happen automatically.
6666 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6667 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6668 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6669 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6670 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6671 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6672 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6674 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6675 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6676 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6677 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6678 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6679 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6680 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6681 data structure as the only parameter.
6683 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6686 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6687 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6688 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6689 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6692 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6695 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6696 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6697 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6699 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6700 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6701 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6702 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6706 Remove articles when they are read.
6709 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6712 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6714 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6715 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6716 @c from the next group.
6719 @node Article Caching
6720 @section Article Caching
6721 @cindex article caching
6724 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6725 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6726 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6727 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6728 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6730 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6732 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6733 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6734 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6735 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6736 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6737 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6738 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6739 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6741 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6742 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6743 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6744 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6745 as dormant, and don't worry.
6747 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6749 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6750 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6751 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6752 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6753 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6754 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6755 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6756 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6757 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6758 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6760 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6761 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6762 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6763 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6764 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6765 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6766 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6767 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6768 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6769 not then be downloaded by this command.
6771 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6772 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6773 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6774 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6775 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6776 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6778 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6779 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6780 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6781 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6782 variables, the group is not cached.
6784 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6785 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6786 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6787 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6788 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6789 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
6790 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6791 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6792 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6796 @node Persistent Articles
6797 @section Persistent Articles
6798 @cindex persistent articles
6800 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6801 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6802 useful in my opinion.
6804 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6805 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6806 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6807 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6808 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6809 the expiry going on at the news server.
6811 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6812 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6813 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6819 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6820 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6823 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6824 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6825 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6826 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6830 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6832 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6833 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6834 interested in persistent articles:
6837 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6841 @node Article Backlog
6842 @section Article Backlog
6844 @cindex article backlog
6846 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6847 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6848 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
6849 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6850 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6851 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6852 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
6853 increase memory usage some.
6855 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6856 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
6857 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6858 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
6859 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6860 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6861 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6863 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6866 @node Saving Articles
6867 @section Saving Articles
6868 @cindex saving articles
6870 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6871 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6872 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6873 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6874 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6876 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6877 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
6878 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6880 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6881 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6882 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6883 deleted before saving.
6889 @kindex O o (Summary)
6891 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6892 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6893 Save the current article using the default article saver
6894 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6897 @kindex O m (Summary)
6898 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6899 Save the current article in mail format
6900 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6903 @kindex O r (Summary)
6904 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6905 Save the current article in rmail format
6906 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6909 @kindex O f (Summary)
6910 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6911 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6912 Save the current article in plain file format
6913 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6916 @kindex O F (Summary)
6917 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6918 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6919 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6922 @kindex O b (Summary)
6923 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6924 Save the current article body in plain file format
6925 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6928 @kindex O h (Summary)
6929 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6930 Save the current article in mh folder format
6931 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6934 @kindex O v (Summary)
6935 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6936 Save the current article in a VM folder
6937 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6941 @kindex O p (Summary)
6943 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6944 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6945 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6948 @kindex O P (Summary)
6949 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
6950 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
6951 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
6952 external program Muttprint (see
6953 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
6954 options to use is controlled by the variable
6955 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
6959 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6960 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6961 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6962 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6963 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6964 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6965 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6966 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6967 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6968 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6969 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6970 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6974 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6975 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6976 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6977 functions below, or you can create your own.
6981 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6982 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6983 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6984 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6985 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6986 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6987 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6989 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6990 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6991 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6992 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6993 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6994 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6996 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6997 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6998 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6999 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7000 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7001 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7002 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7004 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7005 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7006 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7007 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7008 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7009 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7011 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7012 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7013 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7014 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7015 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7017 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7018 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7019 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7020 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7021 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7024 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7025 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7026 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7027 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7028 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7030 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7031 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7032 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7033 reader to use this setting.
7036 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7037 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7038 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7039 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7042 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7043 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7044 available functions that generate names:
7048 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7049 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7050 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7052 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7053 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7054 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7056 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7057 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7058 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7060 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7061 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7062 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7064 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7065 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7066 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7069 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7070 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7071 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7072 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7073 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7077 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7078 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7079 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7080 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7083 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7084 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7085 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7086 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7087 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7088 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7089 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7090 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7091 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7093 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7094 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7095 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7096 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7098 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7099 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7100 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7103 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7104 lots of mail groups called things like
7105 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7106 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7107 following will do just that:
7110 (defun my-save-name (group)
7111 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7112 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7114 (setq gnus-split-methods
7115 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7120 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7121 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7122 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7123 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7124 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7125 all the files in the top level directory
7126 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7127 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7128 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7129 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7131 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7132 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7133 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7134 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7135 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7138 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7142 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7143 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7144 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7147 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7148 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7149 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7150 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7153 @node Decoding Articles
7154 @section Decoding Articles
7155 @cindex decoding articles
7157 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7158 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7161 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7162 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7163 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7164 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7165 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7166 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7170 @cindex article series
7171 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7172 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7173 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7174 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7175 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7177 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7178 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7179 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7181 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7182 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7183 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7185 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7186 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7187 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7190 @node Uuencoded Articles
7191 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7193 @cindex uuencoded articles
7198 @kindex X u (Summary)
7199 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7200 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7201 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7204 @kindex X U (Summary)
7205 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7206 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7207 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7210 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7211 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7212 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7215 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7216 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7217 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7218 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7222 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7223 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7224 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7225 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7226 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7228 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7229 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7230 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7231 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7234 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7235 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7236 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7237 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7238 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7239 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7243 @node Shell Archives
7244 @subsection Shell Archives
7246 @cindex shell archives
7247 @cindex shared articles
7249 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7250 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7251 some commands to deal with these:
7256 @kindex X s (Summary)
7257 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7258 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7261 @kindex X S (Summary)
7262 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7263 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7266 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7267 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7268 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7271 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7272 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7273 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7274 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7278 @node PostScript Files
7279 @subsection PostScript Files
7285 @kindex X p (Summary)
7286 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7287 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7290 @kindex X P (Summary)
7291 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7292 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7293 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7296 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7297 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7298 View the current PostScript series
7299 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7302 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7303 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7304 View and save the current PostScript series
7305 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7310 @subsection Other Files
7314 @kindex X o (Summary)
7315 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7316 Save the current series
7317 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7320 @kindex X b (Summary)
7321 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7322 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7323 doesn't really work yet.
7327 @node Decoding Variables
7328 @subsection Decoding Variables
7330 Adjective, not verb.
7333 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7334 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7335 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7339 @node Rule Variables
7340 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7341 @cindex rule variables
7343 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7344 variables are of the form
7347 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7354 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7355 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7357 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7358 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7361 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7362 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7365 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7366 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7367 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7368 user and default view rules.
7370 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7371 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7372 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7377 @node Other Decode Variables
7378 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7381 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7383 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7384 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7385 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7386 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7387 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7391 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7392 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7395 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7396 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7397 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7400 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7401 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7402 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7403 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7404 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7407 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7408 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7409 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7411 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7412 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7413 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7414 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7415 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7418 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7419 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7420 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7422 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7423 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7424 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7425 looking for files to display.
7427 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7428 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7429 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7432 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7433 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7434 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7437 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7438 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7439 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7442 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7443 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7444 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7447 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7448 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7449 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7450 decoded articles as unread.
7452 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7453 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7454 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7455 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7457 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7458 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7459 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7461 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7462 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7464 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7465 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7466 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7467 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7469 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7470 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7471 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7472 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7473 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7474 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7475 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7476 simply dropped them.
7481 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7482 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7486 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7487 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7488 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7489 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7490 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7491 for you when you post the article.
7493 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7494 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7495 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7496 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7498 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7499 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7500 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7501 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7502 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7503 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7504 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7506 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7507 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7508 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7509 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7510 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7511 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7512 Default is @code{t}.
7518 @subsection Viewing Files
7519 @cindex viewing files
7520 @cindex pseudo-articles
7522 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7523 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7524 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7525 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7526 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7527 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7528 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7530 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7531 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7532 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7533 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7535 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7536 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7537 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7539 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7540 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7541 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7542 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7543 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7545 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7546 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7547 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7548 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7549 a list of parameters to that command.
7551 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7552 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7553 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7555 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7556 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7557 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7560 @node Article Treatment
7561 @section Article Treatment
7563 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7564 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7565 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7566 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7567 these articles easier.
7570 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7571 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7572 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7573 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7574 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7575 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7576 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7577 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7578 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7579 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7583 @node Article Highlighting
7584 @subsection Article Highlighting
7585 @cindex highlighting
7587 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7588 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7593 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7594 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7595 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7596 Do much highlighting of the current article
7597 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7598 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7601 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7602 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7603 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7604 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7605 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7606 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7607 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7608 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7609 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7610 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7611 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7612 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7615 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7616 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7617 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7619 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7622 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7624 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7625 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7626 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7628 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7629 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7630 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7632 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7633 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7634 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7635 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7636 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7637 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7639 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7640 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7641 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7643 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7644 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7645 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7647 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7648 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7649 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7650 that it's a citation.
7652 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7653 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7654 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7656 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7657 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7658 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7660 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7661 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7662 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7663 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7669 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7670 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7671 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7672 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7673 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7674 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7675 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7676 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7681 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7684 @node Article Fontisizing
7685 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7687 @cindex article emphasis
7689 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7690 @kindex W e (Summary)
7691 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7692 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7693 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7694 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7696 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7697 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7698 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7699 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7700 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7701 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7702 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7703 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7707 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7708 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7709 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7718 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7719 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7720 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7721 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7722 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7723 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7724 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7725 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7726 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7727 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7728 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7729 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7730 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7732 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7733 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7734 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7738 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7741 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7743 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7744 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7745 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7746 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7748 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7751 @node Article Hiding
7752 @subsection Article Hiding
7753 @cindex article hiding
7755 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7756 too much cruft in most articles.
7761 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7762 @findex gnus-article-hide
7763 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7764 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7765 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7768 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7769 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7770 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7774 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7775 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7776 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7777 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7780 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7781 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7782 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7786 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7787 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7788 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7789 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7790 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7791 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7792 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7793 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7797 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7798 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7799 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7800 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7805 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7806 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7807 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7808 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7809 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7810 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7811 articles that have signatures in them do:
7813 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7815 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7817 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7818 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7820 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7823 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7828 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7829 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7830 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7831 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7834 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7835 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7838 @cindex stripping advertisements
7839 @cindex advertisements
7840 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7841 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7842 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7843 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7844 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7845 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7846 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7847 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7848 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7849 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7853 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7854 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7855 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7856 customizing the hiding:
7860 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7861 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7862 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7863 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7864 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7865 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7866 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7871 Starting point of the hidden text.
7873 Ending point of the hidden text.
7875 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7877 Number of lines of hidden text.
7880 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7881 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7882 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7883 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7884 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7889 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7890 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7892 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7893 following two variables:
7896 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7897 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7898 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7899 50), hide the cited text.
7901 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7902 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7903 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7908 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7909 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7910 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7911 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7912 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7913 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7917 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7918 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7919 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7921 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7922 citation customization.
7924 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7928 @node Article Washing
7929 @subsection Article Washing
7931 @cindex article washing
7933 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7934 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7936 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7937 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7940 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7941 articles by default.
7946 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7947 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7951 @kindex W l (Summary)
7952 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7953 Remove page breaks from the current article
7954 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7958 @kindex W r (Summary)
7959 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7960 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7961 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7962 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7963 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7964 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7966 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7967 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7968 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7969 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7973 @kindex W t (Summary)
7975 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
7976 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7977 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
7980 @kindex W v (Summary)
7981 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7982 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7983 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7986 @kindex W o (Summary)
7987 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7988 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7991 @kindex W d (Summary)
7992 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7993 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7995 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7997 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7998 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7999 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8000 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8003 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8004 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8005 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8006 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8009 @kindex W w (Summary)
8010 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8011 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8013 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8017 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8018 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8019 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8022 @kindex W C (Summary)
8023 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8024 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8025 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8028 @kindex W c (Summary)
8029 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8030 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8031 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8032 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8033 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8036 @kindex W q (Summary)
8037 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8038 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8039 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
8040 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
8041 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
8042 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
8043 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
8044 header that says that this encoding has been done.
8045 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8048 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8049 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8050 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8051 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8052 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
8053 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8054 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8056 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8059 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8060 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8061 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8062 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8063 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8066 @kindex W h (Summary)
8067 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8068 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
8069 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
8070 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
8072 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8075 @kindex W b (Summary)
8076 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8077 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8078 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8081 @kindex W B (Summary)
8082 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8083 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8084 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8087 @kindex W p (Summary)
8088 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8089 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8090 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8091 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8092 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8093 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8094 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8097 @kindex W s (Summary)
8098 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8099 Verify a signed (PGP, PGP/MIME or S/MIME) message
8100 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8103 @kindex W W H (Summary)
8104 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
8105 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8106 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
8109 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8110 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8111 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8112 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8115 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8116 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8117 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8118 lines with a single empty line.
8119 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8122 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8123 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8124 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8125 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8128 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8129 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8130 Do all the three commands above
8131 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8134 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8135 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8136 Remove all blank lines
8137 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8140 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8141 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8142 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8143 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8146 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8147 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8148 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8149 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8153 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8156 @node Article Header
8157 @subsection Article Header
8159 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8164 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8165 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8166 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8169 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8170 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8171 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8172 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8175 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8176 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-header
8177 Fold all the message headers
8178 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8183 @node Article Buttons
8184 @subsection Article Buttons
8187 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8188 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8189 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8190 button on these references.
8192 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8193 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
8194 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
8199 @item gnus-button-alist
8200 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8201 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8204 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8210 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
8211 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
8212 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
8215 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8216 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8217 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8220 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8221 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8222 avoid false matches.
8225 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8228 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8229 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8233 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8236 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8239 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8240 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8241 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8242 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8243 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8246 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8249 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8251 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8252 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8253 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8254 default values of the variables above.
8256 @item gnus-article-button-face
8257 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8258 Face used on buttons.
8260 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8261 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8262 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8266 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8270 @subsection Article Date
8272 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8273 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8274 when the article was sent.
8279 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8280 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8281 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8282 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8285 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8286 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8288 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8289 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8292 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8293 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8294 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8297 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8298 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8299 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8300 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8303 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8304 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8305 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8306 @findex format-time-string
8307 Display the date using a user-defined format
8308 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8309 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8310 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8311 for a list of possible format specs.
8314 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8315 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8316 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8317 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8318 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8319 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8322 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8325 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8326 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8329 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8330 into wonderful absurdities.
8332 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8335 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8338 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8339 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8343 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8344 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8345 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8346 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8347 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8348 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8349 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8353 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8354 preferred format automatically.
8357 @node Article Display
8358 @subsection Article Display
8363 These commands add various frivolous display gimmics to the article
8364 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8366 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8367 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8369 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8370 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8372 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8373 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8375 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8380 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8381 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8382 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8383 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8386 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8387 @findex gnus-smiley-smiley
8388 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8391 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8392 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8393 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8396 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8397 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8398 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8399 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8402 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8403 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8404 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8405 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8408 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8409 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8410 Remove all images from the article buffer
8411 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8417 @node Article Signature
8418 @subsection Article Signature
8420 @cindex article signature
8422 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8423 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8424 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8425 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8426 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8427 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8428 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8429 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8430 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8433 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8434 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8435 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8436 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8437 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8438 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8439 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8440 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8443 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8446 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8447 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8448 signature when displaying articles.
8452 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8455 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8458 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8459 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8461 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8462 in question is not a signature.
8465 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8466 listed above. Here's an example:
8469 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8470 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8473 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8474 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8475 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8476 signature after all.
8479 @node Article Miscellania
8480 @subsection Article Miscellania
8484 @kindex A t (Summary)
8485 @findex gnus-article-babel
8486 Translate the article from one language to another
8487 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8493 @section @sc{mime} Commands
8494 @cindex MIME decoding
8496 @cindex viewing attachments
8498 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8499 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8505 @kindex K v (Summary)
8506 View the @sc{mime} part.
8509 @kindex K o (Summary)
8510 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8513 @kindex K c (Summary)
8514 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8517 @kindex K e (Summary)
8518 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8521 @kindex K i (Summary)
8522 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8525 @kindex K | (Summary)
8526 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8529 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8534 @kindex K b (Summary)
8535 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8536 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8540 @kindex K m (Summary)
8541 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8542 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8543 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8544 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8545 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8548 @kindex X m (Summary)
8549 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8550 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8551 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8552 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8555 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8556 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
8557 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8558 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8561 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8562 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8563 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8566 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8567 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8568 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8570 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8571 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8572 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8573 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
8574 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
8575 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8578 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8579 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8580 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8587 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8588 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8589 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8590 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8593 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8596 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8600 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8601 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8602 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8603 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8604 displayed or this variable is overriden by
8605 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
8608 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8609 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8610 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8611 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8612 displayed. This variable overrides
8613 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
8615 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
8616 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
8617 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} to the default value.
8619 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8620 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8621 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8622 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8623 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8624 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8625 save all jpegs into some directory).
8627 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8630 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8631 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8633 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8634 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8635 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8636 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8637 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8640 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8641 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8642 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8644 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8645 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8646 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
8647 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
8649 Ready-made functions include@*
8650 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
8651 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
8652 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
8653 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
8654 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
8655 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
8656 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
8657 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
8658 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8659 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8660 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8661 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8663 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
8664 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
8666 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
8667 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
8668 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
8671 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8672 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8673 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8674 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
8678 to your @file{.gnus} file.
8687 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8688 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8689 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8690 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8691 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8692 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8693 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8695 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8696 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8697 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
8698 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8700 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8701 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
8702 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8703 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8704 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
8705 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8706 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
8707 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
8709 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8710 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8711 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8712 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8713 quoted-printable header encoding.
8715 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8716 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8717 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8721 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8724 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8725 means encode all charsets),
8727 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8728 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8729 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8736 @cindex coding system aliases
8737 @cindex preferred charset
8739 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8741 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8742 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8745 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8746 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8749 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8750 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8752 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8755 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8758 This will almost do the right thing.
8760 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8764 (codepage-setup 1251)
8765 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8769 @node Article Commands
8770 @section Article Commands
8777 @kindex A P (Summary)
8778 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8779 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8780 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8781 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
8782 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
8783 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
8788 @node Summary Sorting
8789 @section Summary Sorting
8790 @cindex summary sorting
8792 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8793 can't really see why you'd want that.
8798 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8799 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8800 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8803 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8804 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8805 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8808 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8809 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8810 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8813 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8814 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8815 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8818 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8819 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8820 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8823 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8824 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8825 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8828 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8829 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8830 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8833 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
8834 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
8835 Sort using the default sorting method
8836 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
8839 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8840 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8841 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8842 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8843 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8847 @node Finding the Parent
8848 @section Finding the Parent
8849 @cindex parent articles
8850 @cindex referring articles
8855 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8856 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8857 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8858 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8859 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8860 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8861 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8862 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8863 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8865 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8866 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8867 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
8868 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8869 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8873 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8874 @kindex A R (Summary)
8875 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8876 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8879 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8880 @kindex A T (Summary)
8881 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8882 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8883 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8884 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8885 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8886 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8887 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8889 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8890 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8891 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8892 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8893 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8894 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8897 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8898 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8900 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8901 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8902 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8903 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8904 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8905 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8906 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8909 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8910 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8911 by giving this command a prefix.
8913 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8914 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
8915 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8916 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8917 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8918 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8921 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8922 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8923 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8926 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8927 then ask Deja if that fails:
8930 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8932 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8935 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
8936 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox}
8937 and @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8938 @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder} and @code{nnimap}1 are only able to locate
8939 articles that have been posted to the current group. (Anything else
8940 would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at
8944 @node Alternative Approaches
8945 @section Alternative Approaches
8947 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8948 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8951 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8952 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8957 @subsection Pick and Read
8958 @cindex pick and read
8960 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8961 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8962 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8963 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8965 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8966 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8967 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8968 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8969 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8970 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8972 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8977 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8978 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8979 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8980 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8981 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8982 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8983 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8984 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8987 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8988 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8989 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8990 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8994 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8995 Unpick the thread or article
8996 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8997 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8998 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8999 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9000 the thread or article at that line.
9004 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9005 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9006 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9007 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9008 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9009 will still be visible when you are reading.
9013 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9014 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9015 which is mapped to the same function
9016 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9018 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9021 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9024 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9025 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9027 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9028 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9029 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9031 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9032 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9033 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9034 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9035 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9036 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9037 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9041 @subsection Binary Groups
9042 @cindex binary groups
9044 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9045 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9046 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9047 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9048 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9049 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9050 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9053 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9054 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9055 command, when you have turned on this mode
9056 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9058 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9059 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9063 @section Tree Display
9066 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9067 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9068 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9069 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9072 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9075 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9076 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9077 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9079 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9080 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9081 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9082 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9083 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9085 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9086 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9087 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9088 default is @code{modeline}.
9090 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9091 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9092 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9093 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9094 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9095 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9096 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9102 The name of the poster.
9104 The @code{From} header.
9106 The number of the article.
9108 The opening bracket.
9110 The closing bracket.
9115 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9117 Variables related to the display are:
9120 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9121 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9122 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9123 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9124 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9125 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9127 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9128 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9129 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9130 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9134 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9135 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9136 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9137 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9138 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9139 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9140 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9141 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9142 other windows displayed next to it.
9144 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9148 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9149 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9152 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9153 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9154 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9155 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9156 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9157 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9158 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9162 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9165 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9175 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9179 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9180 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9182 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9184 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9189 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9190 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9191 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9194 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9195 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9196 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9197 (gnus-add-configuration
9201 (summary 0.75 point)
9206 @xref{Window Layout}.
9209 @node Mail Group Commands
9210 @section Mail Group Commands
9211 @cindex mail group commands
9213 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9214 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9216 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9217 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9222 @kindex B e (Summary)
9223 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9224 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9225 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9226 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9227 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9230 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9231 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9232 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9233 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9234 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9235 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9238 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9239 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9240 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9241 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9242 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9243 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9246 @kindex B m (Summary)
9248 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9249 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9250 Move the article from one mail group to another
9251 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9252 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9255 @kindex B c (Summary)
9257 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9258 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9259 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9260 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9261 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9264 @kindex B B (Summary)
9265 @cindex crosspost mail
9266 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9267 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9268 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9269 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9270 be properly updated.
9273 @kindex B i (Summary)
9274 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9275 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9276 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9277 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9280 @kindex B r (Summary)
9281 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9282 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9283 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9284 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9285 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9286 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9287 (which is the default).
9291 @kindex B w (Summary)
9293 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9294 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9295 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9296 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9297 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9298 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9301 @kindex B q (Summary)
9302 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9303 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9304 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9305 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9308 @kindex B t (Summary)
9309 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9310 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9311 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9314 @kindex B p (Summary)
9315 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9316 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9317 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9318 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9319 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9320 article from your news server (or rather, from
9321 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9322 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9323 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9324 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9325 just not have arrived yet.
9329 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9330 @cindex moving articles
9331 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
9332 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9333 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9334 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9335 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9336 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9337 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9340 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9341 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9342 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9343 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9347 @node Various Summary Stuff
9348 @section Various Summary Stuff
9351 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9352 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9353 * Summary Generation Commands::
9354 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9358 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9359 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9360 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9362 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9363 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9364 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9365 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9366 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9367 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9370 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9371 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9372 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9373 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9374 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9376 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9377 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9378 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9381 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9382 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9383 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9384 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9385 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9386 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9387 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
9388 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9389 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9390 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9392 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9393 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9394 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9395 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9396 list of articles to be selected.
9398 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9399 the list in one particular group:
9402 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9403 (if (string= group "some.group")
9404 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9408 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9409 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9410 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9411 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9412 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9413 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9414 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9415 buffers. For example:
9418 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9419 '(message-use-followup-to
9420 (gnus-visible-headers .
9421 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9427 @node Summary Group Information
9428 @subsection Summary Group Information
9433 @kindex H f (Summary)
9434 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9435 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9436 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9437 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9438 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9439 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9440 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9441 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9442 be used for fetching the file.
9445 @kindex H d (Summary)
9446 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9447 Give a brief description of the current group
9448 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9449 rereading the description from the server.
9452 @kindex H h (Summary)
9453 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9454 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9455 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9458 @kindex H i (Summary)
9459 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9460 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9464 @node Searching for Articles
9465 @subsection Searching for Articles
9470 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9471 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9472 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9473 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9476 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9477 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9478 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9479 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9483 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9484 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9485 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9486 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9487 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9488 search backward instead.
9490 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9491 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9494 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9495 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9496 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9497 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9500 @node Summary Generation Commands
9501 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9506 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9507 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9508 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9511 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9512 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9513 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9514 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9519 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9520 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9526 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9527 @kindex A D (Summary)
9528 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9529 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9530 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9531 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9532 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9533 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9534 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9535 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9539 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9540 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9541 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9542 several documents into one biiig group
9543 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9544 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9545 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9546 command understands the process/prefix convention
9547 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9550 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9551 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9552 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9553 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9554 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9555 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9559 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9560 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9561 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9564 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
9565 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9566 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9567 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9570 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
9571 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9572 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9573 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
9578 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
9579 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
9580 @cindex summary exit
9581 @cindex exiting groups
9583 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
9584 group and return you to the group buffer.
9590 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
9592 @findex gnus-summary-exit
9593 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
9594 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
9595 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
9596 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
9597 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
9598 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
9599 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
9600 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
9601 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
9602 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
9606 @kindex Z E (Summary)
9608 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
9609 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
9610 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
9614 @kindex Z c (Summary)
9616 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
9617 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
9618 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
9619 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
9622 @kindex Z C (Summary)
9623 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
9624 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
9625 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
9628 @kindex Z n (Summary)
9629 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
9630 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
9631 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
9634 @kindex Z R (Summary)
9635 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
9636 Exit this group, and then enter it again
9637 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
9638 all articles, both read and unread.
9642 @kindex Z G (Summary)
9643 @kindex M-g (Summary)
9644 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
9645 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
9646 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
9647 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
9648 articles, both read and unread.
9651 @kindex Z N (Summary)
9652 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
9653 Exit the group and go to the next group
9654 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
9657 @kindex Z P (Summary)
9658 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
9659 Exit the group and go to the previous group
9660 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
9663 @kindex Z s (Summary)
9664 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9665 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9666 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9667 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9668 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9671 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9672 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9673 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9674 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9676 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9677 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9678 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
9679 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
9680 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
9681 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
9682 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
9683 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
9684 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
9685 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
9686 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
9687 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
9689 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9691 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9692 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9693 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9694 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9695 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9696 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9697 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9698 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9699 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9702 @node Crosspost Handling
9703 @section Crosspost Handling
9707 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
9708 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9709 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9710 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9711 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9712 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9715 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9716 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9717 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9718 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9719 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9721 @cindex cross-posting
9724 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9725 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9726 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9727 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9728 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9729 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9730 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9731 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9732 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9733 the cross reference mechanism.
9735 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9736 @cindex overview.fmt
9737 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9738 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9739 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9740 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9741 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9742 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9745 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9746 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9747 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9752 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9755 @node Duplicate Suppression
9756 @section Duplicate Suppression
9758 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9759 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9760 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9761 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9766 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9767 is evil and not very common.
9770 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9771 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9774 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9775 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9778 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9781 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9782 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9784 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9785 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9786 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9787 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9788 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9789 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9790 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9793 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9794 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9795 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9796 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9797 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9801 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9802 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9803 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9805 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9806 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9807 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9808 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9809 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
9810 session are suppressed.
9812 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9813 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9814 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9815 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9817 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9818 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9819 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9820 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9823 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
9824 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9825 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9826 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9827 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
9828 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9829 to you to figure out, I think.
9834 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
9835 The formats that are supported are PGP, PGP/MIME and S/MIME, however
9836 you need some external programs to get things to work:
9840 To handle PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or gpg.el as
9841 well as a OpenPGP implementation (such as GnuPG).
9844 To handle S/MIME message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
9845 or newer is recommended.
9849 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
9850 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
9853 @item mm-verify-option
9854 @vindex mm-verify-option
9855 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9856 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9857 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9859 @item mm-decrypt-option
9860 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9861 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9862 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
9863 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9868 @section Mailing List
9870 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
9871 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
9872 possibly using @kbd{A M} in the summary buffer, or say:
9875 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
9878 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
9883 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
9884 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
9885 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
9888 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
9889 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
9890 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
9893 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
9894 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
9895 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
9899 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
9900 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
9901 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
9904 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
9905 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
9906 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
9909 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
9910 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
9911 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
9915 @node Article Buffer
9916 @chapter Article Buffer
9917 @cindex article buffer
9919 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9920 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9921 tell Gnus otherwise.
9924 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9925 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9926 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9927 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9928 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9932 @node Hiding Headers
9933 @section Hiding Headers
9934 @cindex hiding headers
9935 @cindex deleting headers
9937 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9938 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9940 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9941 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9942 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9943 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9944 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9945 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9946 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9947 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9948 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9950 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9954 @item gnus-visible-headers
9955 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9956 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9957 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9958 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9960 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9961 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9964 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9967 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9970 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9971 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9972 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9973 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9974 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9975 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9977 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
9978 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
9981 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9984 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9987 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9988 variable will have no effect.
9992 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9993 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9994 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9995 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9996 the headers are to be displayed.
9998 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9999 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10002 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10005 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10006 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10008 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10009 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10010 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10011 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10012 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10013 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10014 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10017 These conditions are:
10020 Remove all empty headers.
10022 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10023 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10025 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10026 @code{From} header.
10028 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10031 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10032 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10034 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10037 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10039 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10042 To include these three elements, you could say something like;
10045 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10046 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10049 This is also the default value for this variable.
10053 @section Using MIME
10056 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10057 while people stand around yawning.
10059 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10060 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10062 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10063 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10064 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10066 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10067 @findex gnus-display-mime
10068 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10069 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10070 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10071 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
10073 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10077 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10078 @item RET (Article)
10079 @kindex RET (Article)
10080 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10081 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
10082 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
10084 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10085 @item M-RET (Article)
10086 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10088 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10089 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10091 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10093 @kindex t (Article)
10094 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
10095 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10097 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10099 @kindex C (Article)
10100 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10101 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10103 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10105 @kindex o (Article)
10106 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
10107 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10109 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10110 @item C-o (Article)
10111 @kindex C-o (Article)
10112 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
10113 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10114 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10115 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
10116 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
10117 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10119 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10121 @kindex c (Article)
10122 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10123 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
10125 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10127 @kindex p (Article)
10128 Print the @sc{mime} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10129 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10130 @file{.mailcap} file.
10132 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10134 @kindex i (Article)
10135 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
10136 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10137 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10138 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
10139 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
10142 @findex gnus-mime-internalize-part
10144 @kindex E (Article)
10145 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
10146 viewer is available, use an external viewer
10147 (@code{gnus-mime-internalize-part}).
10149 @findex gnus-mime-externalize-part
10151 @kindex e (Article)
10152 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
10153 (@code{gnus-mime-externalize-part}).
10155 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
10157 @kindex | (Article)
10158 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
10160 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
10162 @kindex . (Article)
10163 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
10164 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
10168 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
10169 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
10172 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
10173 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
10174 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
10175 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
10176 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
10177 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
10178 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
10179 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
10180 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
10182 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10184 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10187 @node Customizing Articles
10188 @section Customizing Articles
10189 @cindex article customization
10191 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10192 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10193 called automatically when you select the articles.
10195 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10196 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10197 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10198 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10200 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10201 for sensible values.
10205 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10208 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10211 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10214 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10217 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10221 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10222 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10223 regexps in the list.
10226 A list where the first element is not a string:
10228 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10229 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10230 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10234 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10239 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10240 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10241 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10242 considered to contain just a single part.
10244 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10245 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10246 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10247 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10248 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10249 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10250 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10252 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10253 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10254 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10255 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10258 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10259 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10261 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10263 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10264 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10265 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10266 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10267 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10268 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10269 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10270 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10271 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10273 @xref{Article Washing}.
10275 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10276 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10277 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10278 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10279 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10280 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10281 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10283 @xref{Article Date}.
10285 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10286 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10287 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10291 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10293 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10295 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10296 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10297 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10301 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10305 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10306 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10307 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10308 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10309 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10310 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10311 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10312 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10314 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10316 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10317 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10318 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10320 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10322 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10323 @item gnus-treat-translate
10324 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10326 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10327 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10328 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10334 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10335 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10336 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10337 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10338 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10342 @node Article Keymap
10343 @section Article Keymap
10345 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10346 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10347 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10348 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10351 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10356 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10357 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10358 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10361 @kindex DEL (Article)
10362 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10363 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10366 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10367 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10368 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10369 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10370 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10373 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10374 @findex gnus-article-mail
10375 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10376 given a prefix, include the mail.
10379 @kindex s (Article)
10380 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10381 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10382 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10385 @kindex ? (Article)
10386 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10387 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10388 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10391 @kindex TAB (Article)
10392 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10393 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10394 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10397 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10398 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10399 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10405 @section Misc Article
10409 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10410 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10411 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10412 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10415 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10416 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10418 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10419 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10421 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10422 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10423 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10424 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10425 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10426 the contents of the article buffer.
10428 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10429 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10430 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10432 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10433 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10434 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10435 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10437 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10438 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10439 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10440 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10441 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10447 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10448 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10449 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10454 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10457 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10460 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10461 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10462 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10465 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10468 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10471 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10476 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10480 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10482 @item gnus-break-pages
10483 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10484 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10485 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10486 paging will not be done.
10488 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10489 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10490 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10495 @node Composing Messages
10496 @chapter Composing Messages
10497 @cindex composing messages
10500 @cindex sending mail
10505 @cindex using s/mime
10506 @cindex using smime
10508 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10509 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10510 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10511 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10512 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10513 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10516 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10517 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
10518 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10519 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10520 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10521 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10522 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10523 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10526 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10527 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10533 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10536 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10537 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10538 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10539 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
10541 @item gnus-add-to-list
10542 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10543 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10544 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10549 @node Posting Server
10550 @section Posting Server
10552 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
10553 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
10555 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
10557 @vindex gnus-post-method
10559 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will post using the same
10560 select method as you're reading from (which might be convenient if
10561 you're reading lots of groups from different private servers).
10562 However. If the server you're reading from doesn't allow posting,
10563 just reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
10564 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
10565 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
10568 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
10571 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
10572 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
10573 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
10574 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
10576 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
10577 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
10579 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
10580 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
10583 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
10584 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
10587 @node Mail and Post
10588 @section Mail and Post
10590 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
10594 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
10595 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
10596 @cindex mailing lists
10598 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
10599 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
10600 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
10601 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
10602 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
10603 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
10604 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
10605 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
10606 still a pain, though.
10610 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
10611 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
10612 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
10615 @findex ispell-message
10617 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
10620 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
10621 you're in, you could say something like the following:
10624 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
10628 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
10629 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
10631 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
10634 Modify to suit your needs.
10637 @node Archived Messages
10638 @section Archived Messages
10639 @cindex archived messages
10640 @cindex sent messages
10642 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
10643 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
10644 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
10645 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
10648 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
10649 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
10650 use to store sent messages. The default is:
10653 (nnfolder "archive"
10654 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
10655 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
10656 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
10657 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
10660 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
10661 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
10662 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
10663 directory chosen, you could say something like:
10666 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
10667 '(nnfolder "archive"
10668 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
10669 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
10670 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
10673 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
10675 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
10676 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
10677 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
10679 This variable can be used to do the following:
10684 Messages will be saved in that group.
10686 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
10687 message will not be stored in the select method given by
10688 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
10689 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
10690 has the default value shown above. Then setting
10691 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
10692 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
10693 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
10697 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
10699 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
10700 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
10703 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
10708 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
10710 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
10713 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
10715 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
10718 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
10720 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10721 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
10722 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
10723 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
10726 More complex stuff:
10728 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10729 '((if (message-news-p)
10734 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
10735 messages in one file per month:
10738 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10739 '((if (message-news-p)
10741 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
10744 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
10745 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
10747 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
10748 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
10749 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
10750 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
10751 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
10752 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
10753 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
10754 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
10755 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
10756 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
10758 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
10759 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
10760 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
10761 this will disable archiving.
10764 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
10765 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
10766 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
10767 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
10768 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
10771 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
10772 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
10773 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
10776 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
10777 but the latter is the preferred method.
10779 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
10780 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
10781 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
10786 @node Posting Styles
10787 @section Posting Styles
10788 @cindex posting styles
10791 All them variables, they make my head swim.
10793 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
10794 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
10795 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
10798 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
10799 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
10800 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
10801 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
10802 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
10807 (signature "Peace and happiness")
10808 (organization "What me?"))
10810 (signature "Death to everybody"))
10811 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
10812 (organization "Emacs is it")))
10815 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
10816 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
10817 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
10818 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
10819 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
10820 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
10821 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
10822 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
10824 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
10825 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
10826 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header (the
10827 next element in the match) in the original article , and compare that to
10828 the last regexp in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function
10829 will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the
10830 variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be
10831 @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value,
10832 then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
10834 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
10835 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
10836 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
10837 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
10838 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
10839 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
10840 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
10841 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
10842 result is thrown away.
10844 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
10845 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
10846 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
10847 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
10848 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
10849 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
10851 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
10852 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
10853 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
10855 @findex message-mail-p
10856 @findex message-news-p
10858 So here's a new example:
10861 (setq gnus-posting-styles
10863 (signature-file "~/.signature")
10865 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
10866 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
10868 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
10869 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
10870 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
10872 (signature my-news-signature))
10873 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
10874 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
10875 ((posting-from-work-p)
10876 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
10877 (address "user@@bar.foo")
10878 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
10879 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
10881 (From (save-excursion
10882 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
10883 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
10885 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
10888 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
10889 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
10890 if you fill many roles.
10897 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
10898 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
10899 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
10900 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
10901 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
10903 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
10904 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
10905 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
10906 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
10907 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
10911 @vindex nndraft-directory
10912 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
10913 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
10914 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
10915 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
10916 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
10917 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
10919 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
10920 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10923 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10924 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10925 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10926 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10927 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10928 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10929 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10930 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10931 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10932 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10933 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10934 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10935 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10936 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10938 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10939 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10940 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10942 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10943 @kindex D e (Draft)
10944 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10945 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10946 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10948 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10951 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10952 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10953 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10954 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10955 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10956 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10957 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10960 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10961 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10962 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10965 @node Rejected Articles
10966 @section Rejected Articles
10967 @cindex rejected articles
10969 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10970 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10971 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10972 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10974 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
10975 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10976 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10977 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
10978 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10980 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10981 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10982 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10984 @node Signing and encrypting
10985 @section Signing and encrypting
10987 @cindex using s/mime
10988 @cindex using smime
10990 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
10991 format or PGP/MIME or S/MIME. For decoding such messages, see the
10992 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
10993 (@pxref{Security}).
10995 For PGP, Gnus supports two external libraries, @sc{gpg.el} and
10996 @sc{Mailcrypt}, you need to install at least one of them. The S/MIME
10997 support in Gnus requires the external program OpenSSL.
10999 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a MIME part is done
11000 using the @code{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @code{C-c C-m
11001 c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11006 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11007 @findex mml-secure-sign-smime
11009 Digitally sign current MIME part using S/MIME.
11012 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11013 @findex mml-secure-sign-pgp
11015 Digitally sign current MIME part using PGP.
11018 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11019 @findex mml-secure-sign-pgp
11021 Digitally sign current MIME part using PGP/MIME.
11024 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11025 @findex mml-secure-encrypt-smime
11027 Digitally encrypt current MIME part using S/MIME.
11030 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11031 @findex mml-secure-encrypt-pgp
11033 Digitally encrypt current MIME part using PGP.
11036 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11037 @findex mml-secure-encrypt-pgpmime
11039 Digitally encrypt current MIME part using PGP/MIME.
11043 Also @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}.
11045 @node Select Methods
11046 @chapter Select Methods
11047 @cindex foreign groups
11048 @cindex select methods
11050 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11051 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11052 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11053 personal mail group.
11055 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11056 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11057 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11058 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11059 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11060 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11062 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11063 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11065 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11068 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11069 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11070 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11071 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11072 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11074 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11077 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11078 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11079 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11080 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11081 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11082 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11083 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11084 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11088 @node Server Buffer
11089 @section Server Buffer
11091 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11092 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11093 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11094 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11095 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11096 back end represents a virtual server.
11098 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11099 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11100 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11101 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11103 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11104 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11105 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11106 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11107 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11108 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11109 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11111 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11112 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11115 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11116 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11117 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11118 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11119 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11120 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11121 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11124 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11125 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11128 @node Server Buffer Format
11129 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11130 @cindex server buffer format
11132 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11133 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11134 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11135 variable, with some simple extensions:
11140 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11143 The name of this server.
11146 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11149 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11152 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11153 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11154 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11155 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11165 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11168 @node Server Commands
11169 @subsection Server Commands
11170 @cindex server commands
11176 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11177 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11181 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11182 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11185 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11186 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11187 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11191 @findex gnus-server-exit
11192 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11196 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11197 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11201 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11202 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11206 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11207 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11211 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11212 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11216 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11217 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11218 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11223 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11224 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11225 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11226 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11231 @node Example Methods
11232 @subsection Example Methods
11234 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11237 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11240 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11246 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11247 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11250 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11251 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11253 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11254 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11258 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11261 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11262 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11264 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11265 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11266 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11270 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11273 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11276 Here's the method for a public spool:
11280 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11281 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11287 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11288 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11289 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11290 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11291 should probably look something like this:
11295 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11296 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11297 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11298 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11301 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11302 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11303 configuration to the example above:
11306 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11309 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11310 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11311 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11315 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11316 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11317 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11318 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11321 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11322 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11323 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11324 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11327 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11328 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11330 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11331 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11333 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11334 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11335 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11337 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11339 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11340 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11341 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11342 will contain the following:
11352 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11353 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11354 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11357 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11358 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11359 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11362 @node Server Variables
11363 @subsection Server Variables
11365 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11366 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11367 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11368 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11369 won't change the "derived" variables.
11371 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11372 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11373 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11374 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11375 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11376 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11377 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11378 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11379 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11383 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11384 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11385 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11389 @node Servers and Methods
11390 @subsection Servers and Methods
11392 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11393 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11394 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11395 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11399 @node Unavailable Servers
11400 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11402 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11403 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11404 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11405 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11406 actually the case or not.
11408 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11409 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11410 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11411 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11412 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11413 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11414 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11415 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11417 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11418 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11420 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11421 with the following commands:
11427 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11428 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11429 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11433 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11434 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11435 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11439 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11440 Mark the current server as unreachable
11441 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11444 @kindex M-o (Server)
11445 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
11446 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
11447 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
11450 @kindex M-c (Server)
11451 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
11452 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
11453 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
11457 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
11458 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
11459 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
11465 @section Getting News
11466 @cindex reading news
11467 @cindex news back ends
11469 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
11470 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
11471 or it can read from a local spool.
11474 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
11475 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
11480 @subsection @sc{nntp}
11483 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
11484 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
11485 server as the, uhm, address.
11487 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
11488 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
11489 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
11490 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11492 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
11493 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
11494 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
11496 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
11501 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
11502 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
11503 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
11505 @cindex authentification
11506 @cindex nntp authentification
11507 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11508 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
11509 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
11510 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
11511 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
11512 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
11513 present in this hook.
11515 @item nntp-authinfo-function
11516 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
11517 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11518 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
11519 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
11520 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
11521 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
11522 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
11523 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
11524 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
11525 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
11526 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
11530 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
11533 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
11535 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
11536 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
11537 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
11538 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
11539 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
11540 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
11541 @samp{force} is explained below.
11545 Here's an example file:
11548 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
11549 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
11552 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
11553 have to be first, for instance.
11555 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
11556 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
11557 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
11558 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
11559 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
11560 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
11561 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
11563 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
11564 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
11570 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
11571 previously mentioned.
11573 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
11575 @item nntp-server-action-alist
11576 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
11577 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
11578 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
11579 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
11582 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
11583 '(("innd" (ding))))
11586 You probably don't want to do that, though.
11588 The default value is
11591 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
11592 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
11593 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
11596 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
11597 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
11599 @item nntp-maximum-request
11600 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
11601 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
11602 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
11603 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
11604 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
11605 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
11606 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
11608 @item nntp-connection-timeout
11609 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
11610 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
11611 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
11612 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
11613 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
11614 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
11615 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
11616 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
11617 no timeouts are done.
11619 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
11620 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
11621 @c @cindex PPP connections
11622 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
11623 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
11624 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
11625 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
11626 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
11627 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
11628 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
11629 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
11630 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
11631 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
11633 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
11634 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
11635 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
11636 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
11637 @c described above.
11639 @item nntp-server-hook
11640 @vindex nntp-server-hook
11641 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
11644 @item nntp-buggy-select
11645 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
11646 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
11648 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
11649 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
11650 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
11651 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
11654 @item nntp-xover-commands
11655 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
11658 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
11659 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
11663 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
11664 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
11665 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
11666 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
11667 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
11668 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
11669 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
11670 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
11671 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
11672 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
11673 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
11675 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
11676 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
11677 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
11679 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11680 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11681 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
11682 server closes connection.
11684 @item nntp-record-commands
11685 @vindex nntp-record-commands
11686 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
11687 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
11688 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
11689 that doesn't seem to work.
11691 @item nntp-open-connection-function
11692 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
11693 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
11694 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
11695 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
11696 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
11697 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
11698 indirect ones (two pre-made).
11700 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
11701 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
11702 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
11703 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
11704 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
11705 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
11706 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
11709 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
11712 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
11713 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
11717 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
11718 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
11719 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
11723 @node Direct Functions
11724 @subsubsection Direct Functions
11725 @cindex direct connection functions
11727 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
11728 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
11729 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
11730 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
11733 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
11734 @item nntp-open-network-stream
11735 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
11738 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
11739 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
11740 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
11741 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
11742 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
11743 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
11744 define a server as follows:
11747 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
11749 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
11751 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
11752 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
11753 (nntp-port-number "snews")
11754 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
11757 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
11758 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
11759 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
11760 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
11761 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
11762 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
11763 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
11764 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
11768 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11769 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
11770 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
11773 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
11774 session, which is not a good idea.
11778 @node Indirect Functions
11779 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
11780 @cindex indirect connection functions
11782 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
11783 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
11784 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
11785 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
11786 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
11787 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
11790 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
11791 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
11792 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
11793 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
11794 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
11796 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
11799 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
11800 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
11801 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
11802 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
11805 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
11806 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
11807 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
11808 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
11810 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
11813 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
11814 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
11815 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
11818 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
11819 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
11820 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
11821 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
11823 @item nntp-via-user-password
11824 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
11825 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
11827 @item nntp-via-envuser
11828 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
11829 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
11830 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
11831 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
11833 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
11834 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
11835 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
11836 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
11843 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
11848 @item nntp-via-user-name
11849 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
11850 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
11852 @item nntp-via-address
11853 @vindex nntp-via-address
11854 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
11859 @node Common Variables
11860 @subsubsection Common Variables
11862 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
11863 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
11868 @item nntp-pre-command
11869 @vindex nntp-pre-command
11870 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
11871 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
11872 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
11873 wrapper for instance.
11876 @vindex nntp-address
11877 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
11879 @item nntp-port-number
11880 @vindex nntp-port-number
11881 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
11883 @item nntp-end-of-line
11884 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
11885 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
11886 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
11887 using a non native connection function.
11889 @item nntp-telnet-command
11890 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
11891 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
11892 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
11893 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
11895 @item nntp-telnet-switches
11896 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
11897 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
11904 @subsection News Spool
11908 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
11909 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
11910 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
11913 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
11914 anything else) as the address.
11916 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
11917 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
11918 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
11919 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
11923 @item nnspool-inews-program
11924 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
11925 Program used to post an article.
11927 @item nnspool-inews-switches
11928 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
11929 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
11931 @item nnspool-spool-directory
11932 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
11933 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
11934 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
11936 @item nnspool-nov-directory
11937 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
11938 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
11939 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
11941 @item nnspool-lib-dir
11942 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
11943 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
11945 @item nnspool-active-file
11946 @vindex nnspool-active-file
11947 The path to the active file.
11949 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
11950 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
11951 The path to the group descriptions file.
11953 @item nnspool-history-file
11954 @vindex nnspool-history-file
11955 The path to the news history file.
11957 @item nnspool-active-times-file
11958 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
11959 The path to the active date file.
11961 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
11962 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
11963 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
11966 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11967 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11969 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
11970 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
11971 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
11977 @section Getting Mail
11978 @cindex reading mail
11981 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
11985 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
11986 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
11987 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
11988 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
11989 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
11990 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
11991 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
11992 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
11993 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
11994 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
11995 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11996 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
11997 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12001 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12002 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12004 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12005 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12006 of a culture shock.
12008 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12009 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12011 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12012 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12013 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12014 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12016 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12018 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12019 deleted? How awful!
12021 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12022 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12023 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12024 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12027 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12028 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12029 they want to treat a message.
12031 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12032 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12033 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12034 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12035 archived somewhere else.
12037 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12038 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12039 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12040 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12041 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12043 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12044 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12045 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12047 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12048 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12051 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12052 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12053 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12054 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12055 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12057 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12058 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12059 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12060 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12061 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12062 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12066 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12067 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12069 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12070 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12071 and things will happen automatically.
12073 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12074 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
12077 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12080 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12081 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12082 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12083 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12084 like any other group.
12086 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12089 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12090 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12091 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12095 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12096 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12097 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12100 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12101 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12102 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12105 @node Splitting Mail
12106 @subsection Splitting Mail
12107 @cindex splitting mail
12108 @cindex mail splitting
12110 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12111 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12112 to be split into groups.
12115 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12116 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12117 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12118 ("mail.other" "")))
12121 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12122 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12123 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12124 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12125 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12126 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12127 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12130 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12133 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12134 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12135 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12136 mail belongs in that group.
12138 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12139 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12140 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12141 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12142 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12143 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12145 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12146 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12147 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12148 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12149 thinks should carry this mail message.
12151 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12152 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12153 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12154 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12156 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12157 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12158 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12159 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12160 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12162 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12165 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12166 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12167 links. If that's the case for you, set
12168 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12169 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12171 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12172 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12173 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12174 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12175 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12176 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12179 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12180 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12181 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12182 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12183 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12184 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12185 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12186 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12187 month's rent money.
12191 @subsection Mail Sources
12193 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12194 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12198 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12199 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12200 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12204 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12205 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12207 @cindex mail server
12210 @cindex mail source
12212 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12213 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12218 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12221 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12222 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12223 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12226 The following mail source types are available:
12230 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12236 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12237 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
12240 An example file mail source:
12243 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12246 Or using the default path:
12252 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12253 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12254 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12257 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12261 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12264 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12268 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12271 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12273 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12276 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12280 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
12281 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
12282 That is, mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in the
12283 group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12284 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12285 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus
12286 to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you
12287 want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12293 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12297 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12301 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12302 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12303 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12304 predicate are considered.
12308 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12312 An example directory mail source:
12315 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12320 Get mail from a POP server.
12326 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12327 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12330 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12331 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12332 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12333 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12334 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12337 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12341 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12345 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12346 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12349 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12352 The valid format specifier characters are:
12356 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12357 included in this string.
12360 The name of the server.
12363 The port number of the server.
12366 The user name to use.
12369 The password to use.
12372 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12373 corresponding keywords.
12376 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12377 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12380 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12381 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12384 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
12385 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
12388 @item :authentication
12389 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
12390 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
12395 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
12396 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
12398 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
12399 default user name, and default fetcher:
12405 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
12408 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
12409 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
12412 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
12415 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
12419 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
12420 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
12421 contains exactly one mail.
12427 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
12428 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
12431 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
12432 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
12434 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
12435 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
12436 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
12439 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
12440 from locking problems).
12444 Two example maildir mail sources:
12447 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
12448 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
12452 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
12457 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
12458 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
12459 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
12460 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
12463 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
12464 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
12470 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
12471 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12474 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
12475 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
12478 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
12482 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
12486 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
12487 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
12488 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
12489 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
12491 @item :authentication
12492 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
12493 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
12494 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
12495 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
12498 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
12499 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
12500 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
12506 The valid format specifier characters are:
12510 The name of the server.
12513 User name from `imap-default-user'.
12516 The port number of the server.
12519 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12520 corresponding keywords.
12523 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
12524 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
12527 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
12528 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
12529 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
12530 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
12531 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
12532 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
12535 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
12536 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
12537 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
12538 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
12541 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
12542 after finishing the fetch.
12546 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
12549 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
12551 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
12555 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
12556 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
12558 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
12561 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
12562 required for url "4.0pre.46".
12564 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
12570 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
12571 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
12574 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
12578 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
12582 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
12583 folder after finishing the fetch.
12587 An example webmail source:
12590 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
12592 :password "secret")
12597 @item Common Keywords
12598 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
12604 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
12605 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
12609 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
12614 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
12615 useful when you use local mail and news.
12620 @subsubsection Function Interface
12622 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
12623 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
12624 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
12625 consider the following mail-source setting:
12628 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
12629 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
12632 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
12633 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
12634 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
12635 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
12636 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
12638 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
12641 @node Mail Source Customization
12642 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
12644 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
12645 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
12649 @item mail-source-crash-box
12650 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
12651 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
12652 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
12654 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
12655 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
12656 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
12658 @item mail-source-directory
12659 @vindex mail-source-directory
12660 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
12661 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
12662 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
12665 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
12666 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
12667 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
12668 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
12669 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
12670 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
12672 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
12673 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
12674 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
12676 @item mail-source-movemail-program
12677 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
12678 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
12679 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
12684 @node Fetching Mail
12685 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
12687 @vindex mail-sources
12688 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
12689 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
12690 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
12691 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
12693 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
12694 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
12697 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
12698 mail server, you'd say something like:
12703 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12704 :password "secret")))
12707 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
12711 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
12712 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12715 :password "secret")))
12719 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
12720 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
12721 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
12722 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
12723 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
12724 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
12728 @node Mail Back End Variables
12729 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
12731 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
12735 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
12736 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
12737 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
12738 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
12740 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
12741 @item nnmail-split-hook
12742 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
12743 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
12744 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
12745 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
12746 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
12747 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
12748 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
12749 in the buffer will show up in any files.
12750 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
12753 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
12754 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
12755 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
12756 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
12757 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
12758 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
12759 starting to handle the new mail) and
12760 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
12761 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
12762 default file modes the new mail files get:
12765 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
12766 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
12768 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
12769 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
12772 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
12773 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
12774 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
12775 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
12776 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
12777 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
12778 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
12780 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
12781 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
12782 @findex delete-file
12783 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
12785 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12786 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12787 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
12788 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
12789 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
12794 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
12795 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
12796 @cindex mail splitting
12797 @cindex fancy mail splitting
12799 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
12800 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
12801 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
12802 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
12803 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
12804 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
12806 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
12809 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
12810 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
12811 ;; from real errors.
12812 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
12814 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
12815 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
12816 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
12817 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
12818 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
12819 ;; Other mailing lists...
12820 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
12821 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
12822 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
12823 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
12824 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
12825 ;; message was really cross-posted.
12826 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
12827 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
12829 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
12830 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
12834 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
12835 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
12836 the five possible split syntaxes:
12841 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
12842 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
12846 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
12847 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
12848 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
12849 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
12850 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
12851 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
12852 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
12853 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
12856 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
12857 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
12858 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
12859 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
12862 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
12863 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
12866 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
12867 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
12870 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
12871 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
12872 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
12873 function should return a @var{split}.
12876 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
12877 body of the messages:
12880 (defun split-on-body ()
12882 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
12883 (goto-char (point-min))
12884 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
12888 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
12889 when the @code{:} function is run.
12892 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
12893 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
12894 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
12898 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
12902 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
12903 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
12904 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
12905 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
12906 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
12908 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
12909 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
12910 are expanded as specified by the variable
12911 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
12912 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
12915 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
12916 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
12917 when all this splitting is performed.
12919 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
12920 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
12921 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
12924 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
12927 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
12928 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
12930 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
12931 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
12932 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
12933 groupings 1 through 9.
12935 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
12936 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
12937 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
12938 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
12939 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
12940 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
12941 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
12942 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
12943 it once per thread.
12945 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
12946 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
12947 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
12950 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12951 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
12952 ;; other splits go here
12956 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
12957 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
12958 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
12959 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
12960 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
12961 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
12962 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
12963 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
12964 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
12965 unless the group name matches the regexp
12966 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
12967 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
12968 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
12969 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
12970 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12971 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
12972 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
12973 messages goes into the new group.
12976 @node Group Mail Splitting
12977 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
12978 @cindex mail splitting
12979 @cindex group mail splitting
12981 @findex gnus-group-split
12982 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
12983 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
12984 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
12985 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
12986 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
12987 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
12988 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
12989 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
12991 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
12992 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
12993 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
12994 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
12996 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
12997 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
12998 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
12999 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13000 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13001 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13002 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13004 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13005 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13006 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13007 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13008 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13009 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13010 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13012 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13013 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13014 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13015 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13016 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13017 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13018 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13019 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13020 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13021 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13022 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13023 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13024 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13026 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13031 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13032 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13034 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13035 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13036 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13037 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13039 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13042 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13043 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13044 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13047 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13048 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13049 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13053 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13054 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13055 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13059 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13062 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13063 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13064 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13065 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13066 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13067 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13068 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13069 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13070 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13072 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13073 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13074 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13075 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13076 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13077 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13078 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13079 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13080 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13082 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13083 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13084 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13085 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13086 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13087 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
13090 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13093 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13094 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13095 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13096 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13097 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13100 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13101 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13102 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13103 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13105 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13106 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13107 @cindex incorporating old mail
13108 @cindex import old mail
13110 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13111 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13112 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13115 Doing so can be quite easy.
13117 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13118 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13119 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13120 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13121 your @code{nnml} groups.
13127 Go to the group buffer.
13130 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13131 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13134 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
13137 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13138 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13141 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13142 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13145 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13146 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13147 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13148 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13149 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13151 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13152 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13153 using the new mail back end.
13156 @node Expiring Mail
13157 @subsection Expiring Mail
13158 @cindex article expiry
13160 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13161 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13162 different approach to mail reading.
13164 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13165 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13166 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13167 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13168 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13169 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13172 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13173 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
13174 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13175 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13176 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13177 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13178 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13179 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13181 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13182 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
13183 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
13184 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
13185 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
13186 column in the summary buffer.
13188 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13189 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13190 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13191 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13194 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13196 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13197 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13198 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13201 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13202 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13203 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13204 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13205 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13207 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13208 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13211 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13212 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13215 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13216 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13218 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13219 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13220 don't really mix very well.
13222 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13223 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13224 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13225 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13228 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13229 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13230 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13231 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13234 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13236 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13238 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13240 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13242 ((string= group "important")
13248 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13249 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13251 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13252 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13253 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13256 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13257 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13259 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13260 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13261 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13262 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13263 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13264 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13265 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13266 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13267 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13268 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13269 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13270 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13271 name or @code{delete}.
13273 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13275 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13278 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13279 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13280 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13281 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13282 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13285 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13286 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13287 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13288 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13289 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13292 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13293 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13294 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13295 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13296 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13297 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13299 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13300 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13301 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13302 easier for procmail users.
13304 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13305 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13306 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13307 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13308 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13309 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13310 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13311 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13312 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13313 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13314 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13315 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13316 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13319 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13321 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13322 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13323 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13324 auto-expire turned on.
13328 @subsection Washing Mail
13329 @cindex mail washing
13330 @cindex list server brain damage
13331 @cindex incoming mail treatment
13333 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
13334 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
13335 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
13336 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
13337 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
13338 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
13340 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
13341 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
13342 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
13345 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
13346 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
13347 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
13348 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
13351 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13352 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13353 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
13354 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
13355 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
13358 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13359 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13360 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
13361 Emacs running on MS machines.
13365 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13366 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13367 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
13368 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
13371 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13372 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13373 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
13374 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
13376 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13377 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13378 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
13379 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
13380 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
13381 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
13382 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
13385 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
13386 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
13389 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
13390 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
13393 This can also be done non-destructively with
13394 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
13396 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
13397 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
13398 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
13400 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13401 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13403 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
13404 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
13405 @code{References} headers.
13409 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13410 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13411 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
13415 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
13416 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
13417 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
13424 @subsection Duplicates
13426 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
13427 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
13428 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
13429 @cindex duplicate mails
13430 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
13431 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
13432 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
13433 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
13434 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
13435 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
13436 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
13437 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
13438 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
13439 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
13440 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
13441 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
13442 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
13444 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
13445 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
13446 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
13447 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
13449 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
13452 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
13453 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
13457 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
13458 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
13459 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
13460 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
13461 (any mail "mail.misc")
13468 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13469 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
13474 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
13475 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
13476 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
13477 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
13478 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
13481 @node Not Reading Mail
13482 @subsection Not Reading Mail
13484 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
13485 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
13486 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
13488 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
13489 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
13490 mail, which should help.
13492 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13493 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
13494 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
13495 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
13496 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
13497 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
13498 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
13499 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
13500 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
13501 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
13502 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
13504 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
13505 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
13509 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
13510 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
13512 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
13513 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
13514 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
13516 There are five different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
13517 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
13518 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
13519 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
13522 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
13523 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
13524 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
13525 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
13526 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
13527 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
13531 @node Unix Mail Box
13532 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
13534 @cindex unix mail box
13536 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
13537 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
13538 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
13539 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
13540 which group it belongs in.
13542 Virtual server settings:
13545 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
13546 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
13547 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
13550 @item nnmbox-active-file
13551 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
13552 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
13553 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
13555 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
13556 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
13557 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
13558 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
13563 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
13567 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
13568 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
13569 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
13570 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
13571 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
13573 Virtual server settings:
13576 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
13577 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
13578 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
13580 @item nnbabyl-active-file
13581 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
13582 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
13583 @file{~/.rmail-active}
13585 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13586 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13587 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
13593 @subsubsection Mail Spool
13595 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
13597 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
13598 format. It should be used with some caution.
13600 @vindex nnml-directory
13601 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
13602 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
13603 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
13604 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
13606 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
13609 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
13610 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
13611 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
13612 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
13613 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
13614 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
13615 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
13616 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
13618 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
13619 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
13620 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
13621 back end when it comes to reading mail.
13623 @cindex self contained nnml servers
13624 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
13625 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
13626 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
13627 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
13628 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
13629 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
13630 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
13631 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
13634 Virtual server settings:
13637 @item nnml-directory
13638 @vindex nnml-directory
13639 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
13640 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
13643 @item nnml-active-file
13644 @vindex nnml-active-file
13645 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
13646 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
13648 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
13649 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
13650 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
13651 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
13653 @item nnml-get-new-mail
13654 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
13655 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
13658 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
13659 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
13660 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
13661 default is @code{nil}.
13663 @item nnml-nov-file-name
13664 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
13665 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
13667 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
13668 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
13669 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
13671 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
13672 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
13673 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
13674 default is @code{nil}.
13676 @item nnml-marks-file-name
13677 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
13678 The name of the @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
13682 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
13683 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
13684 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
13685 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
13686 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
13687 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
13688 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
13693 @subsubsection MH Spool
13695 @cindex mh-e mail spool
13697 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
13698 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
13699 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
13700 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
13702 Virtual server settings:
13705 @item nnmh-directory
13706 @vindex nnmh-directory
13707 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
13708 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
13711 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
13712 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
13713 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
13717 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
13718 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
13719 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
13720 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
13721 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
13722 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
13723 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
13728 @subsubsection Mail Folders
13730 @cindex mbox folders
13731 @cindex mail folders
13733 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
13734 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
13735 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
13738 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
13739 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
13740 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
13741 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
13742 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
13743 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
13744 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
13745 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
13746 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
13747 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
13748 @code{nnfolder} directory).
13750 Virtual server settings:
13753 @item nnfolder-directory
13754 @vindex nnfolder-directory
13755 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
13756 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
13759 @item nnfolder-active-file
13760 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
13761 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
13763 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
13764 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
13765 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
13766 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
13768 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
13769 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
13770 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
13773 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
13774 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
13775 @cindex backup files
13776 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
13777 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
13778 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
13779 your @file{.emacs} file:
13782 (defun turn-off-backup ()
13783 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
13785 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
13788 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
13789 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
13790 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
13791 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
13792 extract some information from it before removing it.
13794 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
13795 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
13796 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
13797 default is @code{nil}.
13799 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
13800 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
13801 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
13803 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
13804 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
13805 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
13806 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
13808 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
13809 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
13810 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
13811 default is @code{nil}.
13813 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
13814 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
13815 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
13817 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
13818 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
13819 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
13820 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
13825 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
13826 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
13827 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
13828 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
13829 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
13830 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
13833 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
13834 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
13836 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
13837 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
13838 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
13839 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
13840 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
13842 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
13843 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
13844 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
13845 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
13846 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
13847 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
13848 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
13849 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
13852 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
13853 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
13854 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
13855 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
13860 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
13861 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
13862 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
13863 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
13864 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
13865 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
13866 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
13867 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
13868 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
13869 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
13870 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
13871 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
13872 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
13877 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
13878 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
13879 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
13880 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
13881 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
13882 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
13883 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
13884 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
13885 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
13886 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
13887 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
13888 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
13889 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
13890 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
13892 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
13893 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
13898 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
13899 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
13900 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
13901 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
13902 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
13903 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
13904 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
13905 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
13906 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
13907 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
13908 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
13909 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
13910 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
13911 provided by the active file and overviews.
13913 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
13914 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
13915 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
13916 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
13917 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
13920 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
13921 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
13926 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
13927 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
13928 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
13929 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
13930 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
13931 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
13932 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
13936 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
13937 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
13938 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
13939 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
13940 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
13941 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
13942 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
13943 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
13944 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
13946 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
13947 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
13948 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
13949 friendly mail back end all over.
13954 @node Browsing the Web
13955 @section Browsing the Web
13957 @cindex browsing the web
13961 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
13962 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
13963 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
13964 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
13965 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
13966 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
13967 even know what a news group is.
13969 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
13970 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
13971 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
13972 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
13973 you mad in the end.
13975 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
13978 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
13979 interfaces to these sources.
13983 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
13984 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
13985 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
13986 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
13987 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
13988 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
13991 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
13993 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
13994 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
13995 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
13996 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
13997 though, you should be ok.
13999 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14000 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14001 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14002 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14003 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14005 @node Archiving Mail
14006 @subsection Archiving Mail
14007 @cindex archiving mail
14008 @cindex backup of mail
14010 Some of the back ends, notably nnml and nnfolder, now actually store
14011 the article marks with each group. For these servers, archiving and
14012 restoring a group while preserving marks is fairly simple.
14014 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14015 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @code{.newsrc.eld} deity
14018 To archive an entire @code{nnml} or @code{nnfolder} server, take a
14019 recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need to shut down
14020 Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or similar. You
14021 restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and adding a server
14022 definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The @ref{Article
14023 Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things might interfer
14024 with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus before you
14027 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml} or
14028 @code{nnfolder} groups, while preserving marks. For @code{nnml}, you
14029 copy all files in the group's directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need
14030 to copy both the base folder file itself (@code{FOO}, say), and the
14031 marks file (@code{FOO.mrk} in this example). Restoring the group is
14032 done with @kbd{G m} from the Group buffer. The last step makes Gnus
14033 notice the new directory.
14036 @subsection Web Searches
14040 @cindex InReference
14041 @cindex Usenet searches
14042 @cindex searching the Usenet
14044 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14045 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14046 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14047 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14048 searches without having to use a browser.
14050 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14051 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14052 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14053 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14054 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14056 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14057 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14058 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14059 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14060 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14061 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14062 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14063 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14064 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14065 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14068 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14069 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14070 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14071 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14072 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14073 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14075 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14076 to use @code{nnweb}.
14078 Virtual server variables:
14083 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14084 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
14088 @vindex nnweb-search
14089 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14091 @item nnweb-max-hits
14092 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14093 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14096 @item nnweb-type-definition
14097 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14098 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14099 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14104 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14108 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14111 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14114 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14118 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14125 @subsection Slashdot
14129 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14130 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14131 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14133 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14134 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14137 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14138 '((nnslashdot "")))
14141 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14142 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14143 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14144 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14145 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14148 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14149 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14151 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14152 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14153 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14154 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14155 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14156 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14159 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14162 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14163 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14164 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14165 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14166 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14167 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14168 but much, much slower than untreaded.
14170 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14171 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14172 The login name to use when posting.
14174 @item nnslashdot-password
14175 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14176 The password to use when posting.
14178 @item nnslashdot-directory
14179 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14180 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14181 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14183 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14184 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14185 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14186 news articles and comments. The default is
14187 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14189 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14190 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14191 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14193 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14195 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14196 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14197 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14199 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14201 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14202 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14203 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14205 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14206 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14207 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14208 updated. The default is 0.
14215 @subsection Ultimate
14217 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14219 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14220 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14221 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14222 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14224 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14225 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14226 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14227 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14228 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14229 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14230 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14232 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14235 @item nnultimate-directory
14236 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14237 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14238 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14243 @subsection Web Archive
14245 @cindex Web Archive
14247 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14248 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14249 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14250 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14253 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
14254 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
14255 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
14256 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
14257 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
14258 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
14259 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
14261 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
14264 @item nnwarchive-directory
14265 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
14266 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
14267 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
14269 @item nnwarchive-login
14270 @vindex nnwarchive-login
14271 The account name on the web server.
14273 @item nnwarchive-passwd
14274 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
14275 The password for your account on the web server.
14283 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
14284 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
14285 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14288 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
14289 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
14292 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
14295 @item nnrss-directory
14296 @vindex nnrss-directory
14297 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
14298 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
14302 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
14303 the summary buffer.
14306 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
14307 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
14309 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
14311 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
14312 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
14315 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
14318 (require 'browse-url)
14320 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
14322 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
14325 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
14326 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
14328 (browse-url (cdr url))
14329 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
14331 (eval-after-load "gnus"
14332 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
14333 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
14334 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
14337 @node Customizing w3
14338 @subsection Customizing w3
14344 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
14345 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
14346 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
14348 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
14349 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
14350 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
14353 (eval-after-load "w3"
14355 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
14356 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
14357 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
14358 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
14360 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
14363 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
14364 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
14373 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
14374 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
14375 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
14376 specify the network address of the server.
14378 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
14379 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
14380 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
14381 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
14382 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
14384 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
14385 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
14386 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
14387 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
14389 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
14390 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
14391 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
14392 usage explained in this section.
14394 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
14395 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
14396 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
14399 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14400 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
14401 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
14403 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14404 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
14405 ; a UW server running on localhost
14407 (nnimap-server-port 143)
14408 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14409 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
14410 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
14411 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
14412 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
14413 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
14414 (nnimap-stream network))
14415 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
14417 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
14418 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
14419 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
14422 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
14427 @item nnimap-address
14428 @vindex nnimap-address
14430 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
14431 server name if not specified.
14433 @item nnimap-server-port
14434 @vindex nnimap-server-port
14435 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
14437 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
14440 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14441 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
14444 @item nnimap-list-pattern
14445 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
14446 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
14447 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
14448 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
14449 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
14450 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
14452 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
14453 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
14454 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
14457 Example server specification:
14460 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14461 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
14462 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
14465 @item nnimap-stream
14466 @vindex nnimap-stream
14467 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
14468 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
14469 of SSL/TLS. (IMAP over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
14470 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
14472 Example server specification:
14475 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14476 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14479 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
14483 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
14484 @samp{imtest} program.
14486 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
14488 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
14489 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
14492 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
14493 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
14494 library @samp{ssl.el}.
14496 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
14498 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
14501 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
14502 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
14503 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
14504 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
14505 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
14506 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
14507 restrictions on IMAP commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
14508 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
14509 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
14512 @vindex imap-ssl-program
14513 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
14514 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
14515 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
14516 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
14517 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
14518 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
14519 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
14520 distribution, for instance).
14522 @vindex imap-shell-program
14523 @vindex imap-shell-host
14524 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14525 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14527 @item nnimap-authenticator
14528 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14530 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14531 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14533 Example server specification:
14536 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14537 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14540 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14544 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
14545 external program @code{imtest}.
14547 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
14550 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
14551 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14553 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14555 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14557 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14560 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14562 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14563 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14564 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14565 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14566 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14567 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14570 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14571 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14572 running in circles yet?
14574 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14575 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14578 The possible options are:
14583 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14586 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14587 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14588 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14589 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14591 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14596 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
14597 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
14599 If non-nil, marks dormant articles as ticked (as well), for other IMAP
14600 clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will naturally still (only) be
14601 marked as ticked. This is to make dormant articles stand out, just
14602 like ticked articles, in other IMAP clients. (In other words, Gnus has
14603 two ``Tick'' marks and IMAP has only one.)
14605 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
14606 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
14609 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
14610 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
14611 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
14612 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
14615 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
14616 as ticked for other users.
14618 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
14620 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
14622 This variable contain the IMAP search command sent to server when
14623 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
14624 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
14625 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
14627 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
14628 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
14629 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
14630 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
14632 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14633 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14635 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14636 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14637 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14643 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14644 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14645 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14650 @node Splitting in IMAP
14651 @subsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14652 @cindex splitting imap mail
14654 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14655 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14656 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14657 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14658 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14662 Here are the variables of interest:
14666 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14667 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14669 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14671 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14672 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14674 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14676 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14677 @cindex splitting, inbox
14679 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14681 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14682 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14686 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14687 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14690 No nnmail equivalent.
14692 @item nnimap-split-rule
14693 @cindex Splitting, rules
14694 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14696 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14699 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14700 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14701 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14702 Neither did I, we need examples.
14705 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14707 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14708 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14709 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14712 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14713 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14714 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
14716 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14717 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14721 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14724 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14725 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14726 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14727 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14729 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14730 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14731 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14732 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
14733 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14734 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14736 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14737 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14738 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14740 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14741 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14742 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14744 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
14746 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14747 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14748 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14751 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14752 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14753 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14754 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14755 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14756 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14759 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14760 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14761 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14762 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14763 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14764 group/function elements.
14766 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14768 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14770 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14772 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14773 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14775 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14776 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14777 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14780 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14781 @cindex splitting, fancy
14782 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14783 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14785 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14786 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14787 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14789 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14790 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14791 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14792 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14797 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14798 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14801 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14805 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14806 @subsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14807 @cindex editing imap acls
14808 @cindex Access Control Lists
14809 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14811 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14813 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14814 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14815 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14818 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14819 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14820 editing window with detailed instructions.
14822 Some possible uses:
14826 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14827 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14828 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14830 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14831 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14832 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14836 @node Expunging mailboxes
14837 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
14841 @cindex Manual expunging
14843 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14845 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
14846 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14847 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14849 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14854 @node Other Sources
14855 @section Other Sources
14857 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
14858 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
14862 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
14863 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
14864 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
14865 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
14866 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
14870 @node Directory Groups
14871 @subsection Directory Groups
14873 @cindex directory groups
14875 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
14876 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
14879 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
14880 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
14881 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
14882 back end to read directories. Big deal.
14884 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
14885 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
14886 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
14887 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
14888 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
14890 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
14892 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
14893 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
14894 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
14895 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
14898 @node Anything Groups
14899 @subsection Anything Groups
14902 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
14903 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
14904 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
14907 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
14908 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
14909 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
14910 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
14911 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
14912 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
14913 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
14914 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
14915 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
14916 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
14919 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
14920 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
14921 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
14922 in the article buffer, just as usual.
14924 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
14925 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
14926 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
14927 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
14929 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
14930 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
14931 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
14932 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
14933 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
14934 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
14935 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
14936 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
14941 @item nneething-map-file-directory
14942 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
14943 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
14944 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
14946 @item nneething-exclude-files
14947 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
14948 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
14949 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
14951 @item nneething-include-files
14952 @vindex nneething-include-files
14953 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
14954 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
14956 @item nneething-map-file
14957 @vindex nneething-map-file
14958 Name of the map files.
14962 @node Document Groups
14963 @subsection Document Groups
14965 @cindex documentation group
14968 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
14969 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
14976 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
14981 The standard Unix mbox file.
14983 @cindex MMDF mail box
14985 The MMDF mail box format.
14988 Several news articles appended into a file.
14991 @cindex rnews batch files
14992 The rnews batch transport format.
14993 @cindex forwarded messages
14996 Forwarded articles.
14999 Netscape mail boxes.
15002 MIME multipart messages.
15004 @item standard-digest
15005 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15008 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15011 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15012 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15013 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15016 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15017 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15018 group. And that's it.
15020 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15021 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15022 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15023 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15024 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15025 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15026 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15027 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15028 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15029 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15031 Virtual server variables:
15034 @item nndoc-article-type
15035 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15036 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15037 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15038 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15039 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail},
15040 @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman} or @code{guess}.
15042 @item nndoc-post-type
15043 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15044 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15045 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15050 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15054 @node Document Server Internals
15055 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15057 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15058 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15059 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15060 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15062 First, here's an example document type definition:
15066 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15067 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15070 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15071 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15072 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15073 types can be defined with very few settings:
15076 @item first-article
15077 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15078 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15081 @item article-begin
15082 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15083 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15085 @item head-begin-function
15086 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15089 @item nndoc-head-begin
15090 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15093 @item nndoc-head-end
15094 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15095 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15097 @item body-begin-function
15098 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15102 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15105 @item body-end-function
15106 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15110 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15113 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15114 regexp will be totally ignored.
15118 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15119 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15120 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15121 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
15122 something that's palatable for Gnus:
15125 @item prepare-body-function
15126 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
15127 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
15128 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
15130 @item article-transform-function
15131 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
15132 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
15133 body of the article.
15135 @item generate-head-function
15136 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
15137 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
15138 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
15139 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
15143 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
15148 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15149 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15150 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
15151 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
15152 (head-end . "^ ?$")
15153 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
15154 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
15155 (subtype digest guess))
15158 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
15159 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
15160 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
15161 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
15162 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
15164 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
15165 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
15166 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
15167 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
15168 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
15169 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
15170 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
15171 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
15172 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
15173 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
15181 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
15182 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
15183 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
15185 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
15186 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
15187 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
15190 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
15191 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
15192 that interested in doing things properly.
15194 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
15195 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
15198 First some terminology:
15203 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
15204 get news and/or mail from.
15207 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
15208 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
15211 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
15215 @item message packets
15216 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
15217 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
15218 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15220 @item response packets
15221 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
15222 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
15223 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15233 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
15234 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
15235 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
15236 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
15239 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
15242 You put the packet in your home directory.
15245 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
15246 the native or secondary server.
15249 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
15250 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
15253 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
15257 You transfer this packet to the server.
15260 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
15263 You then repeat until you die.
15267 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
15268 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
15271 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
15272 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
15273 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
15277 @node SOUP Commands
15278 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
15280 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
15284 @kindex G s b (Group)
15285 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
15286 Pack all unread articles in the current group
15287 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
15288 process/prefix convention.
15291 @kindex G s w (Group)
15292 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
15293 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
15296 @kindex G s s (Group)
15297 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
15298 Send all replies from the replies packet
15299 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
15302 @kindex G s p (Group)
15303 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
15304 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
15307 @kindex G s r (Group)
15308 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
15309 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
15312 @kindex O s (Summary)
15313 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
15314 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
15315 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
15316 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15321 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
15326 @item gnus-soup-directory
15327 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
15328 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
15329 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
15331 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
15332 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
15333 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
15334 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
15336 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
15337 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
15338 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
15339 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
15341 @item gnus-soup-packer
15342 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
15343 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
15344 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
15346 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
15347 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
15348 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
15349 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
15351 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
15352 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
15353 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
15355 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
15356 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
15357 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
15358 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
15364 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
15367 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
15368 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
15369 you can read them at leisure.
15371 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
15375 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
15376 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
15377 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
15378 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
15380 @item nnsoup-directory
15381 @vindex nnsoup-directory
15382 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
15383 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
15385 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
15386 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
15387 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
15388 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
15390 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
15391 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
15392 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
15393 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
15394 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
15396 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
15397 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
15398 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
15399 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
15401 @item nnsoup-active-file
15402 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
15403 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
15404 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
15405 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
15406 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
15408 @item nnsoup-packer
15409 @vindex nnsoup-packer
15410 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
15411 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
15413 @item nnsoup-unpacker
15414 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
15415 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
15416 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
15418 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
15419 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
15420 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
15423 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
15424 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
15425 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
15428 @item nnsoup-always-save
15429 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
15430 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
15436 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
15438 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
15439 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
15440 more for that to happen.
15442 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
15443 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
15444 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
15447 In specific, this is what it does:
15450 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
15451 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
15454 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
15455 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
15456 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
15459 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
15460 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
15461 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
15464 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
15465 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
15466 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
15468 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
15474 @item nngateway-address
15475 @vindex nngateway-address
15476 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
15478 @item nngateway-header-transformation
15479 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
15480 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
15481 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
15482 transformation should be called, and defaults to
15483 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
15484 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
15487 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
15488 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
15489 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
15492 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
15495 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
15498 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
15501 The following pre-defined functions exist:
15503 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
15506 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
15507 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
15508 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
15510 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
15512 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
15513 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
15514 @code{nngateway-address}.
15519 (setq gnus-post-method
15521 "mail2news@@replay.com"
15522 (nngateway-header-transformation
15523 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
15531 So, to use this, simply say something like:
15534 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
15539 @node Combined Groups
15540 @section Combined Groups
15542 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
15546 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
15547 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
15551 @node Virtual Groups
15552 @subsection Virtual Groups
15554 @cindex virtual groups
15555 @cindex merging groups
15557 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
15560 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
15561 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
15562 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
15564 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
15565 regexp to match component groups.
15567 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
15568 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
15569 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
15570 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
15571 the virtual group.)
15573 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
15574 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
15577 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
15580 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
15581 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
15583 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
15584 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
15585 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
15586 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
15589 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
15592 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
15593 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
15594 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
15596 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
15597 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
15598 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
15599 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
15600 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
15602 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
15603 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
15604 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
15606 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
15607 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
15608 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
15609 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
15610 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
15611 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
15612 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
15613 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
15614 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
15615 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
15616 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
15618 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
15619 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
15620 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
15621 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
15622 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
15623 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
15624 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
15626 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
15627 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
15631 @node Kibozed Groups
15632 @subsection Kibozed Groups
15636 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
15637 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
15638 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
15639 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
15641 @kindex G k (Group)
15642 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
15645 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
15646 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
15647 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
15648 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
15650 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
15651 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
15652 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
15654 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
15655 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
15656 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
15657 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
15658 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
15659 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
15660 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
15661 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
15663 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
15664 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
15665 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
15666 Stranger things have happened.
15668 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
15669 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
15671 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
15672 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
15673 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
15674 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
15675 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
15676 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
15678 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
15679 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
15682 @node Gnus Unplugged
15683 @section Gnus Unplugged
15688 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
15690 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
15691 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
15692 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
15693 read news. Believe it or not.
15695 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
15696 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
15697 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
15698 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
15699 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
15701 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
15702 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
15703 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
15704 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
15705 reading news on a machine.
15707 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
15711 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
15712 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
15716 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
15717 @file{.gnus.el} file:
15724 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
15726 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
15729 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
15730 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
15731 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
15732 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
15733 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
15734 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
15735 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
15736 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
15737 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
15738 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
15743 @subsection Agent Basics
15745 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
15747 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
15748 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
15749 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
15750 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
15752 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
15753 connected to the net continuously.
15755 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
15756 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
15758 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
15763 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
15764 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
15765 already fetched while in this mode.
15768 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
15769 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
15770 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
15771 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
15772 Source Specifiers}).
15775 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
15776 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
15777 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
15778 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
15779 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
15782 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
15783 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
15784 then you read the news offline.
15787 And then you go to step 2.
15790 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
15796 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
15797 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
15798 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
15799 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
15800 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
15801 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
15804 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
15811 @node Agent Categories
15812 @subsection Agent Categories
15814 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
15815 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
15816 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
15817 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
15818 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
15819 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
15820 you're interested in the articles anyway.
15822 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
15823 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
15824 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
15825 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
15826 managing categories.
15829 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
15830 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
15831 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
15835 @node Category Syntax
15836 @subsubsection Category Syntax
15838 A category consists of two things.
15842 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
15843 are eligible for downloading; and
15846 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
15847 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
15848 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
15851 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
15852 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
15853 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
15854 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
15856 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
15857 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
15858 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
15860 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
15861 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
15862 operators sprinkled in between.
15864 Perhaps some examples are in order.
15866 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
15867 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
15873 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
15874 short (for some value of ``short'').
15876 Here's a more complex predicate:
15885 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
15886 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
15889 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
15890 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
15891 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
15893 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
15894 you want to do, you can write your own.
15898 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
15899 lines; default 100.
15902 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
15903 lines; default 200.
15906 True iff the article has a download score less than
15907 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
15910 True iff the article has a download score greater than
15911 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
15914 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
15915 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
15916 checksum and sees whether articles match.
15925 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
15926 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
15927 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
15930 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
15931 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
15932 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
15933 something along the lines of the following:
15936 (defun my-article-old-p ()
15937 "Say whether an article is old."
15938 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
15939 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
15942 with the predicate then defined as:
15945 (not my-article-old-p)
15948 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
15949 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
15950 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
15951 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
15954 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
15955 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
15956 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
15959 and simply specify your predicate as:
15965 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
15966 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
15967 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
15968 just don't give a damn.
15970 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
15971 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
15972 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
15973 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
15974 parameters like so:
15977 (agent-predicate . short)
15980 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
15981 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
15982 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
15984 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
15987 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
15990 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
15991 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
15992 predicate is assumed to be a list.
15995 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
15996 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
15997 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
15998 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
15999 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16000 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16002 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16003 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16004 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16005 if it's to be specific to that group.
16007 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16014 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16015 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16021 Category specification
16025 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16031 Group Parameter specification
16034 (agent-score ("from"
16035 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16040 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16046 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16053 Category specification
16056 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16062 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16066 Group Parameter specification
16069 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16072 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16077 Use @code{normal} score files
16079 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16080 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16081 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16082 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16084 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16085 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16086 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16087 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16091 Category Specification
16098 Group Parameter specification
16101 (agent-score . file)
16106 @node Category Buffer
16107 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16109 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16110 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16111 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16113 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16117 @kindex q (Category)
16118 @findex gnus-category-exit
16119 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16122 @kindex k (Category)
16123 @findex gnus-category-kill
16124 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16127 @kindex c (Category)
16128 @findex gnus-category-copy
16129 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
16132 @kindex a (Category)
16133 @findex gnus-category-add
16134 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
16137 @kindex p (Category)
16138 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
16139 Edit the predicate of the current category
16140 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
16143 @kindex g (Category)
16144 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
16145 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
16146 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
16149 @kindex s (Category)
16150 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
16151 Edit the download score rule of the current category
16152 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
16155 @kindex l (Category)
16156 @findex gnus-category-list
16157 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
16161 @node Category Variables
16162 @subsubsection Category Variables
16165 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
16166 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
16167 Hook run in category buffers.
16169 @item gnus-category-line-format
16170 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
16171 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
16172 Variables}). Valid elements are:
16176 The name of the category.
16179 The number of groups in the category.
16182 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
16183 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
16184 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
16186 @item gnus-agent-short-article
16187 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
16188 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
16190 @item gnus-agent-long-article
16191 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
16192 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
16194 @item gnus-agent-low-score
16195 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
16196 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
16199 @item gnus-agent-high-score
16200 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
16201 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
16207 @node Agent Commands
16208 @subsection Agent Commands
16210 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
16211 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
16212 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
16216 * Group Agent Commands::
16217 * Summary Agent Commands::
16218 * Server Agent Commands::
16221 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
16222 following incantation:
16224 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
16226 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
16231 @node Group Agent Commands
16232 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
16236 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
16237 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
16238 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
16239 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
16242 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
16243 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
16244 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
16247 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
16248 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
16249 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
16250 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
16253 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
16254 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
16255 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
16256 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
16259 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
16260 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
16261 Add the current group to an Agent category
16262 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
16263 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16266 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
16267 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
16268 Remove the current group from its category, if any
16269 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
16270 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16273 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
16274 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
16275 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
16281 @node Summary Agent Commands
16282 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
16286 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
16287 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
16288 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
16291 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
16292 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
16293 Remove the downloading mark from the article
16294 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
16297 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
16298 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
16299 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
16302 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
16303 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
16304 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
16307 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
16308 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
16309 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
16310 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
16315 @node Server Agent Commands
16316 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
16320 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
16321 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
16322 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
16323 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
16326 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
16327 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
16328 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
16329 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
16335 @subsection Agent Expiry
16337 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
16338 @findex gnus-agent-expire
16339 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
16340 @cindex Agent expiry
16341 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
16344 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
16345 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
16346 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
16347 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
16348 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
16349 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
16351 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
16352 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
16353 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
16354 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
16355 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
16358 @node Agent and IMAP
16359 @subsection Agent and IMAP
16361 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
16362 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
16363 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
16364 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
16366 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
16367 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
16368 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
16369 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
16371 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
16372 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
16373 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
16374 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
16375 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
16377 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
16378 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
16379 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
16380 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
16381 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
16382 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
16384 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
16385 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
16386 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
16387 in the group buffer by default.
16389 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
16390 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
16395 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
16398 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
16402 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
16403 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
16404 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
16405 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
16406 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
16407 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
16408 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
16409 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
16412 @node Outgoing Messages
16413 @subsection Outgoing Messages
16415 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
16416 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
16417 after posting, and edit them at will.
16419 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
16420 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
16421 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
16422 messages in the draft group.
16426 @node Agent Variables
16427 @subsection Agent Variables
16430 @item gnus-agent-directory
16431 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
16432 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
16433 @file{~/News/agent/}.
16435 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
16436 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
16437 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
16438 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
16439 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
16442 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
16443 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
16444 Hook run when connecting to the network.
16446 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
16447 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
16448 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
16453 @node Example Setup
16454 @subsection Example Setup
16456 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
16457 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
16458 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
16461 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
16462 ;;; from your ISP's server.
16463 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
16465 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
16466 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
16467 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
16469 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
16470 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
16472 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
16476 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
16477 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
16480 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
16481 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
16482 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
16483 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
16484 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
16487 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
16488 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
16489 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
16490 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
16491 back all the killed groups.)
16493 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
16494 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
16495 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
16498 @node Batching Agents
16499 @subsection Batching Agents
16501 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
16502 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
16503 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
16507 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
16511 @node Agent Caveats
16512 @subsection Agent Caveats
16514 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
16515 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
16519 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
16524 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
16525 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
16531 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
16532 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
16539 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
16540 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
16541 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
16544 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
16545 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
16546 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
16547 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
16548 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
16550 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
16551 before generating the summary buffer.
16553 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
16554 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
16555 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
16557 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
16558 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
16559 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
16560 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
16563 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
16564 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
16565 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
16566 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
16567 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
16568 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
16569 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
16570 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
16571 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
16572 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
16573 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
16574 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
16575 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
16576 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
16577 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
16578 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
16579 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
16583 @node Summary Score Commands
16584 @section Summary Score Commands
16585 @cindex score commands
16587 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
16588 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
16589 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
16590 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
16591 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
16593 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
16594 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
16595 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
16596 score file the current one.
16598 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
16603 @kindex V s (Summary)
16604 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
16605 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
16608 @kindex V S (Summary)
16609 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
16610 Display the score of the current article
16611 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
16614 @kindex V t (Summary)
16615 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
16616 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
16617 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
16620 @kindex V R (Summary)
16621 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
16622 Run the current summary through the scoring process
16623 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
16624 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
16625 effect you're having.
16628 @kindex V c (Summary)
16629 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
16630 Make a different score file the current
16631 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
16634 @kindex V e (Summary)
16635 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
16636 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
16637 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
16641 @kindex V f (Summary)
16642 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
16643 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
16644 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
16647 @kindex V F (Summary)
16648 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
16649 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
16650 after editing score files.
16653 @kindex V C (Summary)
16654 @findex gnus-score-customize
16655 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
16656 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
16660 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
16665 @kindex V m (Summary)
16666 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
16667 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
16668 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
16671 @kindex V x (Summary)
16672 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
16673 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
16674 expunge all articles below this score
16675 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
16678 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
16679 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
16682 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
16683 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
16687 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
16688 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
16690 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
16691 keys are available:
16695 Score on the author name.
16698 Score on the subject line.
16701 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
16704 Score on the @code{References} line.
16710 Score on the number of lines.
16713 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
16716 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
16717 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
16718 @file{ADAPT} files.)
16727 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
16733 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
16734 what headers you are scoring on.
16746 Substring matching.
16749 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
16778 Greater than number.
16783 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
16784 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
16785 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
16789 Temporary score entry.
16792 Permanent score entry.
16795 Immediately scoring.
16800 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
16801 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
16802 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
16803 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
16805 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
16806 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
16807 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
16808 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
16809 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
16811 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
16812 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
16813 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
16814 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
16815 current score file.
16817 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
16818 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
16819 pretend they are keymaps or not.
16822 @node Group Score Commands
16823 @section Group Score Commands
16824 @cindex group score commands
16826 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
16831 @kindex W f (Group)
16832 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
16833 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
16834 all the time. This command will flush the cache
16835 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
16839 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
16841 @findex gnus-batch-score
16842 @cindex batch scoring
16844 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
16848 @node Score Variables
16849 @section Score Variables
16850 @cindex score variables
16854 @item gnus-use-scoring
16855 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
16856 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
16857 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
16859 @item gnus-kill-killed
16860 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
16861 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
16862 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
16863 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
16864 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
16865 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
16866 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
16868 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
16869 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
16870 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
16871 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
16872 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
16874 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
16875 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
16876 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
16877 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
16879 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
16880 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
16881 @cindex score cache
16882 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
16883 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
16884 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
16885 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
16886 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
16887 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
16890 @item gnus-save-score
16891 @vindex gnus-save-score
16892 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
16893 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
16894 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
16896 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
16897 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
16898 across group visits.
16900 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
16901 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
16902 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
16903 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
16904 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
16905 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
16906 manually entered data.
16908 @item gnus-summary-default-score
16909 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
16910 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
16912 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
16913 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
16914 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
16915 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
16916 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
16917 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
16919 @item gnus-score-over-mark
16920 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
16921 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
16922 default. Default is @samp{+}.
16924 @item gnus-score-below-mark
16925 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
16926 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
16927 default. Default is @samp{-}.
16929 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
16930 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
16931 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
16932 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
16934 Predefined functions available are:
16937 @item gnus-score-find-single
16938 @findex gnus-score-find-single
16939 Only apply the group's own score file.
16941 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
16942 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
16943 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
16944 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
16945 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
16946 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
16947 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
16948 then a regexp match is done.
16950 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
16951 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
16953 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
16954 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
16955 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
16956 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
16958 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
16959 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
16960 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
16961 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
16962 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
16966 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
16967 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
16968 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
16969 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
16970 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
16971 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
16972 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
16975 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
16976 overall score file, you could use the value
16978 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
16979 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
16982 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
16983 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
16984 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
16985 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
16986 are expired. It's 7 by default.
16988 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
16989 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
16990 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
16991 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
16992 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
16993 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
16994 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
16997 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
16998 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
16999 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17001 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17002 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17003 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17004 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17005 threading---according to the current value of
17006 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17007 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17008 simplified in this manner.
17013 @node Score File Format
17014 @section Score File Format
17015 @cindex score file format
17017 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17018 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17019 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17021 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17025 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17027 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17029 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17031 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
17036 (mark-and-expunge -10)
17040 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
17041 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
17042 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
17043 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
17047 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
17048 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
17050 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
17051 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
17052 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
17054 Six keys are supported by this alist:
17059 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
17060 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
17061 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
17062 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
17063 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
17064 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
17065 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
17066 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
17067 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
17068 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
17069 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
17070 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
17071 to articles that matches these score entries.
17073 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
17074 score entry has one to four elements.
17078 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
17079 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
17083 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
17084 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
17085 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
17086 is successful. If this element is not present, the
17087 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
17088 instead. This is 1000 by default.
17091 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
17092 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
17093 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
17094 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
17095 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
17098 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
17099 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
17100 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
17101 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
17104 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
17105 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
17106 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
17107 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
17108 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
17109 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
17110 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
17111 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
17112 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
17113 instead, if you feel like.
17116 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
17117 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
17119 These predicates are true if
17122 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
17125 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
17126 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
17133 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
17134 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
17135 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
17136 it's not. I think.)
17138 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
17139 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
17140 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
17141 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
17144 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
17145 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
17146 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
17147 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
17148 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
17149 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
17150 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
17154 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
17155 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
17156 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
17157 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
17158 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
17159 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
17160 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
17161 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
17164 @item Head, Body, All
17165 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
17169 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
17170 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
17171 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
17172 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
17173 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
17174 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
17175 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
17179 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
17180 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
17181 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
17182 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
17183 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
17184 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
17185 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
17186 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
17187 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
17188 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
17189 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
17193 @cindex Score File Atoms
17195 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17196 lower than this number will be marked as read.
17199 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17200 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
17202 @item mark-and-expunge
17203 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17204 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
17207 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
17208 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
17209 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
17210 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
17211 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
17214 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
17215 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
17218 @item exclude-files
17219 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
17220 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
17224 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
17225 ignored when handling global score files.
17228 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
17229 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
17230 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
17231 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
17234 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
17235 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
17236 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
17237 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
17239 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
17243 (mark-and-expunge -100)
17246 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
17247 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
17248 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
17249 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
17250 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
17252 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
17253 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
17254 scoring rules exist.
17257 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
17258 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
17259 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
17260 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
17261 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
17262 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
17263 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
17264 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
17265 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
17266 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
17267 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
17271 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
17272 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
17273 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
17274 file for a number of groups.
17277 @cindex local variables
17278 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
17279 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
17280 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
17281 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
17282 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
17286 @node Score File Editing
17287 @section Score File Editing
17289 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
17290 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
17291 with a mode for that.
17293 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
17294 additional commands:
17299 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
17300 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
17301 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
17302 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
17305 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
17306 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
17307 Insert the current date in numerical format
17308 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
17309 you were wondering.
17312 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
17313 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
17314 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
17315 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
17316 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
17321 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
17323 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
17324 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
17326 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
17327 e} to begin editing score files.
17330 @node Adaptive Scoring
17331 @section Adaptive Scoring
17332 @cindex adaptive scoring
17334 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
17335 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
17336 stupidity, to be precise.
17338 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
17339 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
17340 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
17341 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
17342 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
17343 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
17344 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
17345 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
17346 variable to @code{(word line)}.
17348 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
17349 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
17350 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
17351 might look something like this:
17354 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
17355 '((gnus-unread-mark)
17356 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
17357 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
17358 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
17359 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
17360 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
17361 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
17362 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
17363 (gnus-ancient-mark)
17364 (gnus-low-score-mark)
17365 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
17368 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
17369 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
17370 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
17371 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
17372 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
17373 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
17376 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
17377 will be applied to each article.
17379 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
17380 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
17381 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
17382 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
17384 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
17385 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
17386 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
17387 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
17389 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
17390 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
17391 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
17392 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
17394 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
17395 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
17396 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
17397 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
17398 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
17399 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
17401 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
17402 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
17403 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
17404 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
17405 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
17406 aspirins afterwards.)
17408 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
17409 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
17410 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
17412 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
17413 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
17414 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
17416 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
17417 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
17418 let you use different rules in different groups.
17420 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
17421 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
17422 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
17425 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
17426 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
17427 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
17428 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
17429 the length of the match is less than
17430 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
17431 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
17434 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
17435 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
17436 headers. If you adapt on words, the
17437 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
17438 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
17441 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
17442 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
17443 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
17444 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
17445 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
17448 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
17449 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
17450 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
17451 score with 30 points.
17453 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
17454 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
17455 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
17456 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
17457 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
17459 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
17460 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
17461 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
17462 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
17463 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
17465 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
17466 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
17467 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
17468 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
17470 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
17471 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
17472 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
17473 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
17475 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
17476 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
17477 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
17478 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
17479 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
17481 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
17482 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
17483 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
17485 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
17486 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
17487 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
17488 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
17491 @node Home Score File
17492 @section Home Score File
17494 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
17495 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
17496 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
17497 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
17499 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
17500 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
17501 could perhaps use the same home score file.
17503 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
17504 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
17509 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
17513 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
17514 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
17518 A list. The elements in this list can be:
17522 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
17523 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
17526 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
17527 the home score file.
17530 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
17533 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
17538 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
17541 (setq gnus-home-score-file
17542 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
17545 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
17546 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
17548 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
17550 (setq gnus-home-score-file
17551 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
17554 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
17555 Other functions include
17558 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
17559 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
17560 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
17561 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
17565 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
17566 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
17567 their own home score files:
17570 (setq gnus-home-score-file
17571 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
17572 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
17573 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
17574 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
17577 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
17578 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
17579 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
17580 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
17581 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
17583 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
17584 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
17585 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
17586 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
17587 precedence over this variable.
17590 @node Followups To Yourself
17591 @section Followups To Yourself
17593 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
17594 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
17595 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
17596 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
17597 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
17598 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
17602 @item gnus-score-followup-article
17603 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
17604 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
17607 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
17608 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
17609 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
17613 @vindex message-sent-hook
17614 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
17615 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
17617 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
17621 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
17622 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
17626 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
17627 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
17630 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
17631 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
17636 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
17640 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
17641 is system-dependent.
17644 @node Scoring On Other Headers
17645 @section Scoring On Other Headers
17646 @cindex scoring on other headers
17648 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
17649 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
17650 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
17651 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
17652 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
17654 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
17655 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
17656 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
17657 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
17658 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
17660 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
17663 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
17664 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
17667 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
17668 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
17669 time if you have much mail.
17671 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
17672 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
17678 @section Scoring Tips
17679 @cindex scoring tips
17685 @cindex scoring crossposts
17686 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
17687 the @code{Xref} header.
17689 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
17692 @item Multiple crossposts
17693 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
17694 more than, say, 3 groups:
17697 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
17701 @item Matching on the body
17702 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
17703 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
17704 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
17705 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
17706 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
17707 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
17708 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
17711 @item Marking as read
17712 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
17713 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
17714 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
17718 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
17720 @item Negated character classes
17721 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
17722 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
17723 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
17727 @node Reverse Scoring
17728 @section Reverse Scoring
17729 @cindex reverse scoring
17731 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
17732 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
17733 like this in your score file:
17737 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
17742 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
17743 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
17746 @node Global Score Files
17747 @section Global Score Files
17748 @cindex global score files
17750 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
17751 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
17752 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
17754 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
17755 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
17756 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
17758 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
17759 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
17760 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
17761 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
17762 files are applicable to which group.
17764 To use the score file
17765 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
17766 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
17770 (setq gnus-global-score-files
17771 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
17772 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
17775 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
17777 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
17778 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
17779 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
17780 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
17782 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
17783 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
17785 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
17786 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
17787 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
17788 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
17789 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
17790 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
17792 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
17798 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
17800 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
17802 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
17804 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
17805 lowered out of existence.
17807 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
17808 articles completely.
17811 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
17812 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
17813 old articles for a long time.
17816 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
17817 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
17818 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
17819 holding our breath yet?
17823 @section Kill Files
17826 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
17827 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
17828 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
17830 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
17831 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
17832 files into score files.
17834 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
17835 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
17836 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
17837 that isn't a very good idea.
17839 Normal kill files look like this:
17842 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17843 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
17847 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
17848 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
17850 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
17851 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
17854 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
17859 @kindex M-k (Summary)
17860 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
17861 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
17864 @kindex M-K (Summary)
17865 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
17866 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
17869 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
17874 @kindex M-k (Group)
17875 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
17876 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
17879 @kindex M-K (Group)
17880 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
17881 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
17884 Kill file variables:
17887 @item gnus-kill-file-name
17888 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
17889 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
17890 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
17891 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
17892 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
17893 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
17895 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
17896 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
17897 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
17898 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
17901 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
17902 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
17903 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
17904 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
17905 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
17906 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
17907 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
17908 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
17909 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
17911 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
17912 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
17913 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
17918 @node Converting Kill Files
17919 @section Converting Kill Files
17921 @cindex converting kill files
17923 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
17924 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
17925 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
17928 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
17929 You can fetch it from
17930 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
17932 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
17933 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
17934 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
17942 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
17943 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
17944 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
17945 news articles generated every day.
17947 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
17948 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
17949 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
17950 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
17951 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
17952 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
17953 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
17954 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
17957 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
17958 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
17961 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
17962 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
17963 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
17964 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
17968 @node Using GroupLens
17969 @subsection Using GroupLens
17971 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
17973 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
17974 better bit in town at the moment.
17976 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
17980 @item gnus-use-grouplens
17981 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
17982 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
17983 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
17985 @item grouplens-pseudonym
17986 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
17987 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
17988 with the Better Bit Bureau.
17990 @item grouplens-newsgroups
17991 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
17992 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
17996 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
17997 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
17998 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
17999 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18000 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18001 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18004 @node Rating Articles
18005 @subsection Rating Articles
18007 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18008 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18009 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18010 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18013 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18018 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18019 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18020 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
18023 @kindex k (GroupLens)
18024 @findex grouplens-score-thread
18025 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
18026 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
18027 threads in rec.humor.
18031 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
18032 the score of the article you're reading.
18037 @kindex n (GroupLens)
18038 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
18039 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
18042 @kindex , (GroupLens)
18043 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
18044 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
18048 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
18049 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
18052 @node Displaying Predictions
18053 @subsection Displaying Predictions
18055 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
18056 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
18057 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
18058 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
18059 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
18061 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
18062 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
18063 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
18064 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
18065 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
18066 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
18067 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
18068 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
18069 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
18070 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
18071 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
18072 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
18073 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
18075 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
18076 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
18077 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
18078 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
18080 The following are valid values for that variable.
18083 @item prediction-spot
18084 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
18087 @item confidence-interval
18088 A numeric confidence interval.
18090 @item prediction-bar
18091 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
18093 @item confidence-bar
18094 Numerical confidence.
18096 @item confidence-spot
18097 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
18099 @item prediction-num
18100 Plain-old numeric value.
18102 @item confidence-plus-minus
18103 Prediction +/- confidence.
18108 @node GroupLens Variables
18109 @subsection GroupLens Variables
18113 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
18114 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
18115 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
18116 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
18119 @item grouplens-bbb-host
18120 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
18123 @item grouplens-bbb-port
18124 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
18126 @item grouplens-score-offset
18127 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
18128 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
18131 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
18132 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
18133 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
18138 @node Advanced Scoring
18139 @section Advanced Scoring
18141 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
18142 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
18143 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
18144 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
18145 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
18147 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
18151 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
18152 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
18153 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
18157 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
18158 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
18160 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
18161 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
18162 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
18163 non-@code{nil} value.
18165 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
18166 operator, and various match operators.
18173 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18174 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
18175 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
18180 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18181 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
18182 then this operator will return @code{false}.
18187 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
18188 logical negation of the value of its argument.
18192 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
18193 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
18194 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
18195 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
18196 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
18197 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
18198 the ancestry you want to go.
18200 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
18201 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
18202 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
18203 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
18204 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
18207 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
18208 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
18210 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
18211 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
18214 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
18215 when he's talking about Gnus:
18219 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18220 ("subject" "Gnus"))
18226 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
18230 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18237 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
18238 really don't want to read what he's written:
18242 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18243 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
18247 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
18248 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
18249 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
18256 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
18257 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
18258 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
18259 ("body" "white.*socks"))
18263 The possibilities are endless.
18266 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
18267 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
18269 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
18270 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
18271 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
18272 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
18273 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
18274 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
18275 @samp{subject}) first.
18277 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
18278 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
18289 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
18290 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
18296 ("subject" "Gnus")))
18303 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
18304 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
18309 @section Score Decays
18310 @cindex score decays
18313 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
18314 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
18315 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
18316 use them in any sensible way.
18318 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
18319 @findex gnus-decay-score
18320 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
18321 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
18322 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
18323 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
18324 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
18325 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
18326 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
18327 definition of that function:
18330 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
18332 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
18333 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
18336 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
18338 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
18340 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
18343 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
18344 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
18345 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
18346 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
18350 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
18353 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
18356 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
18360 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
18361 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
18362 the new score, which should be an integer.
18364 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
18365 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
18370 @include message.texi
18371 @chapter Emacs MIME
18372 @include emacs-mime.texi
18374 @include sieve.texi
18382 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
18383 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
18384 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
18385 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
18386 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
18387 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
18388 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
18389 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
18390 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
18391 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
18392 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
18393 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
18394 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
18395 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
18396 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
18397 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
18398 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
18399 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
18400 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
18404 @node Process/Prefix
18405 @section Process/Prefix
18406 @cindex process/prefix convention
18408 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
18409 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
18411 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
18412 command to be performed on.
18416 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
18417 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
18418 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
18419 with the current one.
18421 @vindex transient-mark-mode
18422 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
18423 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
18425 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
18426 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
18429 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
18430 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
18432 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
18435 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
18436 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
18437 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
18438 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
18440 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
18441 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
18442 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
18443 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
18444 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
18445 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
18446 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
18447 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
18449 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
18450 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
18451 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
18452 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
18453 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
18457 @section Interactive
18458 @cindex interaction
18462 @item gnus-novice-user
18463 @vindex gnus-novice-user
18464 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
18465 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
18466 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
18467 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
18470 @item gnus-expert-user
18471 @vindex gnus-expert-user
18472 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
18473 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
18474 matter how strange.
18476 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
18477 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
18478 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
18479 is @code{t} by default.
18481 @item gnus-interactive-exit
18482 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
18483 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18488 @node Symbolic Prefixes
18489 @section Symbolic Prefixes
18490 @cindex symbolic prefixes
18492 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
18493 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
18494 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
18495 rule of 900 to the current article.
18497 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
18498 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
18499 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
18500 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
18501 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
18502 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
18503 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
18505 @kindex M-i (Summary)
18506 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
18507 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
18508 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
18509 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
18510 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
18511 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
18512 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
18513 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
18515 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
18516 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
18517 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
18519 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
18523 @node Formatting Variables
18524 @section Formatting Variables
18525 @cindex formatting variables
18527 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
18528 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
18529 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
18530 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
18531 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
18534 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
18535 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
18536 lots of percentages everywhere.
18539 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
18540 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
18541 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
18542 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
18543 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
18544 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
18545 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
18546 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
18549 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
18550 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
18551 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
18552 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
18553 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
18554 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
18555 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
18556 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
18558 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
18559 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
18561 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
18562 @findex gnus-update-format
18563 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
18564 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
18565 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
18566 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
18570 @node Formatting Basics
18571 @subsection Formatting Basics
18573 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
18574 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
18575 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
18577 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
18578 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
18579 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
18580 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
18581 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
18584 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
18585 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
18586 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
18587 less than 4 characters wide.
18589 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
18590 @samp{%&user-date;}.
18593 @node Mode Line Formatting
18594 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
18596 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
18597 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
18598 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
18599 with the following two differences:
18604 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
18607 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
18608 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
18609 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
18610 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
18611 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
18612 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
18613 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
18618 @node Advanced Formatting
18619 @subsection Advanced Formatting
18621 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
18622 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
18623 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
18624 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
18626 These are the valid modifiers:
18631 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
18635 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
18640 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
18643 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
18648 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
18651 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
18654 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
18657 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
18661 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
18662 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
18663 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
18664 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
18665 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
18666 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
18667 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
18669 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
18670 last operation, padding.
18672 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
18673 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
18674 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
18675 @xref{Compilation}.
18678 @node User-Defined Specs
18679 @subsection User-Defined Specs
18681 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
18682 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
18683 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
18684 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
18685 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
18686 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
18687 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
18688 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
18689 should protect against that.
18691 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
18692 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
18694 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
18695 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
18696 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
18697 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
18701 @node Formatting Fonts
18702 @subsection Formatting Fonts
18704 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
18705 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
18706 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
18707 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
18710 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
18711 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
18712 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
18713 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
18714 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
18715 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
18717 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
18718 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
18719 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
18720 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
18721 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
18722 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
18723 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
18724 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
18726 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
18729 ;; Create three face types.
18730 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
18731 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
18733 ;; We want the article count to be in
18734 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
18735 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
18736 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
18738 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
18739 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
18741 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
18742 (setq gnus-group-line-format
18743 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
18746 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
18747 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
18749 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
18750 mode-line variables.
18752 @node Positioning Point
18753 @subsection Positioning Point
18755 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
18756 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
18757 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
18759 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
18761 @findex gnus-goto-colon
18762 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
18763 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
18765 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
18766 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%C} specifier. If you
18767 put a @samp{%C} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
18772 @subsection Tabulation
18774 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
18775 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
18776 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
18777 about lining up the following text afterwards.
18779 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
18780 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
18782 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
18783 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
18784 This is the soft tabulator.
18786 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
18787 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
18788 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
18791 @node Wide Characters
18792 @subsection Wide Characters
18794 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
18795 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
18796 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
18798 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
18799 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
18800 these coutries, that's not true.
18802 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
18803 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
18804 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
18805 prettieer. The default value is @code{t}.
18809 @node Window Layout
18810 @section Window Layout
18811 @cindex window layout
18813 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
18815 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
18816 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
18817 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
18818 @code{t} by default.
18820 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
18821 glitches. Use at your own peril.
18823 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
18824 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
18825 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
18828 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
18829 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
18830 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
18834 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
18835 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
18836 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
18837 possible names is listed below.
18839 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
18840 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
18843 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
18847 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
18848 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
18849 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
18850 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
18851 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
18852 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
18853 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
18854 size spec per split.
18856 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
18857 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
18858 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
18859 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
18860 present) gets focus.
18862 Here's a more complicated example:
18865 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
18866 (summary 0.25 point)
18867 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
18871 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
18872 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
18873 occupy, not a percentage.
18875 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
18876 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
18877 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
18878 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
18879 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
18882 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
18885 (article (horizontal 1.0
18890 (summary 0.25 point)
18895 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
18896 @code{horizontal} thingie?
18898 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
18899 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
18900 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
18901 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
18902 the screen is to be given to this strip.
18904 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
18905 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
18906 lines from the splits.
18908 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
18912 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
18913 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
18914 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
18915 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
18916 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
18917 size = number | frame-params
18918 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
18921 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
18922 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
18923 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
18924 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
18926 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
18927 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
18928 @cindex window height
18929 @cindex window width
18930 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
18931 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
18932 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
18933 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
18934 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
18935 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
18937 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
18938 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
18939 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
18940 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
18942 @findex gnus-configure-frame
18943 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
18944 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
18945 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
18946 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
18947 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
18948 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
18949 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
18950 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
18951 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
18952 configuration list.
18955 (gnus-configure-frame
18959 (article 0.3 point))
18967 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
18968 @code{frame} split:
18971 (gnus-configure-frame
18974 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
18976 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
18977 (user-position . t)
18978 (left . -1) (top . 1))
18983 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
18984 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
18985 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
18986 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
18987 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
18988 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
18989 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
18990 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
18992 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
18993 be found in its default value.
18995 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
18996 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
18997 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19001 (message (horizontal 1.0
19002 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19004 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19009 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19010 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
19011 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
19016 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
19017 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
19018 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
19019 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
19020 (name . "Message"))
19021 (message 1.0 point))))
19024 @findex gnus-add-configuration
19025 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
19026 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
19027 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
19028 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
19031 (gnus-add-configuration
19032 '(article (vertical 1.0
19034 (summary .25 point)
19038 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
19039 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
19040 Gnus has been loaded.
19042 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
19043 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
19044 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
19045 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
19046 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
19048 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
19049 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
19050 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
19053 @subsection Example Window Configurations
19057 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
19058 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
19073 (gnus-add-configuration
19076 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19078 (summary 0.16 point)
19081 (gnus-add-configuration
19084 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19085 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
19091 @node Faces and Fonts
19092 @section Faces and Fonts
19097 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
19098 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
19099 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
19104 @section Compilation
19105 @cindex compilation
19106 @cindex byte-compilation
19108 @findex gnus-compile
19110 Remember all those line format specification variables?
19111 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
19112 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
19113 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
19114 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
19115 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
19118 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
19119 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
19120 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
19121 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
19122 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
19123 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
19124 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
19128 @section Mode Lines
19131 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
19132 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
19133 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
19134 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
19135 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
19136 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
19137 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
19140 @cindex display-time
19142 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
19143 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
19144 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
19145 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
19146 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
19147 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
19148 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
19149 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
19152 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
19154 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
19155 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
19157 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
19158 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
19159 (length display-time-string)))))
19162 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
19163 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
19164 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
19165 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
19166 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
19169 @node Highlighting and Menus
19170 @section Highlighting and Menus
19172 @cindex highlighting
19175 @vindex gnus-visual
19176 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
19177 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
19178 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
19181 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
19182 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
19185 @item group-highlight
19186 Do highlights in the group buffer.
19187 @item summary-highlight
19188 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
19189 @item article-highlight
19190 Do highlights in the article buffer.
19192 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
19194 Create menus in the group buffer.
19196 Create menus in the summary buffers.
19198 Create menus in the article buffer.
19200 Create menus in the browse buffer.
19202 Create menus in the server buffer.
19204 Create menus in the score buffers.
19206 Create menus in all buffers.
19209 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
19210 buffers, you could say something like:
19213 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
19216 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
19219 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
19222 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
19223 in all Gnus buffers.
19225 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
19228 @item gnus-mouse-face
19229 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
19230 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
19231 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
19235 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
19239 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
19240 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
19241 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
19243 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
19244 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
19245 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
19247 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
19248 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
19249 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
19251 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
19252 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
19253 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
19255 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
19256 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
19257 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
19259 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
19260 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
19261 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
19272 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
19273 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
19274 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
19275 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
19276 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
19280 @vindex gnus-carpal
19281 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
19282 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
19283 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
19288 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
19289 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
19290 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
19292 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
19293 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
19294 Face used on buttons.
19296 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
19297 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
19298 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
19300 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
19301 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
19302 Buttons in the group buffer.
19304 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
19305 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
19306 Buttons in the summary buffer.
19308 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
19309 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
19310 Buttons in the server buffer.
19312 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
19313 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
19314 Buttons in the browse buffer.
19317 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
19318 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
19319 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
19327 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
19328 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
19329 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
19330 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
19331 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
19333 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
19334 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
19335 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
19337 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
19338 been idle for thirty minutes:
19341 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
19344 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
19348 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
19351 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
19352 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
19353 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
19355 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
19356 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
19357 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
19358 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
19360 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
19361 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
19362 @var{idle} minutes.
19364 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
19365 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
19368 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
19369 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
19370 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
19372 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
19373 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
19374 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
19375 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
19377 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
19378 your @file{.gnus} file:
19380 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
19382 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
19385 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
19386 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
19387 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
19388 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
19389 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
19390 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
19391 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
19392 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
19393 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
19394 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
19395 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
19397 @findex gnus-demon-init
19398 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
19399 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
19400 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
19401 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
19402 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
19404 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
19405 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
19406 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
19415 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
19416 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
19418 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
19419 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
19420 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
19421 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
19424 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
19425 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
19426 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
19427 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
19429 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
19430 this will make spam disappear.
19432 There are some variables to customize, of course:
19435 @item gnus-use-nocem
19436 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
19437 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
19440 @item gnus-nocem-groups
19441 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
19442 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
19443 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
19444 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
19446 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
19447 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
19448 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
19449 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
19450 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
19451 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
19453 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
19454 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
19456 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
19457 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
19458 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
19459 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
19460 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
19461 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
19462 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
19463 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
19464 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
19465 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
19467 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
19468 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
19471 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
19474 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
19475 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
19478 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
19481 The specs are applied left-to-right.
19484 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
19485 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
19487 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
19488 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
19489 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
19490 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
19492 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
19493 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
19496 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
19498 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
19506 This might be dangerous, though.
19508 @item gnus-nocem-directory
19509 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
19510 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
19511 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
19513 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
19514 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
19515 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
19516 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
19517 might then see old spam.
19519 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
19520 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
19521 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
19522 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
19523 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
19526 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
19527 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
19528 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
19529 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
19533 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
19534 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
19535 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
19536 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
19543 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
19544 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
19545 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
19547 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
19548 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
19549 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
19550 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
19551 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
19552 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
19553 @code{undo} function.
19555 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
19556 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
19557 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
19558 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
19559 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
19560 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
19561 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
19562 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
19563 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
19564 never be totally undoable.
19566 @findex gnus-undo-mode
19567 @vindex gnus-use-undo
19569 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
19570 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
19571 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
19572 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
19576 @node Predicate Specifiers
19577 @section Predicate Specifiers
19578 @cindex predicate specifiers
19580 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
19581 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
19582 to type all that much.
19584 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
19589 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
19590 gnus-article-unread-p)
19593 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
19594 functions all take one parameter.
19596 @findex gnus-make-predicate
19597 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
19598 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
19599 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
19604 @section Moderation
19607 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
19608 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
19609 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
19612 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
19616 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
19619 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
19621 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
19626 You split your incoming mail by matching on
19627 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
19628 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
19631 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
19632 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
19635 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
19636 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
19640 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
19643 (setq gnus-moderated-list
19644 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
19648 @node Image Enhancements
19649 @section Image Enhancements
19651 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
19652 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
19655 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
19656 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
19657 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
19658 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
19659 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
19672 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
19673 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
19674 over your shoulder as you read news.
19677 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
19678 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
19679 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
19680 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
19681 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
19686 @subsubsection Picon Basics
19688 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
19697 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
19698 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
19699 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
19700 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
19701 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
19702 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
19703 @code{GIF} formats.
19706 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
19707 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
19708 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
19709 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
19710 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
19712 @vindex gnus-picons-database
19713 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
19714 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
19715 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
19716 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
19717 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
19719 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
19720 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
19723 @node Picon Requirements
19724 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
19726 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
19727 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
19728 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
19729 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
19731 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
19732 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
19733 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
19734 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
19735 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
19736 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
19739 @subsubsection Easy Picons
19741 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
19742 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
19745 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
19746 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
19749 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
19750 containing the Picons databases.
19752 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
19755 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
19756 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
19761 @subsubsection Hard Picons
19769 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
19770 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
19771 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
19772 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
19773 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
19778 @item gnus-picons-database
19779 @vindex gnus-picons-database
19780 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
19781 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
19782 subdirectories. This is only useful if
19783 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
19784 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
19786 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
19787 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
19788 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
19789 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
19790 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
19791 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
19792 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
19794 @item gnus-picons-display-where
19795 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
19796 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
19797 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
19798 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
19799 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
19800 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
19801 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
19803 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
19804 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
19805 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
19810 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
19811 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
19813 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
19814 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
19817 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
19819 @item gnus-article-display-picons
19820 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
19821 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
19822 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
19824 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
19825 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
19826 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
19827 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
19833 @node Picon Useless Configuration
19834 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
19842 The following variables offer further control over how things are
19843 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
19844 don't need to worry about.
19848 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
19849 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
19850 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
19851 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
19853 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
19854 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
19855 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
19856 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
19858 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
19859 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
19860 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
19861 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
19862 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
19864 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
19865 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
19866 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
19867 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
19868 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
19869 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
19870 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
19871 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
19873 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
19874 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
19875 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
19876 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
19877 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
19879 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
19880 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
19881 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
19882 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
19883 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
19884 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
19885 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
19887 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
19888 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
19889 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
19890 Defaults to @code{nil}.
19892 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
19893 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
19894 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
19895 Defaults to @code{t}.
19897 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
19898 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
19899 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
19900 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
19902 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
19903 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
19904 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
19906 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
19907 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
19908 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
19909 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
19911 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
19912 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
19914 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
19915 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
19916 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
19917 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
19918 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
19919 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
19920 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
19921 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
19932 @subsection Smileys
19937 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
19942 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
19943 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
19945 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
19946 @file{.gnus.el} file:
19949 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
19952 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
19953 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
19954 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
19955 text and maps that to file names.
19957 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
19958 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
19959 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
19960 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
19961 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
19962 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
19964 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
19965 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
19967 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
19968 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
19969 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
19971 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
19972 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
19976 @item smiley-data-directory
19977 @vindex smiley-data-directory
19978 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
19980 @item smiley-flesh-color
19981 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
19982 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
19984 @item smiley-features-color
19985 @vindex smiley-features-color
19986 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
19988 @item smiley-tongue-color
19989 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
19990 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
19992 @item smiley-circle-color
19993 @vindex smiley-circle-color
19994 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
19996 @item smiley-mouse-face
19997 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
19998 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20007 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white image
20008 that's supposed to represent the author of the message. It seems to
20009 be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news readers.
20012 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20013 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20014 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20015 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20023 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20024 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20025 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20026 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20028 The variable that controls this is the
20029 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20030 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20031 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20032 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20033 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20035 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20036 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20037 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20038 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20041 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20042 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20043 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20044 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20045 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20046 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20047 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20048 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20050 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20055 @subsection Toolbar
20065 @item gnus-use-toolbar
20066 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
20067 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
20068 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
20069 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
20071 @item gnus-group-toolbar
20072 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
20073 The toolbar in the group buffer.
20075 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
20076 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
20077 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
20079 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20080 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20081 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
20087 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
20090 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20091 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20092 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
20093 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
20094 unusual directory structure.
20096 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20097 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20098 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
20099 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
20101 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20102 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20103 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
20104 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
20105 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
20106 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
20108 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20109 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20110 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
20124 @node Fuzzy Matching
20125 @section Fuzzy Matching
20126 @cindex fuzzy matching
20128 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
20129 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
20131 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
20132 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
20133 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
20135 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
20136 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
20137 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
20138 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
20139 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
20142 @node Thwarting Email Spam
20143 @section Thwarting Email Spam
20147 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
20149 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
20150 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
20151 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
20152 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
20153 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
20154 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
20155 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
20156 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
20159 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
20160 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
20161 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
20162 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
20163 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
20164 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
20168 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
20169 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
20171 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
20172 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
20173 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
20174 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
20175 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
20176 part of the mail address.)
20179 (setq message-default-news-headers
20180 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
20183 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
20184 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
20189 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
20190 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
20191 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
20197 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
20198 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
20199 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
20200 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
20202 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
20203 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
20204 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
20205 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
20206 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
20207 your fancy split rule in this way:
20212 (to "larsi" "misc")
20216 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
20217 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
20218 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
20219 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
20220 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
20222 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
20223 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
20224 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
20225 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
20226 cosmic balance somewhat.
20228 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
20229 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
20230 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
20231 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
20234 @node Various Various
20235 @section Various Various
20241 @item gnus-home-directory
20242 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
20243 defaults to @file{~/}.
20245 @item gnus-directory
20246 @vindex gnus-directory
20247 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
20248 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
20249 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
20251 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
20252 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
20253 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
20254 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
20256 @item gnus-default-directory
20257 @vindex gnus-default-directory
20258 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
20259 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
20260 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
20261 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
20262 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
20263 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
20266 @vindex gnus-verbose
20267 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
20268 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
20269 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
20270 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
20271 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
20273 @item gnus-verbose-backends
20274 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
20275 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
20276 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
20278 @item nnheader-max-head-length
20279 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
20280 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
20281 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
20282 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
20283 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
20284 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
20285 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
20286 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
20287 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
20289 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
20290 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
20291 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
20292 read when doing the operation described above.
20294 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
20295 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
20297 @cindex invalid characters in file names
20298 @cindex characters in file names
20299 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
20300 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
20301 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
20304 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
20308 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
20309 Windows (phooey) systems.
20311 @item gnus-hidden-properties
20312 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
20313 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
20314 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
20315 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
20317 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
20318 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
20319 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
20320 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
20321 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
20323 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
20324 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
20325 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
20327 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
20328 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
20330 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
20331 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
20332 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
20333 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
20336 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
20344 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
20345 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
20347 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
20349 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
20355 Not because of victories @*
20358 but for the common sunshine,@*
20360 the largess of the spring.
20364 but for the day's work done@*
20365 as well as I was able;@*
20366 not for a seat upon the dais@*
20367 but at the common table.@*
20372 @chapter Appendices
20375 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
20376 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
20377 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
20378 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
20379 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
20380 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
20381 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
20382 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
20383 * Frequently Asked Questions::
20390 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
20392 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
20393 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
20394 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
20395 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
20396 @samp{xemacs-base}, and @samp{fsf-compat}.
20403 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
20404 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
20406 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
20407 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
20408 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
20409 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
20410 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
20412 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
20413 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
20414 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
20415 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
20416 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
20417 appropriate name, don't you think?)
20419 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
20420 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
20421 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
20422 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
20425 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
20426 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
20427 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
20428 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
20429 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
20430 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
20431 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
20432 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
20433 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
20437 @node Gnus Versions
20438 @subsection Gnus Versions
20440 @cindex September Gnus
20442 @cindex Quassia Gnus
20443 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
20447 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
20448 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
20449 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
20451 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
20452 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
20454 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
20455 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
20457 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
20458 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
20460 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
20461 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
20464 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
20466 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
20467 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
20468 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
20469 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
20470 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
20471 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
20474 @node Other Gnus Versions
20475 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
20478 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
20479 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
20480 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
20481 @sc{mime} capabilities.
20483 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
20484 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
20485 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
20486 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
20493 What's the point of Gnus?
20495 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
20496 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
20497 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
20498 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
20499 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
20500 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
20501 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
20502 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
20503 keep track of millions of people who post?
20505 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
20506 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
20507 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
20508 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
20509 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
20510 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
20511 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
20512 every one of you to explore and invent.
20514 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
20515 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
20518 @node Compatibility
20519 @subsection Compatibility
20521 @cindex compatibility
20522 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
20523 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
20524 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
20529 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
20533 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
20536 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
20539 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
20540 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
20541 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
20542 important variables have their values copied into their global
20543 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
20544 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
20546 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
20547 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
20548 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
20549 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
20550 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
20554 @cindex highlighting
20555 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
20556 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
20557 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
20558 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
20559 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
20560 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
20563 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
20564 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
20565 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
20566 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
20568 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
20569 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
20570 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
20571 to stop doing it the old way.
20573 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
20575 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
20577 @cindex reporting bugs
20579 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
20580 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
20581 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
20583 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
20584 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
20585 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
20586 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
20591 @subsection Conformity
20593 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
20594 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
20602 There are no known breaches of this standard.
20606 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
20608 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
20609 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
20610 We do have some breaches to this one.
20616 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
20617 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
20618 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
20619 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
20620 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
20625 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
20626 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
20627 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
20628 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
20630 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
20634 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
20635 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
20636 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-MIME aware PGP
20637 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
20638 decoding (verification and decryption).
20640 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
20642 RFC 2015 (superceded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
20643 1991) describes the MIME-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
20644 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
20646 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
20648 RFC 2633 describes the S/MIME format.
20650 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
20652 RFC 1730 is IMAP version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (IMAP 4
20653 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for IMAP. RFC
20654 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for IMAP. RFC 2359
20655 describes a IMAP protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
20656 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with IMAP. RFC 1731 describes the
20657 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for IMAP.
20661 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
20662 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
20667 @subsection Emacsen
20673 Gnus should work on :
20681 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
20685 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
20686 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
20689 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
20690 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
20691 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
20695 @node Gnus Development
20696 @subsection Gnus Development
20698 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
20699 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
20700 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
20701 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
20702 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
20703 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
20704 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
20705 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
20707 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
20708 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
20709 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
20710 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
20711 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
20714 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
20715 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
20716 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
20717 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
20718 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
20720 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
20721 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
20722 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
20723 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
20724 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
20725 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
20726 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
20727 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
20728 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
20729 can't be assumed to do so.
20734 @subsection Contributors
20735 @cindex contributors
20737 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
20738 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
20739 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
20740 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
20741 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
20742 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
20743 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
20744 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
20745 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
20746 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
20748 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
20754 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
20757 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
20758 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
20759 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
20760 functionality and stuff.
20763 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
20764 well as numerous other things).
20767 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
20770 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
20773 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
20776 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
20779 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
20780 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
20783 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
20786 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
20787 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
20790 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
20793 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
20796 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
20799 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
20802 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
20803 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
20806 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
20809 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
20812 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
20815 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
20819 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
20822 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
20825 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
20828 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
20829 well as autoconf support.
20833 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
20834 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
20836 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
20845 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
20849 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
20859 Alexei V. Barantsev,
20874 Massimo Campostrini,
20879 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
20880 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
20884 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
20887 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
20893 Michael Welsh Duggan,
20898 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
20902 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
20910 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
20912 Michelangelo Grigni,
20916 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
20918 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
20920 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
20927 François Felix Ingrand,
20928 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
20929 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
20931 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
20942 Peter Skov Knudsen,
20943 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
20945 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
20946 Thor Kristoffersen,
20949 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
20967 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
20968 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
20975 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
20980 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
20984 John McClary Prevost,
20990 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
20995 Christian von Roques,
20998 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
21005 Philippe Schnoebelen,
21007 Randal L. Schwartz,
21021 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
21026 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
21042 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
21047 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
21048 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
21049 (550kB and counting).
21051 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
21054 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
21055 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
21059 @subsection New Features
21060 @cindex new features
21063 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
21064 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
21065 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
21066 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
21067 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
21070 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
21071 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
21072 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
21075 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
21077 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
21082 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
21083 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
21086 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
21087 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
21090 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
21093 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
21094 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
21095 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
21098 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
21099 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
21100 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
21101 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
21104 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
21105 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
21108 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
21109 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
21110 (@pxref{The Active File}).
21113 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
21114 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
21117 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
21118 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
21119 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
21122 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
21123 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
21124 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
21127 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
21128 the @file{.emacs} file.
21131 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
21132 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
21135 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
21136 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
21139 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
21140 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
21143 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
21144 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
21147 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
21148 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
21151 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
21154 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
21155 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
21158 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
21159 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
21162 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
21163 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
21166 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
21169 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
21170 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
21173 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
21177 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
21181 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
21182 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
21185 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
21191 @node September Gnus
21192 @subsubsection September Gnus
21196 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
21200 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
21205 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
21206 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
21210 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
21211 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
21215 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
21219 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
21220 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
21223 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
21227 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
21230 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
21233 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
21236 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
21240 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
21241 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
21244 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
21248 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
21252 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
21256 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
21260 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
21263 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
21264 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
21267 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
21271 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
21272 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
21275 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
21278 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
21279 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
21280 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
21283 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
21287 The Gnus cache is much faster.
21290 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
21294 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
21295 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
21298 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
21299 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
21302 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
21303 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
21306 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
21307 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
21308 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
21311 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
21312 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
21315 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
21318 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
21321 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
21324 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
21327 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
21328 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
21331 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
21335 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
21338 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
21343 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
21346 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
21350 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
21353 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
21357 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
21360 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
21363 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
21364 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
21367 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
21368 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
21372 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
21373 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
21376 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
21380 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
21381 buffer to allow easier treatment.
21384 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
21387 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
21391 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
21395 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
21396 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
21399 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
21403 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
21404 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
21407 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
21408 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
21411 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
21415 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
21418 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
21421 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
21427 @subsubsection Red Gnus
21429 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
21433 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
21440 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
21443 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
21444 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
21447 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
21448 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
21452 Article washing status can be displayed in the
21453 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
21456 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
21459 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
21460 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
21463 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
21467 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
21468 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
21472 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
21473 Server Internals}).
21476 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
21480 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
21483 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
21484 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
21487 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
21488 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
21489 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
21492 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
21493 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
21496 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
21497 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
21500 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
21504 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
21505 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21508 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
21509 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
21512 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
21516 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
21519 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
21523 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
21524 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21527 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
21528 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
21531 A new command for reading collections of documents
21532 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
21533 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
21536 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
21540 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
21541 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
21544 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
21545 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
21546 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
21549 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
21550 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
21554 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
21558 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
21562 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
21567 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
21571 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
21575 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
21576 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
21579 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
21585 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
21587 New features in Gnus 5.6:
21592 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
21593 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
21594 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
21597 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
21598 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
21599 group, which is created automatically.
21602 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
21606 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
21609 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
21610 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
21613 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
21617 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
21620 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
21621 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
21624 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
21627 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
21628 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
21631 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
21632 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
21635 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
21636 control over simplification.
21639 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
21642 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
21646 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
21649 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
21652 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
21653 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
21654 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
21657 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
21658 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
21661 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
21665 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
21666 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
21669 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
21670 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
21673 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
21677 A history of where mails have been split is available.
21680 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
21683 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
21684 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
21687 A new function for citing in Message has been
21688 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
21691 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
21694 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
21698 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
21699 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
21702 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
21703 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
21706 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
21709 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
21713 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
21714 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
21716 New features in Gnus 5.8:
21721 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
21722 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
21724 If you used procmail like in
21727 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
21728 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
21729 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
21730 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
21733 this now has changed to
21737 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
21741 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
21742 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
21745 Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
21746 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
21749 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
21750 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
21753 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
21754 called to position point.
21757 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
21758 summary buffers and NOV files.
21761 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
21762 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
21765 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
21766 subtly different manner.
21769 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
21770 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
21771 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
21774 Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
21782 @section The Manual
21786 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
21787 either @code{texi2dvi}
21789 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
21790 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
21792 to get what you hold in your hands now.
21794 The following conventions have been used:
21799 This is a @samp{string}
21802 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
21805 This is a @file{file}
21808 This is a @code{symbol}
21812 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
21816 (setq flargnoze "yes")
21819 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
21822 (setq flumphel 'yes)
21825 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
21826 ever get them confused.
21830 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
21831 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
21832 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
21833 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
21834 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
21835 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
21836 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
21842 @node On Writing Manuals
21843 @section On Writing Manuals
21845 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
21846 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
21847 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
21848 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
21849 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
21850 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
21853 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
21854 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
21855 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
21858 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
21859 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
21864 @section Terminology
21866 @cindex terminology
21871 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
21872 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
21873 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
21874 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
21875 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
21879 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
21880 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
21881 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
21882 not posting, and replying is not following up.
21886 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
21890 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
21895 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of back ends, both news and mail
21896 back ends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
21897 is all done by the back ends.
21901 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
21902 default, way of getting news.
21906 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
21907 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
21912 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
21913 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
21917 A message that has been posted as news.
21920 @cindex mail message
21921 A message that has been mailed.
21925 A mail message or news article
21929 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
21934 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
21939 A line from the head of an article.
21943 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
21944 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
21948 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
21949 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
21950 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
21951 normal @sc{head} format.
21955 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
21956 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
21957 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
21958 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
21959 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
21960 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
21962 @item killed groups
21963 @cindex killed groups
21964 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
21965 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
21967 @item zombie groups
21968 @cindex zombie groups
21969 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
21972 @cindex active file
21973 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
21974 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
21975 is rather large, as you might surmise.
21978 @cindex bogus groups
21979 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
21980 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
21981 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
21984 @cindex activating groups
21985 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
21986 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
21987 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
21991 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
21993 @item select method
21994 @cindex select method
21995 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
21998 @item virtual server
21999 @cindex virtual server
22000 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
22001 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
22002 whole is a virtual server.
22006 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
22007 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
22010 @item ephemeral groups
22011 @cindex ephemeral groups
22012 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
22013 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
22014 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
22017 @cindex solid groups
22018 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
22019 group buffer are solid groups.
22021 @item sparse articles
22022 @cindex sparse articles
22023 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
22024 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
22028 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
22029 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
22033 @cindex thread root
22034 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
22035 articles in the thread.
22039 An article that has responses.
22043 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
22047 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
22048 specified by RFC 1153.
22054 @node Customization
22055 @section Customization
22056 @cindex general customization
22058 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
22059 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
22060 for some quite common situations.
22063 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
22064 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
22065 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
22066 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
22070 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
22071 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
22073 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
22074 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
22075 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
22079 @item gnus-read-active-file
22080 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
22081 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
22082 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
22083 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
22084 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
22086 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
22087 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
22088 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
22089 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
22093 @node Slow Terminal Connection
22094 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
22096 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
22097 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
22098 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
22102 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
22103 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
22104 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
22105 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
22106 horizontal and vertical recentering.
22108 @item gnus-visible-headers
22109 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
22110 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
22111 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
22112 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
22114 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
22116 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
22117 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
22118 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
22121 @item gnus-use-full-window
22122 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
22123 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
22124 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
22125 want to read them anyway.
22127 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
22128 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
22131 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
22132 Avaliable predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
22133 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
22138 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
22139 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
22140 gnus-article-unseen-p))
22143 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
22144 unread, but you get my drift.)
22147 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
22148 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
22149 lines, which might save some time.
22153 @node Little Disk Space
22154 @subsection Little Disk Space
22157 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
22158 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
22162 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
22163 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
22164 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
22165 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22168 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
22169 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
22170 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
22171 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22174 @item gnus-save-killed-list
22175 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
22176 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
22177 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
22178 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
22184 @subsection Slow Machine
22185 @cindex slow machine
22187 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
22188 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
22190 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
22191 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
22193 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
22194 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
22195 summary buffer faster.
22199 @node Troubleshooting
22200 @section Troubleshooting
22201 @cindex troubleshooting
22203 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
22211 Make sure your computer is switched on.
22214 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
22215 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
22219 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
22220 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
22221 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
22222 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
22225 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
22229 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
22230 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
22231 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
22232 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
22233 something like that.
22236 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
22239 @cindex reporting bugs
22241 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22243 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
22244 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
22245 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
22246 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
22248 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
22249 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
22250 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
22251 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
22254 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
22255 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
22256 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
22257 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
22258 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
22259 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
22261 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
22262 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
22263 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
22267 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
22268 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
22270 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
22271 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
22273 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
22274 @cindex ding mailing list
22275 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
22276 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
22280 @node Gnus Reference Guide
22281 @section Gnus Reference Guide
22283 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
22284 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
22285 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
22286 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
22289 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
22290 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
22291 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
22292 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
22293 and general methods of operation.
22296 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
22297 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
22298 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
22299 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
22300 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
22301 * Group Info:: The group info format.
22302 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
22303 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
22304 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
22308 @node Gnus Utility Functions
22309 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
22310 @cindex Gnus utility functions
22311 @cindex utility functions
22313 @cindex internal variables
22315 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
22316 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
22317 Below is a list of the most common ones.
22321 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
22322 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
22323 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
22325 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
22326 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
22327 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
22329 @item gnus-group-real-name
22330 @findex gnus-group-real-name
22331 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
22334 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
22335 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
22336 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
22337 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
22339 @item gnus-get-info
22340 @findex gnus-get-info
22341 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
22343 @item gnus-group-unread
22344 @findex gnus-group-unread
22345 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
22349 @findex gnus-active
22350 The active entry for @var{group}.
22352 @item gnus-set-active
22353 @findex gnus-set-active
22354 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
22356 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
22357 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
22358 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
22361 @item gnus-continuum-version
22362 @findex gnus-continuum-version
22363 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
22364 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
22367 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
22368 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
22369 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
22371 @item gnus-news-group-p
22372 @findex gnus-news-group-p
22373 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
22375 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
22376 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
22377 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
22379 @item gnus-server-to-method
22380 @findex gnus-server-to-method
22381 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
22383 @item gnus-server-equal
22384 @findex gnus-server-equal
22385 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
22387 @item gnus-group-native-p
22388 @findex gnus-group-native-p
22389 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
22391 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
22392 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
22393 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
22395 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
22396 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
22397 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
22399 @item group-group-find-parameter
22400 @findex group-group-find-parameter
22401 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
22402 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
22404 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
22405 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
22406 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
22408 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
22409 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
22410 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
22412 @item gnus-check-backend-function
22413 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
22414 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
22415 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
22418 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
22422 @item gnus-read-method
22423 @findex gnus-read-method
22424 Prompts the user for a select method.
22429 @node Back End Interface
22430 @subsection Back End Interface
22432 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
22433 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
22434 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
22435 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
22436 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
22437 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
22439 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
22440 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
22441 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
22442 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
22443 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
22444 been opened, the function should fail.
22446 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
22447 name. Take this example:
22451 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
22452 (nntp-port-number 4324))
22455 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
22456 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
22458 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
22459 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
22460 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
22462 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
22463 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
22464 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
22466 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
22467 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
22468 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
22469 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
22470 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
22471 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
22474 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
22475 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
22476 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
22477 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
22480 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
22481 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
22482 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
22483 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
22484 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
22485 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
22486 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
22487 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
22488 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
22489 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
22491 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
22492 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
22493 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
22494 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
22495 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
22496 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
22497 of numbers as long as possible.
22499 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
22502 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
22505 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
22506 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
22507 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
22508 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
22509 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
22510 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
22514 @node Required Back End Functions
22515 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
22519 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
22521 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
22522 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
22523 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
22524 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
22526 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
22527 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
22528 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
22529 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
22531 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
22532 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
22533 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
22534 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
22535 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
22536 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
22537 number, do maximum fetches.
22539 Here's an example HEAD:
22542 221 1056 Article retrieved.
22543 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
22544 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
22545 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
22546 Subject: Re: Something very droll
22547 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
22548 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
22550 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
22551 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
22552 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
22556 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
22557 these in the data buffer.
22559 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
22563 head = error / valid-head
22564 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
22565 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
22566 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
22567 header = <text> eol
22570 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
22571 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
22575 nov-buffer = *nov-line
22576 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
22577 field = <text except TAB>
22580 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
22584 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
22586 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
22587 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
22589 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
22590 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
22591 server. In fact, it should do so.
22593 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
22594 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
22597 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
22599 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
22600 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
22603 There should be no data returned.
22606 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
22608 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
22609 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
22610 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
22611 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
22613 There should be no data returned.
22616 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
22618 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
22619 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
22620 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
22621 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
22623 There should be no data returned.
22626 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
22628 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
22630 There should be no data returned.
22633 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
22635 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
22636 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
22637 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
22638 it would be nice if that were possible.
22640 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
22641 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
22642 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
22643 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
22644 into its article buffer.
22646 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
22647 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
22648 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
22649 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
22650 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
22651 on successful article retrieval.
22654 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
22656 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
22657 making @var{group} the current group.
22659 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
22662 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
22665 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
22668 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
22669 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
22670 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
22671 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
22672 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
22673 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
22674 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
22675 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
22678 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
22679 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
22680 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
22684 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
22686 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
22687 a no-op on most back ends.
22689 There should be no data returned.
22692 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
22694 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
22697 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
22700 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
22701 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
22704 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
22705 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
22708 active-file = *active-line
22709 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
22711 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
22714 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
22715 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
22716 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
22719 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
22721 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
22722 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
22723 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
22724 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
22725 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
22726 clear if the posting could not be completed.
22728 There should be no result data from this function.
22733 @node Optional Back End Functions
22734 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
22738 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
22740 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
22741 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
22742 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
22744 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
22745 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
22746 former is in the same format as the data from
22747 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
22748 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
22751 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
22755 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
22757 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
22758 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
22759 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
22760 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
22761 should return the (altered) group info.
22763 There should be no result data from this function.
22766 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
22768 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
22769 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
22770 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
22771 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
22772 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
22773 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
22774 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
22775 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
22777 There should be no result data from this function.
22780 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
22782 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
22783 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
22784 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
22785 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
22786 propagate the mark information to the server.
22788 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
22791 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
22794 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
22795 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
22796 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
22797 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
22798 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
22799 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
22800 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
22801 possible, not limit itself to these.
22803 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
22804 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
22805 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
22806 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
22808 An example action list:
22811 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
22812 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
22813 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
22816 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
22817 mark on (currently not used for anything).
22819 There should be no result data from this function.
22821 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
22823 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
22824 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
22825 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
22826 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
22827 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
22829 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
22830 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
22831 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
22834 There should be no result data from this function.
22837 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
22839 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
22840 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
22841 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
22842 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
22843 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
22844 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
22845 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
22847 There should be no result data from this function.
22850 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
22852 The result data from this function should be a description of
22856 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
22858 description = <text>
22861 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
22863 The result data from this function should be the description of all
22864 groups available on the server.
22867 description-buffer = *description-line
22871 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
22873 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
22874 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
22875 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
22876 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
22877 in the active buffer format.
22879 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
22880 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
22881 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
22882 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
22883 many groups, so nnml and the like are probably safe. But for back ends
22884 like nntp, where the groups have been created by the server, it is quite
22885 likely that there can be many groups.
22888 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
22890 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
22892 There should be no return data.
22895 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
22897 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
22898 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
22899 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
22900 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
22901 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
22904 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
22907 There should be no result data returned.
22910 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
22913 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
22914 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
22916 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
22917 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
22918 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
22919 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
22920 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
22921 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
22923 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
22924 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
22927 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
22928 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
22930 There should be no data returned.
22933 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
22935 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
22936 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
22937 this function in short order.
22939 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
22940 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
22942 There should be no data returned.
22945 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
22947 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
22948 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
22950 There should be no data returned.
22953 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
22955 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
22956 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
22957 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
22959 There should be no data returned.
22962 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
22964 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
22965 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
22967 There should be no data returned.
22972 @node Error Messaging
22973 @subsubsection Error Messaging
22975 @findex nnheader-report
22976 @findex nnheader-get-report
22977 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
22978 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
22979 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
22980 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
22981 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
22982 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
22985 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
22987 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
22990 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
22991 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
22992 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
22993 takes one argument---the server symbol.
22995 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
22996 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
22997 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
23000 @node Writing New Back Ends
23001 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
23003 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
23004 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
23005 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
23006 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
23007 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
23010 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
23011 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
23012 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
23014 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
23015 package called @code{nnoo}.
23017 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
23018 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
23024 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
23025 parameters. For instance:
23028 (nnoo-declare nndir
23032 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
23033 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
23036 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
23037 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
23038 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
23040 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
23041 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
23042 a function in those back ends.
23045 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
23046 "Where nndir will look for groups."
23047 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
23050 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
23051 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
23052 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
23054 @item nnoo-define-basics
23055 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
23059 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
23063 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
23064 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
23065 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
23067 @item nnoo-map-functions
23068 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
23069 functions from the parent back ends.
23072 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
23073 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23074 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
23077 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
23078 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
23079 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
23080 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
23083 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
23084 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
23085 haven't already been defined.
23091 nnmh-request-newgroups)
23095 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
23096 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
23097 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
23102 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
23105 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
23106 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
23110 (require 'nnheader)
23114 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
23116 (nnoo-declare nndir
23119 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
23120 "Where nndir will look for groups."
23121 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
23123 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
23124 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
23127 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
23129 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
23130 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
23131 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
23133 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
23134 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
23136 ;;; Interface functions.
23138 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
23140 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
23141 (setq nndir-directory
23142 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
23144 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
23145 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
23146 (push `(nndir-current-group
23147 ,(file-name-nondirectory
23148 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
23150 (push `(nndir-top-directory
23151 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
23153 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
23155 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
23156 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23157 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23158 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
23159 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
23163 nnmh-status-message
23165 nnmh-request-newgroups))
23171 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
23172 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
23174 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
23175 @findex gnus-declare-backend
23176 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
23177 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
23178 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
23180 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
23181 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
23186 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
23189 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
23191 The abilities can be:
23195 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
23197 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
23199 This back end supports both mail and news.
23201 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
23204 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
23205 articles and groups.
23207 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
23208 true for almost all back ends.
23209 @item prompt-address
23210 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
23211 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
23212 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
23216 @node Mail-like Back Ends
23217 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
23219 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
23220 back ends is the heavy dependence by the mail back ends on common
23221 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
23222 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
23225 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
23226 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
23227 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
23230 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
23231 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
23234 This function takes four parameters.
23238 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
23241 @item exit-function
23242 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
23244 @item temp-directory
23245 Where the temporary files should be stored.
23248 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
23249 performed for one group only.
23252 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
23253 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
23254 find the article number assigned to this article.
23256 The function also uses the following variables:
23257 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
23258 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
23259 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
23260 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
23264 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
23265 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
23269 @node Score File Syntax
23270 @subsection Score File Syntax
23272 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
23273 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
23274 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
23276 Here's a typical score file:
23280 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
23287 BNF definition of a score file:
23290 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
23291 element = rule / atom
23292 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
23293 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
23294 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
23295 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
23297 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
23298 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
23299 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
23300 date-header = "date"
23301 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
23302 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
23303 score = "nil" / <integer>
23304 date = "nil" / <natural number>
23305 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
23306 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
23307 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
23308 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
23309 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
23310 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
23311 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
23312 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
23313 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
23314 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
23315 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
23316 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
23317 exclude-files / read-only / touched
23318 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
23319 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
23320 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
23321 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
23322 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
23323 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
23324 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
23325 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
23326 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
23327 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
23328 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
23329 eval = "eval" space <form>
23330 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
23333 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
23336 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
23337 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
23338 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
23339 one looong line, then that's ok.
23341 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
23342 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23346 @subsection Headers
23348 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
23349 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
23350 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
23351 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
23353 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
23354 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
23355 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
23356 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
23357 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
23358 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
23359 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
23361 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
23362 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
23363 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
23364 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
23365 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
23367 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
23368 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
23374 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
23375 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
23377 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
23378 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
23379 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
23380 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
23382 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
23386 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
23389 is transformed into
23392 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
23395 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
23396 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
23399 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
23402 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
23403 is slightly tricky:
23406 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
23412 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
23415 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
23421 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
23428 and is equal to the previous range.
23430 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
23431 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
23432 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
23436 range = simple-range / normal-range
23437 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
23438 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
23439 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
23440 number *[ " " contents ]
23443 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
23444 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
23445 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
23446 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
23447 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
23452 @subsection Group Info
23454 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
23455 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
23456 describes the group.
23458 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
23459 second is a more complex one:
23462 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
23464 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
23465 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
23467 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
23470 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
23471 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
23472 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
23473 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
23474 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
23475 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
23476 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
23477 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
23478 this section is about.
23480 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
23481 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
23482 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
23484 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
23487 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
23488 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
23489 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
23490 group = quote <string> quote
23491 ralevel = rank / level
23492 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
23493 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
23494 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
23496 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
23497 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
23498 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
23499 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
23502 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
23503 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
23506 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
23507 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
23510 @item gnus-info-group
23511 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
23512 @findex gnus-info-group
23513 @findex gnus-info-set-group
23514 Get/set the group name.
23516 @item gnus-info-rank
23517 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
23518 @findex gnus-info-rank
23519 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
23520 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
23522 @item gnus-info-level
23523 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
23524 @findex gnus-info-level
23525 @findex gnus-info-set-level
23526 Get/set the group level.
23528 @item gnus-info-score
23529 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
23530 @findex gnus-info-score
23531 @findex gnus-info-set-score
23532 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
23534 @item gnus-info-read
23535 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
23536 @findex gnus-info-read
23537 @findex gnus-info-set-read
23538 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
23540 @item gnus-info-marks
23541 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
23542 @findex gnus-info-marks
23543 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
23544 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
23546 @item gnus-info-method
23547 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
23548 @findex gnus-info-method
23549 @findex gnus-info-set-method
23550 Get/set the group select method.
23552 @item gnus-info-params
23553 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
23554 @findex gnus-info-params
23555 @findex gnus-info-set-params
23556 Get/set the group parameters.
23559 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
23560 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
23562 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
23563 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
23564 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
23565 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
23568 @node Extended Interactive
23569 @subsection Extended Interactive
23570 @cindex interactive
23571 @findex gnus-interactive
23573 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
23574 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
23575 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
23578 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
23579 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
23584 The best thing to do would have been to implement
23585 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
23586 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
23587 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
23588 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
23589 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
23590 @code{interactive}.
23592 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
23597 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
23598 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
23602 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
23603 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
23604 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
23607 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
23611 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
23615 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
23621 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
23622 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
23626 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
23627 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
23628 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
23630 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
23631 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
23632 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
23633 Gnus, that's very useful.
23635 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
23636 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
23637 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
23638 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
23639 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
23640 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
23641 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
23642 following function:
23645 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
23649 (,function ,@@args))
23653 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
23654 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
23655 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
23658 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
23659 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
23660 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
23662 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
23663 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
23664 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
23667 @node Various File Formats
23668 @subsection Various File Formats
23671 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
23672 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
23676 @node Active File Format
23677 @subsubsection Active File Format
23679 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
23680 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
23683 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
23686 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
23687 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
23688 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
23689 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
23690 no.general 1000 900 y
23693 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
23696 active = *group-line
23697 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
23698 group = <non-white-space string>
23700 high-number = <non-negative integer>
23701 low-number = <positive integer>
23702 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
23705 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
23706 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
23709 @node Newsgroups File Format
23710 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
23712 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
23713 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
23714 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
23717 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
23718 Here's the definition:
23722 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
23723 group = <non-white-space string>
23725 description = <string>
23730 @node Emacs for Heathens
23731 @section Emacs for Heathens
23733 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
23734 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
23735 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
23736 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
23737 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
23738 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
23739 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
23743 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
23744 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
23749 @subsection Keystrokes
23753 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
23756 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
23759 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
23760 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
23761 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
23762 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
23763 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
23764 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
23766 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
23767 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
23768 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
23769 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
23770 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
23771 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
23772 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
23774 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
23775 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
23776 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
23777 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
23778 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
23779 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
23780 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
23782 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
23783 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
23784 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
23785 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
23786 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
23792 @subsection Emacs Lisp
23794 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
23795 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
23796 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
23797 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
23799 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
23800 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
23801 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
23802 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
23803 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
23804 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
23805 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
23808 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
23809 write the following:
23812 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
23815 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
23816 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
23817 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
23820 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
23821 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
23822 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
23823 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
23824 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
23826 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
23827 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
23828 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
23832 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
23836 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
23839 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
23840 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
23843 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
23846 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
23847 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
23850 @include gnus-faq.texi
23870 @c Local Variables:
23872 @c coding: iso-8859-1
23874 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
23875 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
23876 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
23877 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
23878 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref