1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
4 @settitle Pterodactyl Gnus 0.2 Manual
9 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
14 @setchapternewpage odd
18 \documentclass[twoside,a4paper,openright,11pt]{book}
19 \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
20 \usepackage{pagestyle}
28 \newcommand{\gnuschaptername}{}
29 \newcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
31 \newcommand{\gnusbackslash}{/}
33 \newcommand{\gnusxref}[1]{See ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
34 \newcommand{\gnuspxref}[1]{see ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
36 \newcommand{\gnuskindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
37 \newcommand{\gnusindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
39 \newcommand{\gnustt}[1]{{\fontfamily{pfu}\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont #1}}
40 \newcommand{\gnuscode}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
41 \newcommand{\gnussamp}[1]{``{\fontencoding{OT1}\fontfamily{pfu}\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont #1}''}
42 \newcommand{\gnuslisp}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
43 \newcommand{\gnuskbd}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
44 \newcommand{\gnusfile}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
45 \newcommand{\gnusdfn}[1]{\textit{#1}}
46 \newcommand{\gnusi}[1]{\textit{#1}}
47 \newcommand{\gnusstrong}[1]{\textbf{#1}}
48 \newcommand{\gnusemph}[1]{\textit{#1}}
49 \newcommand{\gnusvar}[1]{{\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont\textsl{\textsf{#1}}}}
50 \newcommand{\gnussc}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
51 \newcommand{\gnustitle}[1]{{\huge\textbf{#1}}}
52 \newcommand{\gnusauthor}[1]{{\large\textbf{#1}}}
54 \newcommand{\gnusbullet}{{${\bullet}$}}
55 \newcommand{\gnusdollar}{\$}
56 \newcommand{\gnusampersand}{\&}
57 \newcommand{\gnuspercent}{\%}
58 \newcommand{\gnushash}{\#}
59 \newcommand{\gnushat}{\symbol{"5E}}
60 \newcommand{\gnusunderline}{\symbol{"5F}}
61 \newcommand{\gnusnot}{$\neg$}
62 \newcommand{\gnustilde}{\symbol{"7E}}
63 \newcommand{\gnusless}{{$<$}}
64 \newcommand{\gnusgreater}{{$>$}}
65 \newcommand{\gnusbraceleft}{{$>$}}
66 \newcommand{\gnusbraceright}{{$>$}}
68 \newcommand{\gnushead}{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-head.eps,height=1cm}}}
69 \newcommand{\gnusinteresting}{
70 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\gnushead]{\gnushead}
73 \newcommand{\gnuscleardoublepage}{\ifodd\count0\mbox{}\clearpage\thispagestyle{empty}\mbox{}\clearpage\else\clearpage\fi}
75 \newcommand{\gnuspagechapter}[1]{
82 \newcommand{\gnuschapter}[2]{
84 \ifdim \gnusdimen = 0pt\setcounter{page}{1}\pagestyle{gnus}\pagenumbering{arabic} \gnusdimen 1pt\fi
86 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
87 \renewcommand{\gnuschaptername}{#2}
90 \begin{picture}(500,500)(0,0)
91 \put(480,350){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{#1}}
92 \put(40,300){\makebox(500,50)[bl]{{\Huge\bf{#2}}}}
97 \newcommand{\gnusfigure}[3]{
99 \mbox{}\ifodd\count0\hspace*{-0.8cm}\else\hspace*{-3cm}\fi\begin{picture}(440,#2)
106 \newcommand{\gnusicon}[1]{
107 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\raisebox{-1.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/#1-up.ps,height=1.5cm}}]{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/#1-up.ps,height=1cm}}}
110 \newcommand{\gnuspicon}[1]{
111 \margindex{\epsfig{figure=#1,width=2cm}}
114 \newcommand{\gnusxface}[2]{
115 \margindex{\epsfig{figure=#1,width=1cm}\epsfig{figure=#2,width=1cm}}
118 \newcommand{\gnussmiley}[2]{
119 \margindex{\makebox[2cm]{\hfill\epsfig{figure=#1,width=0.5cm}\hfill\epsfig{figure=#2,width=0.5cm}\hfill}}
122 \newcommand{\gnusitemx}[1]{\mbox{}\vspace*{-\itemsep}\vspace*{-\parsep}\item#1}
124 \newcommand{\gnussection}[1]{
125 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{#1}
129 \newenvironment{codelist}%
134 \newenvironment{kbdlist}%
140 \newenvironment{dfnlist}%
145 \newenvironment{stronglist}%
150 \newenvironment{samplist}%
155 \newenvironment{varlist}%
160 \newenvironment{emphlist}%
165 \newlength\gnusheadtextwidth
166 \setlength{\gnusheadtextwidth}{\headtextwidth}
167 \addtolength{\gnusheadtextwidth}{1cm}
169 \newpagestyle{gnuspreamble}%
174 \hspace*{-0.23cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\mbox{}}\textbf{\hfill\roman{page}}}
178 \hspace*{-3.25cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\roman{page}\hfill\mbox{}}}
187 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
189 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
194 \newpagestyle{gnusindex}%
199 \hspace*{-0.23cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\gnuschaptername\hfill\arabic{page}}}}
203 \hspace*{-3.25cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}}}
211 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
213 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
223 \makebox[12cm]{\hspace*{3.1cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}} \textbf{\gnussectionname\hfill\arabic{page}}}}}
227 \makebox[12cm]{\hspace*{-2.95cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}}}}
235 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
237 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
242 \pagenumbering{roman}
243 \pagestyle{gnuspreamble}
253 %\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-5cm}
254 %\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-5cm}
256 \addtolength{\textheight}{2cm}
258 \gnustitle{\gnustitlename}\\
261 \hspace*{0cm}\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=15cm}
264 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
271 \thispagestyle{empty}
273 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
275 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
276 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
277 are preserved on all copies.
279 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
280 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
281 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
282 permission notice identical to this one.
284 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
285 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
294 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
296 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
299 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
300 are preserved on all copies.
303 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
304 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
305 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
306 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
309 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
310 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
311 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
312 permission notice identical to this one.
314 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
315 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
321 @title Pterodactyl Gnus 0.2 Manual
323 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
326 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
327 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
329 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
330 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
331 are preserved on all copies.
333 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
334 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
335 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
336 permission notice identical to this one.
338 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
339 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
348 @top The Gnus Newsreader
352 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
353 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
354 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
357 This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus 0.2.
368 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
369 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
371 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
372 being accused of plagiarism:
374 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
375 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
376 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
377 even read news with it!
379 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
380 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
381 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
382 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
383 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
390 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
391 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
392 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
393 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
394 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
395 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
396 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
397 * Various:: General purpose settings.
398 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
399 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
400 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
401 * Key Index:: Key Index.
405 @chapter Starting Gnus
410 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
411 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
414 @findex gnus-other-frame
415 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
416 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
417 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
419 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
420 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
421 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
423 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
424 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
427 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
428 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
429 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
430 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
431 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
432 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
433 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
434 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
435 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
436 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
437 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
441 @node Finding the News
442 @section Finding the News
445 @vindex gnus-select-method
447 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
448 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
449 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
450 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
453 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
454 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
457 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
460 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
463 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
466 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
467 certainly be much faster.
469 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
471 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
472 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
473 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
474 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
475 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
476 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
478 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
479 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
480 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
481 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
483 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
484 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
485 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
486 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
487 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
488 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
490 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
492 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
493 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
494 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
495 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
496 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
497 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
499 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
501 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
502 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
503 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
504 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
505 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
506 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
509 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
510 would typically set this variable to
513 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
518 @section The First Time
519 @cindex first time usage
521 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
522 be subscribed by default.
524 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
525 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
526 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
527 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
530 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
531 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
532 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
534 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
535 help you with most common problems.
537 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
538 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
542 @node The Server is Down
543 @section The Server is Down
544 @cindex server errors
546 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
547 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
548 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
550 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
551 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
552 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
553 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
554 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
555 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
556 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
558 @findex gnus-no-server
559 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
561 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
562 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
563 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
564 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
565 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
566 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
571 @section Slave Gnusae
574 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
575 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
576 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
577 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
579 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
582 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
583 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
584 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
585 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
586 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
587 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
588 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
590 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
591 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
592 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
593 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
594 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
595 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
596 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
597 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
599 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
600 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
603 @node Fetching a Group
604 @section Fetching a Group
605 @cindex fetching a group
607 @findex gnus-fetch-group
608 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
609 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
610 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
611 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
612 It takes the group name as a parameter.
620 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
621 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
622 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
623 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
624 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
625 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
626 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
627 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
628 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
631 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
632 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
633 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
637 @node Checking New Groups
638 @subsection Checking New Groups
640 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
641 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
642 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
643 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
644 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
645 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
646 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
647 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
648 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
649 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
651 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
652 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
653 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
654 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
655 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
656 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
657 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
658 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
659 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
660 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
661 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
663 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
664 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
665 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
666 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
667 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
668 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
671 @node Subscription Methods
672 @subsection Subscription Methods
674 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
675 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
676 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
678 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
679 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
681 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
685 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
686 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
687 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
688 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
689 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
691 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
692 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
693 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
694 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
696 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
697 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
698 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
700 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
701 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
702 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
703 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
704 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
705 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
706 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
707 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
708 up. Or something like that.
710 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
711 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
712 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
713 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
714 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
716 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
717 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
722 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
723 A closely related variable is
724 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
725 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
726 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
727 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
730 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
731 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
732 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
733 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
736 @node Filtering New Groups
737 @subsection Filtering New Groups
739 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
740 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
741 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
744 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
747 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
748 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
749 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
750 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
751 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
752 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
753 subscribing these groups.
754 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
755 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
757 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
758 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
759 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
760 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
761 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
762 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
763 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
764 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
766 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
767 Yet another variable that meddles here is
768 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
769 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
770 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
771 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
772 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
773 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
774 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
775 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
777 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
778 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
781 @node Changing Servers
782 @section Changing Servers
783 @cindex changing servers
785 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
786 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
787 very flaky and you want to use another.
789 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
790 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
794 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
795 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
796 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
797 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
800 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
801 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
802 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
803 functions more than absolutely necessary.
805 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
806 @findex gnus-change-server
807 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
808 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
809 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
810 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
811 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
813 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
814 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
815 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
816 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
817 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
819 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
820 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
821 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
822 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
823 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
824 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
828 @section Startup Files
829 @cindex startup files
834 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
835 information is traditionally stored in this file.
837 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
838 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
839 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
840 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
841 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
842 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
843 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
845 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
846 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
847 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
848 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
849 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
850 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
852 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
853 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
854 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
855 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
856 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
857 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
859 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
860 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
861 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
862 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
863 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
864 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
865 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
866 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
867 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
868 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
869 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
870 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
872 @vindex gnus-startup-file
873 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
874 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
875 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
877 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
878 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
879 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
880 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
881 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
882 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
883 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
884 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
885 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
886 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
889 (defun turn-off-backup ()
890 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
892 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
893 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
896 @vindex gnus-init-file
897 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
898 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
899 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
900 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
901 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
902 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
903 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
904 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
905 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
914 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
915 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
916 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
917 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
918 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
921 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
922 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
925 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
926 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
927 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
929 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
930 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
931 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
932 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
933 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
934 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
936 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
937 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
938 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
941 @node The Active File
942 @section The Active File
944 @cindex ignored groups
946 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
947 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
948 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
950 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
951 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
952 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
953 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
954 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
955 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
956 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
959 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
960 @c if you set it to anything else.
962 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
964 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
965 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
966 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
968 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
969 you actually subscribe to.
971 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
972 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
973 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
974 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
976 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
977 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
978 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
979 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
980 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
981 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
983 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
984 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
985 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
986 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
987 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
988 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
990 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
991 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
993 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
994 secondary select methods.
997 @node Startup Variables
998 @section Startup Variables
1002 @item gnus-load-hook
1003 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1004 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1005 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1006 times you start Gnus.
1008 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1009 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1010 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1012 @item gnus-startup-hook
1013 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1014 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1016 @item gnus-started-hook
1017 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1018 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1021 @item gnus-started-hook
1022 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1023 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1024 generating the group buffer.
1026 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1027 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1028 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1029 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1030 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1031 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1032 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1033 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1035 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1036 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1037 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1038 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1039 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1040 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1042 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1043 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1044 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1046 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1047 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1048 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1050 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1051 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1052 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1053 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1058 @node The Group Buffer
1059 @chapter The Group Buffer
1060 @cindex group buffer
1062 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1063 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1064 long as Gnus is active.
1068 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1069 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1070 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1071 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1072 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1073 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1074 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1075 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1081 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1082 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1083 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1084 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1085 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1086 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1087 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1088 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1089 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1090 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1091 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1092 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1093 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1094 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1095 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1096 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1097 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1101 @node Group Buffer Format
1102 @section Group Buffer Format
1105 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1106 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1107 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1111 @node Group Line Specification
1112 @subsection Group Line Specification
1113 @cindex group buffer format
1115 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1116 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1118 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1121 25: news.announce.newusers
1122 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1127 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1128 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1129 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1130 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1132 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1133 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1134 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1135 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1136 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1137 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1139 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1141 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1142 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1143 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1144 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1147 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1148 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1149 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1151 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1156 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1159 Whether the group is subscribed.
1162 Level of subscribedness.
1165 Number of unread articles.
1168 Number of dormant articles.
1171 Number of ticked articles.
1174 Number of read articles.
1177 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1178 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1181 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1184 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1193 Newsgroup description.
1196 @samp{m} if moderated.
1199 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1208 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1212 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1215 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1216 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1217 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1218 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1219 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1222 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1224 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1228 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1232 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1233 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1234 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1235 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1236 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1237 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1242 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1243 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1244 group, or a bogus native group.
1247 @node Group Modeline Specification
1248 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1249 @cindex group modeline
1251 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1252 The mode line can be changed by setting
1253 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1254 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1258 The native news server.
1260 The native select method.
1264 @node Group Highlighting
1265 @subsection Group Highlighting
1266 @cindex highlighting
1267 @cindex group highlighting
1269 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1270 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1271 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1272 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1273 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1275 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1279 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1
1280 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1281 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2
1282 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1283 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3
1284 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1285 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4
1286 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1287 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5
1288 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1290 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1291 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1292 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1293 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1294 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1295 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1298 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1300 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1307 The number of unread articles in the group.
1311 Whether the group is a mail group.
1313 The level of the group.
1315 The score of the group.
1317 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1319 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1320 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1322 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1323 topic being inserted.
1326 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1327 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1328 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1330 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1331 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1332 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1333 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1334 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1337 @node Group Maneuvering
1338 @section Group Maneuvering
1339 @cindex group movement
1341 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1342 expected, hopefully.
1348 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1349 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1350 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1356 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1357 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1358 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1362 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1363 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1367 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1368 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1372 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1373 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1374 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1378 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1379 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1380 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1383 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1389 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1390 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1391 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1396 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1397 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1398 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1402 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1403 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1404 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1407 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1408 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1409 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1410 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1414 @node Selecting a Group
1415 @section Selecting a Group
1416 @cindex group selection
1421 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1422 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1423 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1424 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1425 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1426 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1427 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1428 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1429 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1430 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1434 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1435 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1436 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1437 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1438 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1442 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1443 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1444 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1445 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1446 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1447 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1448 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1449 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1450 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1451 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1454 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1455 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1456 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1457 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1458 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1461 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1462 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1463 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1464 doing any processing of its contents
1465 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1466 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1467 manner will have no permanent effects.
1471 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1472 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1473 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1474 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1475 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1476 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1477 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1478 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1481 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1482 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1483 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1484 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1489 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1490 full summary buffer.
1493 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1496 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1500 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1501 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1502 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1506 @node Subscription Commands
1507 @section Subscription Commands
1508 @cindex subscription
1516 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1517 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1518 Toggle subscription to the current group
1519 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1525 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1526 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1527 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1528 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1534 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1535 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1536 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1542 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1543 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1546 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1547 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1548 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1549 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1550 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1556 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1557 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1561 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1562 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1565 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1566 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1567 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1568 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1569 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1570 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1571 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1572 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1573 @file{.newsrc} file.
1577 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1587 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1588 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1589 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1590 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1591 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1592 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1597 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1598 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1599 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1603 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1604 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1605 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1607 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1608 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1609 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1610 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1611 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1612 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1619 @section Group Levels
1623 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1624 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1625 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1626 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1627 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1629 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1635 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1636 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1637 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1638 prompted for a level.
1641 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1642 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1643 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1644 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1645 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1646 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1647 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1648 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1649 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1650 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1651 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1652 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1653 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1654 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1655 reasons of efficiency.
1657 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1658 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1660 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1661 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1662 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1664 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1665 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1666 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1667 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1668 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1669 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1670 relevant valid ranges.
1672 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1673 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1674 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1675 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1676 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1677 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1680 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1681 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1682 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1685 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1686 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1687 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1688 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1691 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1692 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1693 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1694 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1696 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1697 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1698 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1699 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1700 to 5. The default is 6.
1704 @section Group Score
1709 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1710 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1711 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1714 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1715 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1716 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1717 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1718 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1719 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1720 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1722 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1723 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1724 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1725 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1726 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1727 action after each summary exit, you can add
1728 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1729 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1730 slow things down somewhat.
1733 @node Marking Groups
1734 @section Marking Groups
1735 @cindex marking groups
1737 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1738 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1739 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1740 bidding on those groups.
1742 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1743 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1744 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1752 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1753 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1759 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1760 Remove the mark from the current group
1761 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1765 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1766 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1770 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1771 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1775 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1776 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1780 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1781 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1782 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1785 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1787 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1788 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1789 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1790 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1791 the command to be executed.
1794 @node Foreign Groups
1795 @section Foreign Groups
1796 @cindex foreign groups
1798 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1799 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1800 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1801 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1808 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1809 @cindex making groups
1810 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1811 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1812 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1816 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1817 @cindex renaming groups
1818 Rename the current group to something else
1819 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1820 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1826 @findex gnus-group-customize
1827 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1831 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1832 @cindex renaming groups
1833 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1834 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1838 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1839 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1840 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1844 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1845 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1846 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1850 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1852 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1853 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1858 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1859 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1863 @cindex (ding) archive
1864 @cindex archive group
1865 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1866 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1867 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1868 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1869 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1870 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1871 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1875 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1877 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1878 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1879 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1880 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1884 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1886 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1887 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1888 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1892 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1893 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1895 Make a group based on some file or other
1896 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1897 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1898 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1899 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1900 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1901 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1902 @xref{Document Groups}.
1906 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
1907 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
1908 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
1909 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
1913 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1918 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1919 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1920 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1921 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1922 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1923 @xref{Web Searches}.
1925 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1926 to a particular group by using a match string like
1927 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1930 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1931 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1932 This function will delete the current group
1933 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1934 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1935 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1936 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1937 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1941 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1942 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1943 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1947 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1948 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1949 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1952 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1955 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1956 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1957 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1958 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1959 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1960 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1964 @node Group Parameters
1965 @section Group Parameters
1966 @cindex group parameters
1968 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
1969 Here's an example group parameter list:
1972 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
1976 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
1977 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
1978 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
1979 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
1981 The following group parameters can be used:
1986 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
1989 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
1992 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
1993 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
1994 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
1995 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
1996 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
1998 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1999 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2000 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2001 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2002 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2003 list address instead.
2007 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2010 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2013 It is totally ignored
2014 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2015 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2017 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2018 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2019 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2020 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2021 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2023 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2024 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2025 sending the message.
2029 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2030 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2031 of whether it has any unread articles.
2033 @item broken-reply-to
2034 @cindex broken-reply-to
2035 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2036 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2037 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2038 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2039 broken behavior. So there!
2043 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2044 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2048 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2049 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2050 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2055 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2056 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2057 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2058 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2059 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2060 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2061 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2065 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2066 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2067 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2070 @cindex total-expire
2071 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2072 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2073 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2074 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2079 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2080 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2081 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2082 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2083 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2084 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2087 @cindex score file group parameter
2088 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2089 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2090 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2093 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2094 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2095 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2096 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2099 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2100 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2101 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2102 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2105 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2106 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2110 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2113 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2118 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2119 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2120 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2123 @item @var{(variable form)}
2124 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2125 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2126 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2127 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2128 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2129 @code{eval}ed there.
2131 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2132 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2133 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2134 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2135 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2139 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2140 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2144 @node Listing Groups
2145 @section Listing Groups
2146 @cindex group listing
2148 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2156 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2157 List all groups that have unread articles
2158 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2159 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2160 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2161 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2168 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2169 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2170 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2171 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2172 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2173 unsubscribed groups).
2177 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2178 List all unread groups on a specific level
2179 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2180 with no unread articles.
2184 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2185 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2186 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2187 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2192 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2193 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2197 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2198 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2199 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2203 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2204 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2208 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2209 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2210 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2211 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2212 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2213 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2214 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2215 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2219 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2220 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2221 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2225 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2226 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2227 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2231 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2232 @cindex visible group parameter
2233 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2234 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2235 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2236 get the same effect.
2238 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2239 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2240 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2241 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2242 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2245 @node Sorting Groups
2246 @section Sorting Groups
2247 @cindex sorting groups
2249 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2250 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2251 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2252 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2253 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2254 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2259 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2260 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2261 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2263 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2264 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2265 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2267 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2268 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2269 Sort by group level.
2271 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2272 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2273 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2275 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2276 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2277 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2278 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2280 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2281 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2282 Sort by number of unread articles.
2284 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2285 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2286 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2291 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2292 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2296 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2297 some sorting criteria:
2301 @kindex G S a (Group)
2302 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2303 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2304 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2307 @kindex G S u (Group)
2308 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2309 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2310 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2313 @kindex G S l (Group)
2314 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2315 Sort the group buffer by group level
2316 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2319 @kindex G S v (Group)
2320 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2321 Sort the group buffer by group score
2322 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2325 @kindex G S r (Group)
2326 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2327 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2328 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2331 @kindex G S m (Group)
2332 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2333 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2334 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2338 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2340 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2344 @kindex G P a (Group)
2345 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2346 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2347 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2350 @kindex G P u (Group)
2351 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2352 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2353 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2356 @kindex G P l (Group)
2357 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2358 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2359 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2362 @kindex G P v (Group)
2363 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2364 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2365 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2368 @kindex G P r (Group)
2369 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2370 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2371 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2374 @kindex G P m (Group)
2375 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2376 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2377 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2383 @node Group Maintenance
2384 @section Group Maintenance
2385 @cindex bogus groups
2390 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2391 Find bogus groups and delete them
2392 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2396 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2397 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2398 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2399 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2400 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2404 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2405 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2406 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2407 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2410 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2411 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2412 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2413 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2418 @node Browse Foreign Server
2419 @section Browse Foreign Server
2420 @cindex foreign servers
2421 @cindex browsing servers
2426 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2427 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2428 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2429 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2432 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2433 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2434 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2435 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2437 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2442 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2443 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2447 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2448 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2451 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2452 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2453 Enter the current group and display the first article
2454 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2457 @kindex RET (Browse)
2458 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2459 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2463 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2464 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2465 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2471 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2472 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2476 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2477 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2478 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2483 @section Exiting Gnus
2484 @cindex exiting Gnus
2486 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2491 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2492 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2493 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2494 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2498 @findex gnus-group-exit
2499 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2500 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2504 @findex gnus-group-quit
2505 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2506 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2509 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2510 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2511 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2512 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2513 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2518 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2519 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2520 trying to customize meta-variables.
2525 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2526 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2527 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2533 @section Group Topics
2536 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2537 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2538 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2539 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2540 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2541 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2545 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2546 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2557 2: alt.religion.emacs
2560 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2562 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2563 13: comp.sources.unix
2566 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2568 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2569 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2570 is a toggling command.)
2572 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2573 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2574 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2575 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2578 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2579 the hook for the group mode:
2582 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2586 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2587 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2588 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2589 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2590 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2594 @node Topic Variables
2595 @subsection Topic Variables
2596 @cindex topic variables
2598 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2599 really neat, I think.
2601 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2602 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2603 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2616 Number of groups in the topic.
2618 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2620 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2623 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2624 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2625 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2628 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2629 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2631 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2632 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2633 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2636 @node Topic Commands
2637 @subsection Topic Commands
2638 @cindex topic commands
2640 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2641 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2642 definitions slightly.
2648 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2649 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2650 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2654 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2655 Move the current group to some other topic
2656 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2657 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2661 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2662 Copy the current group to some other topic
2663 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2664 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2668 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2669 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2670 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2671 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2672 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2673 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2674 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2677 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2678 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2682 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2683 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2684 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2688 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2689 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2690 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2694 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2695 Toggle hiding empty topics
2696 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2700 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2701 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2702 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2705 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2706 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2707 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2708 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2712 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2714 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2715 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2716 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2717 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2718 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2719 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2723 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2725 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2726 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2727 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2728 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2731 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2732 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2733 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2734 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2738 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2739 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2740 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2744 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2745 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2746 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2751 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2752 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2755 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2756 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2757 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2761 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2762 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2763 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2767 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2768 @cindex group parameters
2769 @cindex topic parameters
2771 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2772 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2778 @subsection Topic Sorting
2779 @cindex topic sorting
2781 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2787 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2788 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2789 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2790 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2793 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2794 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2795 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2796 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2799 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2800 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2801 Sort the current topic by group level
2802 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2805 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2806 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2807 Sort the current topic by group score
2808 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2811 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2812 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2813 Sort the current topic by group rank
2814 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2817 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2818 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2819 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2820 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2824 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2827 @node Topic Topology
2828 @subsection Topic Topology
2829 @cindex topic topology
2832 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2838 2: alt.religion.emacs
2841 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2843 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2844 13: comp.sources.unix
2847 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2848 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2849 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2854 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2855 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2859 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2860 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2861 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2862 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2863 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2864 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2866 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2867 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2868 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2871 @node Topic Parameters
2872 @subsection Topic Parameters
2873 @cindex topic parameters
2875 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2876 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2877 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2879 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2880 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2881 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2882 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2888 2: alt.religion.emacs
2892 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2894 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2895 13: comp.sources.unix
2899 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2900 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2901 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2902 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2903 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2904 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2906 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2907 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2908 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2909 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2910 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2912 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2913 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2914 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2915 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2916 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2917 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2918 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2919 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2922 @node Misc Group Stuff
2923 @section Misc Group Stuff
2926 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2927 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2928 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2929 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2936 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2937 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2938 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2942 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2943 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2944 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2948 @findex gnus-group-mail
2949 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2953 Variables for the group buffer:
2957 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2958 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2959 is called after the group buffer has been
2962 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2963 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2964 is called after the group buffer is
2965 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2968 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
2969 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2970 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
2971 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
2973 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2974 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2975 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2976 whether they are empty or not.
2981 @node Scanning New Messages
2982 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2983 @cindex new messages
2984 @cindex scanning new news
2990 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2991 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2992 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2993 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2994 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2995 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3000 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3001 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3002 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3003 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3004 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3005 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3006 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3008 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3009 @cindex activating groups
3011 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3012 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3017 @findex gnus-group-restart
3018 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3019 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3020 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3024 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3025 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3027 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3028 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3032 @node Group Information
3033 @subsection Group Information
3034 @cindex group information
3035 @cindex information on groups
3042 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3043 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3046 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3047 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3048 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3049 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3050 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3051 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3052 for fetching the file.
3054 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3055 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3059 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3061 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3062 @cindex describing groups
3063 @cindex group description
3064 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3065 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3066 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3070 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3071 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3072 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3079 @findex gnus-version
3080 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3084 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3085 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3088 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3091 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3092 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3096 @node Group Timestamp
3097 @subsection Group Timestamp
3099 @cindex group timestamps
3101 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3102 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3103 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3106 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3109 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3111 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3112 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3115 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3116 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3119 This will result in lines looking like:
3122 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3123 0: custom 19961002T012713
3126 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3127 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3131 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3132 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3137 @subsection File Commands
3138 @cindex file commands
3144 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3145 @vindex gnus-init-file
3146 @cindex reading init file
3147 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3148 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3152 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3153 @cindex saving .newsrc
3154 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3155 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3156 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3159 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3160 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3161 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3166 @node The Summary Buffer
3167 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3168 @cindex summary buffer
3170 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3171 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3173 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3174 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3176 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3179 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3180 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3181 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3182 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3183 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3184 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3185 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3186 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3187 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3188 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3189 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3190 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3191 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3192 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3193 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3194 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3195 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3196 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3197 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3198 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3199 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3200 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3201 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3202 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3203 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3204 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3205 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3209 @node Summary Buffer Format
3210 @section Summary Buffer Format
3211 @cindex summary buffer format
3215 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3216 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3217 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3223 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3224 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3225 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3228 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3229 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3230 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3231 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3232 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3233 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3234 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3235 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3236 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3237 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3238 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
3240 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3241 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3242 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3243 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3246 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3247 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3249 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3250 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3251 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3252 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3253 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3255 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3257 The following format specification characters are understood:
3265 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3266 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3267 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3269 Full @code{From} header.
3271 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3273 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3274 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3275 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3276 may be more thorough.
3278 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3281 Number of lines in the article.
3283 Number of characters in the article.
3285 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3287 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3288 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3290 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3291 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3293 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3294 for adopted articles.
3296 One space for each thread level.
3298 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3303 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3304 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3308 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3310 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3311 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3312 default level. If the difference between
3313 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3314 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3322 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3324 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3330 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3331 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3333 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3334 article has any children.
3340 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3341 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3342 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3343 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3344 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3345 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3348 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3349 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3350 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3351 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3352 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3353 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3355 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3356 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3358 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3361 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3362 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3364 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3365 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3366 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3367 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3369 Here are the elements you can play with:
3375 Unprefixed group name.
3377 Current article number.
3379 Current article score.
3383 Number of unread articles in this group.
3385 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3388 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3389 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3390 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3391 and no unselected ones.
3393 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3394 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3396 Subject of the current article.
3398 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3400 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3402 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3404 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3406 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3408 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3412 @node Summary Highlighting
3413 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3417 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3418 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3419 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3420 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3421 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3423 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3424 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3425 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3426 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3428 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3429 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3430 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3431 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3433 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3434 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3435 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3436 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3437 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3438 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3440 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3441 ((> score default) . bold))
3443 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3444 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3448 @node Summary Maneuvering
3449 @section Summary Maneuvering
3450 @cindex summary movement
3452 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3453 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3455 None of these commands select articles.
3460 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3461 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3462 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3463 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3464 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3468 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3469 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3470 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3471 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3472 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3477 @kindex G j (Summary)
3478 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3479 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3480 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3483 @kindex G g (Summary)
3484 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3485 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3486 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3489 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3490 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3491 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3492 to the group buffer.
3494 Variables related to summary movement:
3498 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3499 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3500 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3501 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3502 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3503 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3504 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3505 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3506 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3507 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3508 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3509 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3510 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3511 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3513 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3514 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3515 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3516 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3517 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3518 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
3519 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
3521 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3523 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3524 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3525 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3526 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3527 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3529 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3530 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3531 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3532 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3533 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3534 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3535 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3536 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3542 @node Choosing Articles
3543 @section Choosing Articles
3544 @cindex selecting articles
3547 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3548 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3552 @node Choosing Commands
3553 @subsection Choosing Commands
3555 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3556 and they all select and display an article.
3560 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3561 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3562 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3563 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3568 @kindex G n (Summary)
3569 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3570 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3571 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3576 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3577 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3578 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3583 @kindex G N (Summary)
3584 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3585 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3590 @kindex G P (Summary)
3591 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3592 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3595 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3596 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3597 Go to the next article with the same subject
3598 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3601 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3602 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3603 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3604 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3608 @kindex G f (Summary)
3610 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3611 Go to the first unread article
3612 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3616 @kindex G b (Summary)
3618 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3619 Go to the article with the highest score
3620 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3625 @kindex G l (Summary)
3626 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3627 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3630 @kindex G o (Summary)
3631 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3633 @cindex article history
3634 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3635 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3636 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3637 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3638 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3639 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3643 @node Choosing Variables
3644 @subsection Choosing Variables
3646 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3649 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3650 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3651 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3652 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3653 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3654 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3656 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3657 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3658 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3659 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3661 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3662 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3663 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3664 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3665 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3666 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3667 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3668 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3669 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3670 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3671 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3672 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3673 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3674 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3679 @node Paging the Article
3680 @section Scrolling the Article
3681 @cindex article scrolling
3686 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3687 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3688 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3689 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3690 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3693 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3694 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3695 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3698 @kindex RET (Summary)
3699 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3700 Scroll the current article one line forward
3701 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3704 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
3705 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
3706 Scroll the current article one line backward
3707 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
3711 @kindex A g (Summary)
3713 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3714 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3715 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3716 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3717 the way it came from the server.
3722 @kindex A < (Summary)
3723 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3724 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3725 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3730 @kindex A > (Summary)
3731 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3732 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3736 @kindex A s (Summary)
3738 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3739 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3740 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3744 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3745 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3750 @node Reply Followup and Post
3751 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3754 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3755 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3759 @node Summary Mail Commands
3760 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3762 @cindex composing mail
3764 Commands for composing a mail message:
3770 @kindex S r (Summary)
3772 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3773 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3774 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3775 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3776 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3781 @kindex S R (Summary)
3782 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3783 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3784 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3785 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3786 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3789 @kindex S w (Summary)
3790 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3791 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3792 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3793 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3794 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3797 @kindex S W (Summary)
3798 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3799 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3800 message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3801 the process/prefix convention.
3804 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3805 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3806 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3807 Forward the current article to some other person
3808 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3809 headers of the forwarded article.
3814 @kindex S m (Summary)
3815 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3816 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3817 Send a mail to some other person
3818 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3821 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3822 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3823 @cindex bouncing mail
3824 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3825 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3826 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3827 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3828 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3829 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3830 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3831 very well fail, though.
3834 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3835 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3836 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3837 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3838 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3839 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3840 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3841 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3842 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3843 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3845 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3846 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3847 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3848 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3849 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3851 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3852 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3855 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3856 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3857 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3858 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3859 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3862 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3863 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3864 @cindex crossposting
3865 @cindex excessive crossposting
3866 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3867 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3869 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3870 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
3871 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3872 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3873 command understands the process/prefix convention
3874 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3878 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3881 @node Summary Post Commands
3882 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3884 @cindex composing news
3886 Commands for posting a news article:
3892 @kindex S p (Summary)
3893 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3894 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3895 Post an article to the current group
3896 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3901 @kindex S f (Summary)
3902 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3903 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3904 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3908 @kindex S F (Summary)
3910 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3911 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3912 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3913 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3914 process/prefix convention.
3917 @kindex S n (Summary)
3918 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3919 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3920 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3923 @kindex S N (Summary)
3924 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
3925 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3926 message through mail and include the original message
3927 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3928 the process/prefix convention.
3931 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3932 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3933 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3934 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3935 headers of the forwarded article.
3938 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3939 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3941 @cindex making digests
3942 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3943 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3944 process/prefix convention.
3947 @kindex S u (Summary)
3948 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3949 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3950 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3951 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3954 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3957 @node Canceling and Superseding
3958 @section Canceling Articles
3959 @cindex canceling articles
3960 @cindex superseding articles
3962 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3963 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3965 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3967 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3969 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3970 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3971 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3972 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3973 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3974 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3976 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3977 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3980 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
3981 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
3982 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
3984 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3985 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3986 your original article.
3988 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3990 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3991 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3992 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3995 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3996 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3997 have posted almost the same article twice.
3999 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4000 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4001 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4002 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4003 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4004 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4005 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4006 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4007 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4008 canceled/superseded.
4010 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4013 @node Marking Articles
4014 @section Marking Articles
4015 @cindex article marking
4016 @cindex article ticking
4019 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4021 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4022 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4023 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4025 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4028 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4029 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4030 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4034 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4038 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4039 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4043 @node Unread Articles
4044 @subsection Unread Articles
4046 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4051 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4052 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4054 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4055 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4056 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4057 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4058 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4062 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4063 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4065 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4066 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4067 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4070 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4071 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4073 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4078 @subsection Read Articles
4079 @cindex expirable mark
4081 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4086 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4087 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4088 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4091 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4092 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4095 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4096 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4097 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4100 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4101 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4104 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4105 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4108 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4109 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4112 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4113 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4116 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4117 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4120 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4121 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4124 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4125 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4129 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4130 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4131 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4135 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4136 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4138 One more special mark, though:
4142 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4143 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4145 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4146 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4147 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4148 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4154 @subsection Other Marks
4155 @cindex process mark
4158 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4164 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4165 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4166 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4167 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4168 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
4171 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4172 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4173 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4174 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4177 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4178 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4179 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}
4182 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4183 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4184 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4185 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4188 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4189 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4190 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4191 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4192 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4195 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4196 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4197 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4198 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4199 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4200 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4204 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4205 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4206 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4208 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4209 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4210 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4214 @subsection Setting Marks
4215 @cindex setting marks
4217 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4222 @kindex M c (Summary)
4223 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4224 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4225 @cindex mark as unread
4226 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4227 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4233 @kindex M t (Summary)
4234 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4235 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4236 @xref{Article Caching}
4241 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4242 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4243 Mark the current article as dormant
4244 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}
4248 @kindex M d (Summary)
4250 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4251 Mark the current article as read
4252 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4256 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4257 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4258 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4263 @kindex M k (Summary)
4264 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4265 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4266 and then select the next unread article
4267 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4271 @kindex M K (Summary)
4272 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4273 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4274 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4275 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4278 @kindex M C (Summary)
4279 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4280 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4281 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4284 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4285 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4286 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4287 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4290 @kindex M H (Summary)
4291 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4292 Catchup the current group to point
4293 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4296 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4297 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4298 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4299 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4302 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4303 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4304 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4305 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4309 @kindex M e (Summary)
4311 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4312 Mark the current article as expirable
4313 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4316 @kindex M b (Summary)
4317 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4318 Set a bookmark in the current article
4319 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4322 @kindex M B (Summary)
4323 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4324 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4325 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4328 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4329 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4330 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4331 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4334 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4335 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4336 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4337 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4340 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4341 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4342 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4343 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4344 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4347 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4348 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4349 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4350 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4351 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4352 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4353 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4354 The default is @code{t}.
4357 @node Setting Process Marks
4358 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4359 @cindex setting process marks
4366 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4367 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4368 Mark the current article with the process mark
4369 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4370 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4374 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4375 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4376 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4377 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4380 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4381 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4382 Remove the process mark from all articles
4383 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4386 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4387 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4388 Invert the list of process marked articles
4389 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4392 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4393 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4394 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4395 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4398 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4399 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4400 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4403 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4404 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4405 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4406 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4409 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4410 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4411 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4412 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4415 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4416 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4417 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4418 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4421 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4422 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4423 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4426 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4427 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4428 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4429 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4432 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4433 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4434 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4437 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4438 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4439 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4440 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4443 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4444 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4445 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4446 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4449 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4450 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4451 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4452 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4455 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4456 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4457 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4458 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4467 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4468 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4469 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4472 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4473 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4474 additional articles.
4480 @kindex / / (Summary)
4481 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4482 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4483 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4486 @kindex / a (Summary)
4487 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4488 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4489 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4493 @kindex / u (Summary)
4495 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4496 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4497 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4498 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4499 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4502 @kindex / m (Summary)
4503 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4504 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4505 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4508 @kindex / t (Summary)
4509 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4510 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4511 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4512 articles younger than that number of days.
4515 @kindex / n (Summary)
4516 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4517 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4518 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4519 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4522 @kindex / w (Summary)
4523 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4524 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4525 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4529 @kindex / v (Summary)
4530 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4531 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4532 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4536 @kindex M S (Summary)
4537 @kindex / E (Summary)
4538 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4539 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4540 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4543 @kindex / D (Summary)
4544 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4545 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4546 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4549 @kindex / * (Summary)
4550 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4551 Include all cached articles in the limit
4552 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4555 @kindex / d (Summary)
4556 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4557 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4558 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4561 @kindex / T (Summary)
4562 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4563 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4566 @kindex / c (Summary)
4567 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4568 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4569 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4572 @kindex / C (Summary)
4573 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4574 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4575 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4576 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4584 @cindex article threading
4586 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4587 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4588 hierarchical fashion.
4590 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4591 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4592 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4593 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4594 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4595 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4596 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4598 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4602 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4605 A tree-like article structure.
4608 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4611 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4612 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4613 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4614 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4615 called loose threads.
4617 @item thread gathering
4618 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4620 @item sparse threads
4621 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4622 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4628 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4629 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4633 @node Customizing Threading
4634 @subsection Customizing Threading
4635 @cindex customizing threading
4638 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4639 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4640 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4641 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4646 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4649 @cindex loose threads
4652 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4653 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4654 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4655 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4656 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4657 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4659 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4660 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4661 There are four possible values:
4665 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4666 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4667 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4668 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4669 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4674 @cindex adopting articles
4679 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4680 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4681 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4682 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4685 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4686 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4687 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4688 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4689 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4690 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4691 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4694 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4695 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4696 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4700 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4701 display them after one another.
4704 Don't gather loose threads.
4707 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4708 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4709 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4710 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4711 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4712 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4713 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4714 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4715 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4716 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4717 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4719 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4720 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4721 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4724 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4725 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4726 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4727 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4728 simplification is used.
4730 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4731 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4732 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4733 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4735 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4737 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4743 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4744 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4745 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4746 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4751 (mapconcat 'identity
4752 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4754 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4757 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4760 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4761 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4762 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4763 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4764 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4765 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4767 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4770 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4771 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4772 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4774 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4775 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4778 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4779 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4780 Remove excessive whitespace.
4783 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4786 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4787 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4788 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4789 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4790 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4791 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4792 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4793 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4795 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4796 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4797 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4798 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4799 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4800 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4801 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4802 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4803 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4807 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4808 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4809 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4810 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4812 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4813 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4814 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4817 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4821 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4822 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4828 @node Filling In Threads
4829 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4832 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4833 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4834 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4835 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4836 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4837 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4838 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4839 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4840 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4841 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4842 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4843 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4845 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4846 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4847 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4849 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4850 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4851 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4852 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4853 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4854 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4855 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4856 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4857 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4858 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4859 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4860 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4861 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4862 @code{nil} by default.
4867 @node More Threading
4868 @subsubsection More Threading
4871 @item gnus-show-threads
4872 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4873 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4874 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4875 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4876 slower and more awkward.
4878 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4879 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4880 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4883 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4884 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4885 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4886 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4887 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4888 threads are expunged.
4890 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4891 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4892 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4895 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4896 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4897 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4898 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4899 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4902 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4903 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4904 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4910 @node Low-Level Threading
4911 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
4915 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4916 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4917 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
4918 @code{(gnus-decode-rfc1522)}, which means that QPized headers will be
4919 slightly decoded in a hackish way. This is likely to change in the
4920 future when Gnus becomes @sc{MIME}ified.
4922 @item gnus-alter-header-function
4923 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
4924 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
4925 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
4926 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
4927 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
4928 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
4929 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
4930 meaningful. Here's one example:
4933 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
4935 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
4936 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
4938 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
4940 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
4947 @node Thread Commands
4948 @subsection Thread Commands
4949 @cindex thread commands
4955 @kindex T k (Summary)
4956 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4957 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4958 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4959 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4960 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4965 @kindex T l (Summary)
4966 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4967 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4968 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4969 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4972 @kindex T i (Summary)
4973 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4974 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4975 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4978 @kindex T # (Summary)
4979 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4980 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4981 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4984 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4985 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4986 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4987 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4990 @kindex T T (Summary)
4991 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4992 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4995 @kindex T s (Summary)
4996 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4997 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4998 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5001 @kindex T h (Summary)
5002 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5003 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5006 @kindex T S (Summary)
5007 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5008 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5011 @kindex T H (Summary)
5012 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5013 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5016 @kindex T t (Summary)
5017 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5018 Re-thread the current article's thread
5019 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5020 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5023 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5024 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5025 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5026 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5030 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5031 understand the numeric prefix.
5036 @kindex T n (Summary)
5037 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5038 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5041 @kindex T p (Summary)
5042 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5043 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5046 @kindex T d (Summary)
5047 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5048 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5051 @kindex T u (Summary)
5052 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5053 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5056 @kindex T o (Summary)
5057 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5058 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5061 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5062 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5063 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5064 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5065 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5066 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5067 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5068 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5069 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5070 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5071 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5072 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5079 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5080 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5081 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5082 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5083 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5084 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5085 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5086 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5087 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
5088 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5089 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5090 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5091 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5092 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5094 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5095 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5096 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
5097 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
5098 in the list. You should probably always include
5099 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5100 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5101 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5102 ascending article order.
5104 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
5105 number, you could do something like:
5108 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5109 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5110 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5111 gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score))
5114 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5115 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5116 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5117 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5118 which the articles arrived.
5120 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5124 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5126 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5127 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5130 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5131 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5132 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5133 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5136 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5137 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5138 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5139 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5140 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5141 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5142 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5143 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5144 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5145 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5146 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5147 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5148 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5150 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5154 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5155 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5156 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5161 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5162 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5163 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5164 @cindex article pre-fetch
5167 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5168 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5169 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5170 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5171 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5173 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5174 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5176 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5177 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5178 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5179 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5180 connection is blocked.
5182 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5183 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5184 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5185 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5187 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5188 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5189 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5190 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5193 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5196 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5197 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5198 happen automatically.
5200 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5201 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5202 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5203 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5204 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5205 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5206 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5208 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5209 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5210 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5211 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5212 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5213 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5214 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5215 data structure as the only parameter.
5217 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5220 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5221 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5222 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5223 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5226 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5229 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5230 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5231 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5233 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5234 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5235 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5236 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5240 Remove articles when they are read.
5243 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5246 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5248 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5249 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5250 @c from the next group.
5253 @node Article Caching
5254 @section Article Caching
5255 @cindex article caching
5258 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5259 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5260 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5261 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5262 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5264 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5266 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5267 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5268 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5269 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5270 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5271 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5272 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5273 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5275 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5276 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5277 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5278 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5279 as dormant, and don't worry.
5281 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5283 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5284 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5285 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5286 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5287 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5288 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5289 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5290 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5291 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5292 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5294 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5295 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5296 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5297 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5298 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5299 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5300 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5301 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5302 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5303 not then be downloaded by this command.
5305 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5306 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
5307 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
5308 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5309 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5310 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
5312 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
5313 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
5314 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
5315 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
5316 variables, the group is not cached.
5318 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5319 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5320 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5321 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5322 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5323 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5324 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5325 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5326 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5330 @node Persistent Articles
5331 @section Persistent Articles
5332 @cindex persistent articles
5334 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5335 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5336 useful in my opinion.
5338 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5339 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5340 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5341 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5342 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5343 the expiry going on at the news server.
5345 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5346 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5347 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5353 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5354 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5357 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5358 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5359 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5360 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5364 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5366 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5367 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5368 interested in persistent articles:
5371 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5375 @node Article Backlog
5376 @section Article Backlog
5378 @cindex article backlog
5380 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5381 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5382 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5383 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5384 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5385 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5386 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5387 increase memory usage some.
5389 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5390 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5391 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5392 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5393 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5394 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5395 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5397 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5400 @node Saving Articles
5401 @section Saving Articles
5402 @cindex saving articles
5404 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5405 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5406 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5407 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5408 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5410 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5411 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5412 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5414 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5415 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5416 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5417 deleted before saving.
5423 @kindex O o (Summary)
5425 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5426 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5427 Save the current article using the default article saver
5428 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5431 @kindex O m (Summary)
5432 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5433 Save the current article in mail format
5434 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5437 @kindex O r (Summary)
5438 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5439 Save the current article in rmail format
5440 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5443 @kindex O f (Summary)
5444 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5445 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5446 Save the current article in plain file format
5447 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5450 @kindex O F (Summary)
5451 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5452 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5453 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5456 @kindex O b (Summary)
5457 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5458 Save the current article body in plain file format
5459 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5462 @kindex O h (Summary)
5463 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5464 Save the current article in mh folder format
5465 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5468 @kindex O v (Summary)
5469 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5470 Save the current article in a VM folder
5471 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5474 @kindex O p (Summary)
5475 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5476 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5477 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5480 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5481 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5482 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5483 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5484 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5485 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5486 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5487 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5488 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5489 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5490 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5491 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5495 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5496 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5497 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5498 functions below, or you can create your own.
5502 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5503 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5504 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5505 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5506 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5507 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5508 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5510 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5511 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5512 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5513 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5514 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5515 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5517 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5518 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5519 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5520 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5521 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5522 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5523 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5525 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5526 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5527 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5528 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5529 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5531 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5532 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5533 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5534 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5535 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5538 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5539 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5540 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5541 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5542 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5544 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5545 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5546 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5547 reader to use this setting.
5550 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5551 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5552 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5553 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5556 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5557 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5558 available functions that generate names:
5562 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5563 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5564 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5566 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5567 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5568 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5570 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5571 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5572 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5574 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5575 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5576 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5579 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5580 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5581 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5582 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5583 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5587 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5588 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5589 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5590 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5593 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5594 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5595 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5596 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5597 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5598 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5599 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5600 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5601 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5603 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5604 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5605 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5606 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5608 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5609 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5610 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5613 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5614 lots of mail groups called things like
5615 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5616 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5617 following will do just that:
5620 (defun my-save-name (group)
5621 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5622 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5624 (setq gnus-split-methods
5625 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5630 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5631 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5632 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5633 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5634 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5635 all the files in the top level directory
5636 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5637 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5638 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5639 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5641 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5642 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5643 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5644 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5645 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5648 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5652 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5653 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5656 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5657 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5658 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5659 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5662 @node Decoding Articles
5663 @section Decoding Articles
5664 @cindex decoding articles
5666 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5667 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5670 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5671 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5672 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5673 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5674 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5675 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5679 @cindex article series
5680 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5681 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5682 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5683 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5684 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5686 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5687 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5688 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5690 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5691 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5692 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5694 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5695 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5696 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5699 @node Uuencoded Articles
5700 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5702 @cindex uuencoded articles
5707 @kindex X u (Summary)
5708 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5709 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5710 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5713 @kindex X U (Summary)
5714 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5715 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5716 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5719 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5720 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5721 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5724 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5725 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5726 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5727 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5731 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5732 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5733 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5734 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5735 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5737 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5738 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5739 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5740 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5743 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5744 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5745 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5746 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5747 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5748 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5752 @node Shell Archives
5753 @subsection Shell Archives
5755 @cindex shell archives
5756 @cindex shared articles
5758 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5759 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5760 some commands to deal with these:
5765 @kindex X s (Summary)
5766 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5767 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5770 @kindex X S (Summary)
5771 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5772 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5775 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5776 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5777 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5780 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5781 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5782 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5783 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5787 @node PostScript Files
5788 @subsection PostScript Files
5794 @kindex X p (Summary)
5795 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5796 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5799 @kindex X P (Summary)
5800 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5801 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5802 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5805 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5806 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5807 View the current PostScript series
5808 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5811 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5812 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5813 View and save the current PostScript series
5814 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5819 @subsection Other Files
5823 @kindex X o (Summary)
5824 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5825 Save the current series
5826 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5829 @kindex X b (Summary)
5830 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5831 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5832 doesn't really work yet.
5836 @node Decoding Variables
5837 @subsection Decoding Variables
5839 Adjective, not verb.
5842 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5843 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5844 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5848 @node Rule Variables
5849 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5850 @cindex rule variables
5852 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5853 variables are of the form
5856 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5863 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5864 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5866 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5867 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5870 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5871 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5874 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5875 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5876 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5877 user and default view rules.
5879 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5880 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5881 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5886 @node Other Decode Variables
5887 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5890 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5892 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5893 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5894 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5895 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5896 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5900 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5901 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5904 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5905 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5906 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5909 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5910 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5911 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5912 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5913 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5916 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5917 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5918 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5920 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5921 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5922 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5923 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5924 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5927 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5928 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5929 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5931 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5932 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5933 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5934 looking for files to display.
5936 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5937 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5938 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5941 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5942 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5943 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5946 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5947 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5948 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5951 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5952 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5953 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5956 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5957 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5958 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5959 decoded articles as unread.
5961 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5962 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5963 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5964 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5966 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5967 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5968 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
5970 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5971 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5973 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5974 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5975 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5976 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5978 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5979 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5980 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5981 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5982 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5983 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5984 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5985 simply dropped them.
5990 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5991 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5995 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5996 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5997 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5998 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5999 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6000 for you when you post the article.
6002 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6003 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6004 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6005 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6007 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6008 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6009 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6010 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6011 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6012 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6013 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6015 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6016 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6017 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6018 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6019 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6020 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6021 Default is @code{t}.
6027 @subsection Viewing Files
6028 @cindex viewing files
6029 @cindex pseudo-articles
6031 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6032 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6033 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6034 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6035 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6036 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6037 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6039 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6040 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6041 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6042 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6044 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6045 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6046 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6048 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6049 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6050 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6051 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6052 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6054 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6055 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6056 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6057 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6058 a list of parameters to that command.
6060 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6061 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6062 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6064 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6065 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6066 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6069 @node Article Treatment
6070 @section Article Treatment
6072 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6073 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6074 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6075 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6076 these articles easier.
6079 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6080 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6081 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6082 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6083 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6084 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6085 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6089 @node Article Highlighting
6090 @subsection Article Highlighting
6091 @cindex highlighting
6093 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6094 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6099 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6100 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6101 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6102 Do much highlighting of the current article
6103 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6104 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6106 Most users would prefer using @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} in
6107 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}) instead.
6108 This is a bit less agressive---it highlights only the headers, the
6109 signature and adds buttons.
6112 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6113 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6114 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6115 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6116 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6117 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6118 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6119 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6120 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6121 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6122 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6125 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6126 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6127 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6129 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6132 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6134 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6135 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6136 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6138 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6139 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6140 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6142 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6143 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6144 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6146 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6147 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6148 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6149 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6150 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6151 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6153 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6154 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6155 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6157 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6158 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6159 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6161 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6162 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6163 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6164 that it's a citation.
6166 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6167 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6168 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6170 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6171 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6172 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6174 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6175 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6176 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6177 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6183 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6184 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6185 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6186 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6187 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6188 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6189 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6190 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6195 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to highlight articles automatically.
6198 @node Article Fontisizing
6199 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6201 @cindex article emphasis
6203 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6204 @kindex W e (Summary)
6205 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6206 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6207 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6208 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6210 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6211 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6212 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6213 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6214 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6215 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6216 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6217 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6221 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6222 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6223 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6226 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6227 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6228 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6229 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6230 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6231 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6232 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6233 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6234 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6235 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6236 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6237 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6238 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6240 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6241 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6242 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6246 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6249 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to fontize articles automatically.
6252 @node Article Hiding
6253 @subsection Article Hiding
6254 @cindex article hiding
6256 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6257 too much cruft in most articles.
6262 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6263 @findex gnus-article-hide
6264 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
6265 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
6266 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
6269 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6270 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6271 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6275 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6276 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6277 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6278 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6281 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6282 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6283 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6287 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6288 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6289 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6290 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6291 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6292 signature has been hidden.
6295 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6296 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6297 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6298 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6301 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6302 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6303 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6304 customizing the hiding:
6308 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6309 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6310 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6311 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6312 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6313 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6314 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6319 Starting point of the hidden text.
6321 Ending point of the hidden text.
6323 Number of characters in the hidden region.
6325 Number of lines of hidden text.
6328 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6329 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6330 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6335 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
6336 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
6338 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
6339 following two variables:
6342 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6343 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6344 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6345 50), hide the cited text.
6347 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6348 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6349 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6354 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6355 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6356 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6357 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6358 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6359 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6363 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6364 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6365 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6367 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6368 citation customization.
6370 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to hide article elements
6374 @node Article Washing
6375 @subsection Article Washing
6377 @cindex article washing
6379 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6380 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6382 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6383 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6389 @kindex W l (Summary)
6390 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6391 Remove page breaks from the current article
6392 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article} for page
6396 @kindex W r (Summary)
6397 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6398 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6399 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6400 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6401 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6402 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6404 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6405 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6406 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6407 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6410 @kindex W t (Summary)
6411 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6412 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6413 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6416 @kindex W v (Summary)
6417 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6418 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6419 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6422 @kindex W m (Summary)
6423 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6424 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6425 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6428 @kindex W o (Summary)
6429 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6430 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6433 @kindex W d (Summary)
6434 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6435 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}).
6438 @kindex W w (Summary)
6439 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6440 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6441 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6442 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6444 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6448 @kindex W c (Summary)
6449 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6450 Remove CR (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines)
6451 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6454 @kindex W q (Summary)
6455 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6456 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6457 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6458 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6459 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6463 @kindex W f (Summary)
6465 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6466 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6467 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6468 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6474 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6475 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6476 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6477 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6478 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6479 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6480 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6481 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6482 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6483 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6484 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6485 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6486 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6487 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6491 @kindex W b (Summary)
6492 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6493 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6494 @xref{Article Buttons}
6497 @kindex W B (Summary)
6498 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6499 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6500 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6503 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6504 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6505 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6506 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6509 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6510 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6511 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6512 lines with a single empty line.
6513 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6516 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6517 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6518 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6519 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6522 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6523 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6524 Do all the three commands above
6525 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6528 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6529 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6530 Remove all blank lines
6531 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6534 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6535 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6536 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6537 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6541 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to wash articles automatically.
6544 @node Article Buttons
6545 @subsection Article Buttons
6548 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6549 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6550 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6551 button on these references.
6553 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6554 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6555 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6560 @item gnus-button-alist
6561 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6562 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6565 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6571 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6572 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6573 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6576 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6577 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6578 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6581 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6582 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6583 avoid false matches.
6586 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6589 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6590 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6594 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6597 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6600 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6601 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6602 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6603 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6604 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6607 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6610 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6612 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6613 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6614 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6615 default values of the variables above.
6617 @item gnus-article-button-face
6618 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6619 Face used on buttons.
6621 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6622 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6623 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6627 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to buttonize articles automatically.
6631 @subsection Article Date
6633 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6634 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6635 when the article was sent.
6640 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6641 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6642 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6643 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6646 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6647 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6649 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6650 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6653 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6654 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6655 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6658 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6659 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6660 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6661 @findex format-time-string
6662 Display the date using a user-defined format
6663 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6664 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6665 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6666 for a list of possible format specs.
6669 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6670 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6671 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6672 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6673 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6674 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
6675 updated continually, you can put
6678 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6681 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6682 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6686 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6687 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6688 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6689 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6690 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6691 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6692 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6696 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to display the date in your
6697 preferred format automatically.
6700 @node Article Signature
6701 @subsection Article Signature
6703 @cindex article signature
6705 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6706 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6707 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6708 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6709 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6710 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6711 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6712 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6713 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6716 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6717 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6718 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6719 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6720 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6721 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6722 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6723 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6726 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6729 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6730 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6735 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6738 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6741 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6742 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6744 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6745 in question is not a signature.
6748 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6749 listed above. Here's an example:
6752 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6753 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6756 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6757 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6758 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6759 signature after all.
6762 @node Article Commands
6763 @section Article Commands
6770 @kindex A P (Summary)
6771 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6772 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6773 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6774 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6775 run just before printing the buffer.
6780 @node Summary Sorting
6781 @section Summary Sorting
6782 @cindex summary sorting
6784 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6785 can't really see why you'd want that.
6790 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6791 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6792 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6795 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6796 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6797 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6800 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6801 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6802 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6805 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6806 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6807 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6810 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6811 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6812 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6815 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6816 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6817 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6820 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6821 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6822 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6823 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6824 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6828 @node Finding the Parent
6829 @section Finding the Parent
6830 @cindex parent articles
6831 @cindex referring articles
6836 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6837 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6838 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6839 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6840 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6841 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6842 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6843 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6844 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6846 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6847 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6848 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
6849 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6850 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6854 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6855 @kindex A R (Summary)
6856 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
6857 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6860 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
6861 @kindex A T (Summary)
6862 Display the full thread where the current article appears
6863 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
6864 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
6865 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
6866 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
6867 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
6868 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
6870 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
6871 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
6872 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
6873 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
6874 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
6875 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
6878 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6879 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6881 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6882 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6883 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6884 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6885 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6886 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6887 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6890 The current select method will be used when fetching by
6891 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
6892 by giving this command a prefix.
6894 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6895 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6896 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6897 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6898 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
6899 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
6902 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6903 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6904 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6905 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6906 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6907 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6910 @node Alternative Approaches
6911 @section Alternative Approaches
6913 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6914 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6917 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6918 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6923 @subsection Pick and Read
6924 @cindex pick and read
6926 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
6927 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
6928 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
6929 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
6931 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6932 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6933 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6934 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6935 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6936 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
6938 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6943 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
6944 Pick the article or thread on the current line
6945 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
6946 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
6947 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
6948 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
6949 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
6950 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6953 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6954 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6955 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6956 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6960 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
6961 Unpick the thread or article
6962 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
6963 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
6964 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
6965 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
6966 the thread or article at that line.
6970 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6971 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6972 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6973 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6974 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6975 will still be visible when you are reading.
6979 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
6980 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
6981 which is mapped to the same function
6982 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
6984 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6987 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6990 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6991 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6993 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6994 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6995 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6997 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6998 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
6999 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
7000 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
7001 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
7002 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
7003 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
7007 @subsection Binary Groups
7008 @cindex binary groups
7010 @findex gnus-binary-mode
7011 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
7012 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
7013 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
7014 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
7015 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
7016 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
7019 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
7020 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
7021 command, when you have turned on this mode
7022 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
7024 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
7025 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
7029 @section Tree Display
7032 @vindex gnus-use-trees
7033 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
7034 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
7035 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
7038 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
7041 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
7042 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
7043 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
7045 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7046 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7047 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
7048 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
7049 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
7051 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
7052 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
7053 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
7054 default is @code{modeline}.
7056 @item gnus-tree-line-format
7057 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
7058 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
7059 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
7060 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
7061 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
7062 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7068 The name of the poster.
7070 The @code{From} header.
7072 The number of the article.
7074 The opening bracket.
7076 The closing bracket.
7081 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7083 Variables related to the display are:
7086 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7087 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7088 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7089 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
7090 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
7091 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7093 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7094 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7095 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7096 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7100 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7101 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7102 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
7103 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
7104 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7105 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7106 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7107 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7108 other windows displayed next to it.
7110 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7111 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7112 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7113 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7114 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7115 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7116 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7120 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7123 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7133 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7137 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7138 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7140 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7142 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7147 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7148 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7149 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7152 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7153 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7154 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7155 (gnus-add-configuration
7159 (summary 0.75 point)
7164 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7167 @node Mail Group Commands
7168 @section Mail Group Commands
7169 @cindex mail group commands
7171 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7172 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7174 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7175 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7180 @kindex B e (Summary)
7181 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7182 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7183 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7186 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7187 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7188 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7189 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7190 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7191 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7194 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7195 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7196 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7197 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7198 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7199 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7202 @kindex B m (Summary)
7204 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7205 Move the article from one mail group to another
7206 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7209 @kindex B c (Summary)
7211 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7212 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7213 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7214 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7217 @kindex B B (Summary)
7218 @cindex crosspost mail
7219 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7220 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7221 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7222 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7223 be properly updated.
7226 @kindex B i (Summary)
7227 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7228 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7229 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7230 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7233 @kindex B r (Summary)
7234 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7235 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
7236 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7237 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7238 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7242 @kindex B w (Summary)
7244 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7245 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7246 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7247 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7248 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7249 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7252 @kindex B q (Summary)
7253 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7254 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7255 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7256 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7259 @kindex B t (Summary)
7260 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7261 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7262 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7265 @kindex B p (Summary)
7266 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7267 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7268 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7269 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7270 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7271 article from your news server (or rather, from
7272 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7273 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7274 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7275 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7276 just not have arrived yet.
7280 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7281 @cindex moving articles
7282 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7283 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7284 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7285 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7286 suggestions you find reasonable.
7289 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7290 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7291 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7292 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7296 @node Various Summary Stuff
7297 @section Various Summary Stuff
7300 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7301 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7302 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7303 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7307 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7308 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7309 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7311 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7312 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7313 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7314 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7315 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7316 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7319 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7320 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7321 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7322 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7323 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7325 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7326 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7327 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7328 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7329 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7330 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7331 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7332 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7333 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7334 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7339 @node Summary Group Information
7340 @subsection Summary Group Information
7345 @kindex H f (Summary)
7346 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7347 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7348 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7349 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7350 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7351 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7352 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7353 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7354 be used for fetching the file.
7357 @kindex H d (Summary)
7358 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7359 Give a brief description of the current group
7360 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7361 rereading the description from the server.
7364 @kindex H h (Summary)
7365 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7366 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7367 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7370 @kindex H i (Summary)
7371 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7372 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7376 @node Searching for Articles
7377 @subsection Searching for Articles
7382 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7383 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7384 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7385 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7388 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7389 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7390 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7391 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7395 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7396 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7397 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7398 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7402 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7403 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7404 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7405 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7408 @node Summary Generation Commands
7409 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7414 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7415 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7416 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7419 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7420 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7421 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7422 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7427 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7428 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7433 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7434 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7435 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7436 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7437 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7438 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7439 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7440 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7441 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7445 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7446 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7447 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7448 several documents into one biiig group
7449 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7450 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7451 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7452 command understands the process/prefix convention
7453 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7456 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7457 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7458 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7459 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7460 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7461 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7465 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7466 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7467 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7470 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7471 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7472 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7473 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7478 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7479 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7480 @cindex summary exit
7481 @cindex exiting groups
7483 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7484 group and return you to the group buffer.
7490 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7492 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7493 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7494 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7495 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7496 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7497 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7498 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7499 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7500 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7501 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7502 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7506 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7508 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7509 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7510 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7514 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7516 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7517 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7518 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7519 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7522 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7523 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7524 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7525 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7528 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7529 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7530 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7531 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7534 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7535 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7536 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7537 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7538 all articles, both read and unread.
7542 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7543 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7544 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7545 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7546 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7547 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7548 articles, both read and unread.
7551 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7552 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7553 Exit the group and go to the next group
7554 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7557 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7558 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7559 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7560 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7563 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7564 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7565 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7566 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7567 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7568 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7571 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7572 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7575 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7576 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7577 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7578 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7579 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7580 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7581 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7582 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7583 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7584 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7585 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7586 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7588 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7590 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7591 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7592 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7593 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7594 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7595 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7596 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7597 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7598 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7601 @node Crosspost Handling
7602 @section Crosspost Handling
7606 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7607 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7608 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7609 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7610 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7611 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7614 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7615 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7616 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7617 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7618 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7620 @cindex cross-posting
7623 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7624 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7625 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7626 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7627 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7628 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7629 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7630 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7631 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7632 the cross reference mechanism.
7634 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7635 @cindex overview.fmt
7636 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7637 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7638 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7639 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7640 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7641 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7644 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7645 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7646 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7651 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7654 @node Duplicate Suppression
7655 @section Duplicate Suppression
7657 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7658 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7659 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7660 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7665 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7666 is evil and not very common.
7669 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7670 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7673 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7674 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7677 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7680 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7681 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7683 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7684 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7685 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7686 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7687 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7688 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7689 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7692 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7693 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7694 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7695 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7696 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7700 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7701 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7702 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7704 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7705 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7706 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7707 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7708 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7709 session are suppressed.
7711 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7712 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7713 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7714 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7716 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7717 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7718 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7719 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7722 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7723 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7724 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7725 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7726 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7727 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7728 to you to figure out, I think.
7731 @node The Article Buffer
7732 @chapter The Article Buffer
7733 @cindex article buffer
7735 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7736 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7737 tell Gnus otherwise.
7740 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7741 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7742 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7743 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7744 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7748 @node Hiding Headers
7749 @section Hiding Headers
7750 @cindex hiding headers
7751 @cindex deleting headers
7753 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7754 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7756 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7757 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7758 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7759 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7760 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7761 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7762 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7763 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7764 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7766 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7770 @item gnus-visible-headers
7771 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7772 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7773 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7774 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7776 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7777 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7780 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7783 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7786 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7787 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7788 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7789 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7790 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7791 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7793 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
7794 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
7797 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7800 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7803 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7804 variable will have no effect.
7808 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7809 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7810 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7811 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7812 the headers are to be displayed.
7814 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7815 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7818 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7821 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7822 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
7824 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7825 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7826 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7827 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7828 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7829 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7830 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7831 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7832 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
7834 These conditions are:
7837 Remove all empty headers.
7839 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7840 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7842 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7845 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7848 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7851 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
7853 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
7856 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
7859 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7860 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
7863 This is also the default value for this variable.
7867 @section Using @sc{mime}
7870 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7871 while people stand around yawning.
7873 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7874 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7876 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7877 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7878 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7880 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7881 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
7882 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7883 @findex metamail-buffer
7884 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7885 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
7886 default. This function calls the external @code{metamail} program to
7887 actually do the work. One common problem with this program is that is
7888 thinks that it can't display 8-bit things in the Emacs buffer. To tell
7889 it the truth, put something like the following in your
7890 @file{.bash_profile} file. (You do use @code{bash}, don't you?)
7893 export MM_CHARSET="iso-8859-1"
7896 For more information on @code{metamail}, see its manual page.
7898 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7899 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7900 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7901 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7902 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7903 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7905 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
7906 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
7907 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
7908 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
7909 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
7910 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
7911 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
7912 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
7913 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
7915 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7918 @node Customizing Articles
7919 @section Customizing Articles
7920 @cindex article customization
7922 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7923 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7924 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7925 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7927 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7928 @findex gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers
7929 By default this hook just contains
7930 @code{gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers},
7931 @code{gnus-hide-boring-headers}, @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike},
7932 and @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} (and under XEmacs,
7933 @code{gnus-article-display-x-face}), but there are thousands, nay
7934 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7935 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7936 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7937 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7938 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7940 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7941 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7942 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7943 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7944 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7947 @node Article Keymap
7948 @section Article Keymap
7950 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7951 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7952 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7953 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7956 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7961 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7962 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7963 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7966 @kindex DEL (Article)
7967 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7968 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7971 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7972 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7973 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7974 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
7975 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7978 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7979 @findex gnus-article-mail
7980 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7981 given a prefix, include the mail.
7985 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7986 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7987 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7991 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7992 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7993 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7996 @kindex TAB (Article)
7997 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7998 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
7999 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
8002 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
8003 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
8004 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
8010 @section Misc Article
8014 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
8015 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
8016 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
8017 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
8020 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
8021 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
8022 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
8023 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
8024 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
8025 the contents of the article buffer.
8027 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8028 @item gnus-article-display-hook
8029 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
8030 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
8031 hiding headers, and the like.
8033 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
8034 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
8035 Hook called in article mode buffers.
8037 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8038 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8039 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
8040 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
8042 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
8043 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
8044 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
8045 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
8046 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
8051 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
8052 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
8056 @vindex gnus-break-pages
8058 @item gnus-break-pages
8059 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
8060 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
8061 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
8062 paging will not be done.
8064 @item gnus-page-delimiter
8065 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
8066 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8071 @node Composing Messages
8072 @chapter Composing Messages
8073 @cindex composing messages
8076 @cindex sending mail
8081 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8082 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8083 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8084 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8085 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8086 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8087 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8090 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8091 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8092 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8093 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8094 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8095 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8096 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8097 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8100 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8101 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8107 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8110 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8111 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8112 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8113 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8115 @item gnus-add-to-list
8116 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8117 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8118 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8126 Variables for composing news articles:
8129 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8130 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8131 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8132 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8133 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8134 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8135 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8136 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8137 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
8140 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8141 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8142 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8143 file. It is 1000 by default.
8148 @node Posting Server
8149 @section Posting Server
8151 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8152 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8154 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8156 @vindex gnus-post-method
8158 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8159 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8160 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8161 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8162 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8165 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8168 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8169 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8170 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8171 the ``current'' server for posting.
8173 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8174 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8176 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8177 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8180 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8181 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8182 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8187 @section Mail and Post
8189 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8193 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8194 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8195 @cindex mailing lists
8197 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8198 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8199 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8200 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8201 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8202 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8203 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8204 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8205 still a pain, though.
8209 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8210 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8211 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8214 @findex ispell-message
8216 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8220 @node Archived Messages
8221 @section Archived Messages
8222 @cindex archived messages
8223 @cindex sent messages
8225 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8226 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8227 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8228 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8231 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8232 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8233 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8237 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8238 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8239 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8240 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8243 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8244 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8245 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8246 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8249 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8250 '(nnfolder "archive"
8251 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8252 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8253 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8256 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8258 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8259 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8260 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8262 This variable can be used to do the following:
8266 Messages will be saved in that group.
8267 @item a list of strings
8268 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8269 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8270 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8272 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8277 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8279 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8282 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8284 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8287 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8289 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8290 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8291 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8292 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8297 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8298 '((if (message-news-p)
8303 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8304 messages in one file per month:
8307 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8308 '((if (message-news-p)
8310 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8311 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8314 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8315 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8317 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8318 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8319 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8320 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8321 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8322 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8323 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8324 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8325 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8326 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8328 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8329 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8330 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8331 this will disable archiving.
8334 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8335 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8336 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8337 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8338 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8341 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8342 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8343 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8346 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8347 but the latter is the preferred method.
8351 @node Posting Styles
8352 @section Posting Styles
8353 @cindex posting styles
8356 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8358 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8359 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8360 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8363 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8364 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8365 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8366 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8367 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8372 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8373 (organization "What me?"))
8375 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8376 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8377 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8380 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8381 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8382 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8383 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8384 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8385 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8386 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8387 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8389 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8390 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8391 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8392 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8393 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8394 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8397 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8398 attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8399 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8400 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
8401 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8402 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8405 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8406 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8407 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8409 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
8410 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
8411 of the two dynamically bound variables @code{message-this-is-news} and
8412 @code{message-this-is-mail}.
8414 @vindex message-this-is-mail
8415 @vindex message-this-is-news
8417 So here's a new example:
8420 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8422 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8424 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8425 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8427 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8428 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8429 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8430 (message-this-is-new
8431 (signature my-news-signature))
8432 (posting-from-work-p
8433 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8434 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8435 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
8436 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8438 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8446 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8447 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8448 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8449 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8450 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8452 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8453 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8454 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8455 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8456 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8460 @vindex nndraft-directory
8461 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8462 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8463 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8464 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8465 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8466 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8468 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8469 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8472 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8473 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8474 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8475 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8476 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8477 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8478 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8479 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8480 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8481 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8482 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8483 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8484 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8485 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8487 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8488 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8489 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8491 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8493 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8494 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8495 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8497 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8500 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8501 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8502 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8503 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8504 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8505 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8506 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8509 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8510 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8511 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8514 @node Rejected Articles
8515 @section Rejected Articles
8516 @cindex rejected articles
8518 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8519 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8520 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8521 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8523 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8524 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8525 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8526 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8527 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8529 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8530 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8531 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8534 @node Select Methods
8535 @chapter Select Methods
8536 @cindex foreign groups
8537 @cindex select methods
8539 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8540 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8541 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8542 personal mail group.
8544 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8545 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8546 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8547 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8548 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8549 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8551 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8552 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8554 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8557 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8558 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8559 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8560 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8561 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8563 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8566 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8567 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8568 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8569 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8570 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8571 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8575 @node The Server Buffer
8576 @section The Server Buffer
8578 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8579 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8580 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8581 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8582 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8583 backend represents a virtual server.
8585 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8586 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8587 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8588 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8590 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8591 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8592 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8593 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8594 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8595 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8596 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8598 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8599 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8602 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8603 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8604 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8605 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8606 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8607 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8608 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8611 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8612 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8615 @node Server Buffer Format
8616 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8617 @cindex server buffer format
8619 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8620 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8621 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8622 variable, with some simple extensions:
8627 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8630 The name of this server.
8633 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8636 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8639 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8640 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8641 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
8642 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
8652 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8655 @node Server Commands
8656 @subsection Server Commands
8657 @cindex server commands
8663 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8664 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8668 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8669 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8672 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8673 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8674 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8678 @findex gnus-server-exit
8679 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8683 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8684 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8688 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8689 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8693 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8694 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8698 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8699 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8703 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8704 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8705 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8710 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8711 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8712 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8713 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8718 @node Example Methods
8719 @subsection Example Methods
8721 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8724 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8727 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8733 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8734 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8737 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8738 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8740 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8741 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8745 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8748 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8749 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8751 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8752 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8753 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8757 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8760 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8763 Here's the method for a public spool:
8767 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8768 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8771 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8772 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8773 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8774 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8775 should probably look something like this:
8779 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8780 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8781 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8782 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8783 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8786 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
8787 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
8788 server that would look something like this:
8792 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
8793 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
8794 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8795 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8796 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8797 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
8800 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
8801 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
8802 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
8803 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
8806 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8807 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8809 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8810 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8812 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8813 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8814 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8816 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8818 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8819 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8820 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8821 will contain the following:
8831 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8832 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8833 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8836 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8837 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8838 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8841 @node Server Variables
8842 @subsection Server Variables
8844 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
8845 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
8846 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
8847 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
8848 won't change the "derived" variables.
8850 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
8851 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
8852 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
8853 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
8854 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
8855 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
8856 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
8857 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
8858 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
8862 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
8863 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
8864 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
8868 @node Servers and Methods
8869 @subsection Servers and Methods
8871 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8872 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8873 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8874 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8878 @node Unavailable Servers
8879 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8881 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8882 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8883 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8884 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8885 actually the case or not.
8887 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8888 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
8889 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8890 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
8891 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
8892 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
8893 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
8894 it will regard that server as ``down''.
8896 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8897 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8899 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8900 with the following commands:
8906 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8907 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8908 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8912 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8913 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8914 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8918 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8919 Mark the current server as unreachable
8920 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8923 @kindex M-o (Server)
8924 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8925 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8926 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8929 @kindex M-c (Server)
8930 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8931 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8932 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8936 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8937 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
8938 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8944 @section Getting News
8945 @cindex reading news
8946 @cindex news backends
8948 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8949 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8950 or it can read from a local spool.
8953 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8954 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8959 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8962 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8963 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8964 server as the, uhm, address.
8966 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8967 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8968 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8969 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8971 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8972 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8973 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8975 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8980 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8981 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8982 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8984 @cindex authentification
8985 @cindex nntp authentification
8986 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8987 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8988 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
8989 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
8990 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
8991 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
8992 present in this hook.
8994 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8995 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8996 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8997 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
8998 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8999 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
9000 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
9001 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
9002 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
9003 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
9004 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
9005 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
9009 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
9012 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
9013 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
9014 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
9015 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
9016 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
9021 Here's an example file:
9024 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
9025 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
9028 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
9029 have to be first, for instance.
9031 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
9032 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
9033 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
9034 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
9035 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
9036 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
9037 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
9039 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
9040 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
9046 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
9047 previously mentioned.
9049 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
9051 @item nntp-server-action-alist
9052 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
9053 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
9054 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
9055 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
9058 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
9062 You probably don't want to do that, though.
9064 The default value is
9067 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
9068 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
9071 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
9072 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
9074 @item nntp-maximum-request
9075 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
9076 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
9077 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
9078 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
9079 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9080 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9081 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9083 @item nntp-connection-timeout
9084 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9085 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9086 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9087 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9088 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9089 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9090 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9091 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9092 no timeouts are done.
9094 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9095 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9096 @c @cindex PPP connections
9097 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9098 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9099 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9100 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9101 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9102 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9103 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9104 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9105 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9106 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9108 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9109 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9110 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9111 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9114 @item nntp-server-hook
9115 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9116 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9119 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9120 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9121 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9122 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9123 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9124 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9125 functions are supplied:
9128 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9129 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9132 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9133 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9134 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9137 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9141 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9142 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9143 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9144 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9146 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9147 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9148 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9150 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9151 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9152 User name on the remote system.
9156 @item nntp-open-telnet
9157 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9158 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9160 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9163 @item nntp-telnet-command
9164 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9165 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9167 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9168 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9169 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9171 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9172 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9173 User name for log in on the remote system.
9175 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9176 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9177 Password to use when logging in.
9179 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9180 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9181 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9184 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9185 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9186 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9187 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9189 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9190 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9191 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9192 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9193 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9197 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9198 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9199 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9200 you must have SSLay installed
9201 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9202 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9203 define a server as follows:
9206 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9208 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9210 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9211 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9212 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9213 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9218 @item nntp-end-of-line
9219 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9220 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9221 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9222 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9224 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9225 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9226 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9230 @vindex nntp-address
9231 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9233 @item nntp-port-number
9234 @vindex nntp-port-number
9235 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9238 @item nntp-buggy-select
9239 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9240 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9242 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9243 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9244 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9245 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9248 @item nntp-xover-commands
9249 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9252 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9253 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9257 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9258 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9259 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9260 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9261 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9262 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9263 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9264 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9265 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9266 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9267 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9269 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9270 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9271 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9273 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9274 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9275 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9276 server closes connection.
9278 @item nntp-record-commands
9279 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9280 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9281 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9282 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9283 that doesn't seem to work.
9289 @subsection News Spool
9293 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9294 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9295 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9298 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9299 anything else) as the address.
9301 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9302 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9303 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9304 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9308 @item nnspool-inews-program
9309 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9310 Program used to post an article.
9312 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9313 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9314 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9316 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9317 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9318 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9319 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9321 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9322 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9323 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9324 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9326 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9327 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9328 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9330 @item nnspool-active-file
9331 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9332 The path to the active file.
9334 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9335 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9336 The path to the group descriptions file.
9338 @item nnspool-history-file
9339 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9340 The path to the news history file.
9342 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9343 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9344 The path to the active date file.
9346 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9347 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9348 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9351 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9352 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9354 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9355 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9356 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9362 @section Getting Mail
9363 @cindex reading mail
9366 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9370 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9371 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9372 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9373 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9374 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
9375 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9376 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9377 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9378 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9379 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9380 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9384 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9385 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9387 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9388 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9389 and things will happen automatically.
9391 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9392 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9395 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9396 '((nnml "private")))
9399 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9400 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9401 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9402 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9403 like any other group.
9405 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9408 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9409 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9410 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9414 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9415 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9416 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9419 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9420 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9421 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9424 @node Splitting Mail
9425 @subsection Splitting Mail
9426 @cindex splitting mail
9427 @cindex mail splitting
9429 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9430 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9431 to be split into groups.
9434 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9435 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9436 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9440 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9441 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9442 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9443 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9444 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9445 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9446 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9449 ("list.\\1" "From:.*\\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9452 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9453 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9454 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9455 mail belongs in that group.
9457 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9458 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9459 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9460 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9461 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9462 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9464 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9465 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9466 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9467 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9468 thinks should carry this mail message.
9470 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9471 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9472 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9473 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9475 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9476 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9477 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9478 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9479 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9481 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9484 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9485 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9486 links. If that's the case for you, set
9487 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9488 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9490 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9491 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9492 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9493 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9495 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9496 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9497 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9498 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9499 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9500 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9501 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9502 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9506 @node Mail Backend Variables
9507 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9509 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9513 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9514 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9515 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9516 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9518 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9519 @item nnmail-spool-file
9523 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9524 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9525 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9526 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9527 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9528 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9529 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9530 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9531 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9532 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9533 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9534 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9535 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9536 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9537 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9539 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9541 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9542 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9545 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9546 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9547 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9548 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9549 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9550 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9552 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9553 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9554 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9555 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9556 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9557 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9558 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9561 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9562 @item nnmail-crash-box
9563 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9564 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9565 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9568 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9569 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9570 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
9571 used for, well, anything, really.
9573 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9574 @item nnmail-split-hook
9575 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
9576 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9577 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9578 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9579 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9580 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9581 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{gnus-article-decode-rfc1522}
9582 is one likely function to add to this hook.
9584 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9585 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9586 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9587 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9588 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9589 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9590 starting to handle the new mail) and
9591 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9592 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9593 default file modes the new mail files get:
9596 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9597 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9599 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9600 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9603 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9604 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9605 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9606 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9607 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9608 it will be used instead.
9610 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9611 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9612 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9613 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9615 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9616 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9619 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9620 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9621 @cindex incoming mail files
9622 @cindex deleting incoming files
9623 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9624 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9627 @c This is @code{nil} by
9628 @c default for reasons of security.
9630 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9631 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9632 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9633 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9634 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9637 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9639 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9640 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9641 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9642 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9643 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9644 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9645 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9647 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9648 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9650 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9652 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9653 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9654 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9655 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9656 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9661 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9662 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9663 @cindex mail splitting
9664 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9666 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9667 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9668 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9669 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9670 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9671 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9673 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9676 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9677 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9678 ;; from real errors.
9679 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9681 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9682 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9683 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9684 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9685 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9686 ;; Other mailing lists...
9687 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9688 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9690 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9691 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9695 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9696 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9697 the five possible split syntaxes:
9702 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
9703 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
9707 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9708 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9709 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9712 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9713 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9714 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9715 be stored in one or more groups.
9718 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9719 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9722 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9723 this message. Use with extreme caution.
9726 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9727 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9728 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9732 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
9736 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9737 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9738 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9739 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9740 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9742 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9743 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9744 are expanded as specified by the variable
9745 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9746 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9749 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9750 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9751 when all this splitting is performed.
9753 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9754 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9755 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
9758 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9761 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
9762 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
9763 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
9764 groupings 1 through 9.
9767 @node Mail and Procmail
9768 @subsection Mail and Procmail
9773 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
9774 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
9775 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
9776 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
9777 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
9779 If you have a combined @code{procmail}/POP/mailbox setup, you can do
9780 something like the following:
9782 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9784 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
9785 (setq nnmail-spool-file
9786 '("/usr/spool/mail/my-name" "po:my-name"))
9789 This also means that you probably don't want to set
9790 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
9793 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
9794 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
9795 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
9796 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
9797 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
9798 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
9800 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
9803 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
9805 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
9806 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
9808 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
9809 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
9810 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
9811 to include all your mail groups.
9813 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
9814 method will be created automatically.
9816 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9817 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
9818 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
9819 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
9820 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
9821 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
9822 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
9823 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
9825 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
9826 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
9827 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
9828 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
9829 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
9831 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9832 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
9833 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
9834 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
9835 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
9836 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
9838 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
9839 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
9840 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
9841 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
9842 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
9845 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
9846 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
9847 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
9848 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
9849 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
9853 @node Incorporating Old Mail
9854 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
9856 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
9857 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
9858 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
9861 Doing so can be quite easy.
9863 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
9864 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
9865 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
9866 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
9867 your @code{nnml} groups.
9873 Go to the group buffer.
9876 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
9877 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9880 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
9883 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
9884 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
9887 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
9888 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
9891 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
9892 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
9893 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
9894 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
9895 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
9897 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
9898 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
9899 using the new mail backend.
9903 @subsection Expiring Mail
9904 @cindex article expiry
9906 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
9907 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
9908 different approach to mail reading.
9910 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
9911 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
9912 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
9913 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
9914 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
9915 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
9918 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
9919 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
9920 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
9921 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
9922 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
9923 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
9924 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
9925 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
9927 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9928 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
9929 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
9930 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
9931 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
9932 column in the summary buffer.
9934 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
9935 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
9936 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
9937 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
9940 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
9942 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
9943 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
9944 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
9947 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
9948 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
9949 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9950 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9951 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9953 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9954 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9957 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9958 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9961 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9962 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9964 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9965 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9966 don't really mix very well.
9968 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9969 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9970 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
9971 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
9974 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9975 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9976 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9977 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9980 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9982 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9984 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9986 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9988 ((string= group "important")
9994 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9995 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9997 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9998 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
9999 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
10002 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
10003 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
10005 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10006 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
10007 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
10008 easier for procmail users.
10010 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
10011 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
10012 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
10013 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
10014 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
10015 caution. Even more dangerous is the
10016 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
10017 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
10018 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
10019 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
10020 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
10021 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
10022 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
10025 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
10029 @subsection Washing Mail
10030 @cindex mail washing
10031 @cindex list server brain damage
10032 @cindex incoming mail treatment
10034 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
10035 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
10036 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
10037 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
10038 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
10039 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
10041 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
10042 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
10043 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
10046 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
10047 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
10048 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
10049 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
10052 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10053 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10054 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
10055 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
10058 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10059 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10060 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
10061 Emacs running on MS machines.
10065 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10066 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10067 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
10068 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
10071 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10072 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10073 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
10074 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
10076 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10077 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10078 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
10079 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
10080 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
10081 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
10082 also be a list of regexp.
10084 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10085 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10088 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10089 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10092 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10093 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10094 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10098 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10099 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10100 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10104 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10105 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10106 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10113 @subsection Duplicates
10115 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10116 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10117 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10118 @cindex duplicate mails
10119 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10120 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10121 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10122 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10123 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10124 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10125 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10126 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10127 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10128 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10129 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10130 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10131 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10133 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10134 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10135 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10136 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10138 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10141 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10142 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10146 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10147 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10148 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10149 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10150 (any mail "mail.misc")
10157 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10158 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10163 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10164 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10165 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10166 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10167 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10170 @node Not Reading Mail
10171 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10173 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10174 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10175 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10177 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
10178 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
10180 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10181 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10182 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10183 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10184 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10185 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10186 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10187 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10188 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10189 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10190 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10192 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10193 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10197 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10198 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
10200 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
10201 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
10202 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
10205 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
10206 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
10207 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
10208 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
10209 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
10213 @node Unix Mail Box
10214 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
10216 @cindex unix mail box
10218 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10219 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10220 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
10221 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
10222 which group it belongs in.
10224 Virtual server settings:
10227 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
10228 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10229 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
10231 @item nnmbox-active-file
10232 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10233 The name of the active file for the mail box.
10235 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
10236 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10237 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
10243 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
10247 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10248 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10249 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
10250 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
10251 article to say which group it belongs in.
10253 Virtual server settings:
10256 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
10257 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10258 The name of the rmail mbox file.
10260 @item nnbabyl-active-file
10261 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10262 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
10264 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10265 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10266 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
10271 @subsubsection Mail Spool
10273 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
10275 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
10276 format. It should be used with some caution.
10278 @vindex nnml-directory
10279 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
10280 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
10281 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10282 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10284 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10287 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10288 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10289 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10290 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10291 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10292 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10293 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10294 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10296 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10297 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10298 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10299 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10301 Virtual server settings:
10304 @item nnml-directory
10305 @vindex nnml-directory
10306 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10308 @item nnml-active-file
10309 @vindex nnml-active-file
10310 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10312 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10313 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10314 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10317 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10318 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10319 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10321 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10322 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10323 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10325 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10326 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10327 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10329 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10330 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10331 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10335 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10336 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10337 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10338 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10339 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10340 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10341 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10346 @subsubsection MH Spool
10348 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10350 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10351 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10352 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10353 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10355 Virtual server settings:
10358 @item nnmh-directory
10359 @vindex nnmh-directory
10360 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
10362 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
10363 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10364 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
10367 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
10368 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
10369 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
10370 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
10371 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
10372 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
10373 to set this variable to @code{t}.
10378 @subsubsection Mail Folders
10380 @cindex mbox folders
10381 @cindex mail folders
10383 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
10384 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
10385 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
10388 Virtual server settings:
10391 @item nnfolder-directory
10392 @vindex nnfolder-directory
10393 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
10395 @item nnfolder-active-file
10396 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
10397 The name of the active file.
10399 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10400 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10401 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
10403 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
10404 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10405 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
10407 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
10408 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
10409 @cindex backup files
10410 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
10411 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
10412 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
10413 your @file{.emacs} file:
10416 (defun turn-off-backup ()
10417 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
10419 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
10425 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
10426 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
10427 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
10428 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
10429 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
10430 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
10433 @node Other Sources
10434 @section Other Sources
10436 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
10437 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
10441 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
10442 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
10443 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
10444 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
10445 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
10446 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
10450 @node Directory Groups
10451 @subsection Directory Groups
10453 @cindex directory groups
10455 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
10456 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
10459 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
10460 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
10461 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
10462 backend to read directories. Big deal.
10464 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
10465 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
10466 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
10467 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
10468 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
10470 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
10472 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
10473 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
10474 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10475 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10478 @node Anything Groups
10479 @subsection Anything Groups
10482 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10483 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10484 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10487 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10488 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10489 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10490 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10491 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10492 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10493 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10494 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10495 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10496 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10499 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10500 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10501 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10502 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10504 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10505 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10506 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10507 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10509 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10510 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10511 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10512 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10513 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10514 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10515 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10516 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10521 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10522 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10523 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10524 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10526 @item nneething-exclude-files
10527 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10528 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10529 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10531 @item nneething-map-file
10532 @vindex nneething-map-file
10533 Name of the map files.
10537 @node Document Groups
10538 @subsection Document Groups
10540 @cindex documentation group
10543 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10544 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10551 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10556 The standard Unix mbox file.
10558 @cindex MMDF mail box
10560 The MMDF mail box format.
10563 Several news articles appended into a file.
10566 @cindex rnews batch files
10567 The rnews batch transport format.
10568 @cindex forwarded messages
10571 Forwarded articles.
10574 MIME multipart messages, besides digests.
10578 @cindex MIME digest
10579 @cindex 1153 digest
10580 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10581 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10582 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10584 @item standard-digest
10585 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10588 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10591 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10592 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10593 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10596 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10597 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10598 group. And that's it.
10600 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10601 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10602 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10603 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10604 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10605 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10606 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10607 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10608 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10609 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10611 Virtual server variables:
10614 @item nndoc-article-type
10615 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10616 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10617 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10618 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{mime-digest},
10619 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or
10622 @item nndoc-post-type
10623 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10624 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10625 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10630 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10634 @node Document Server Internals
10635 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10637 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10638 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10639 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10640 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10642 First, here's an example document type definition:
10646 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10647 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10650 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10651 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10652 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10653 types can be defined with very few settings:
10656 @item first-article
10657 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10658 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10661 @item article-begin
10662 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10663 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10665 @item head-begin-function
10666 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10669 @item nndoc-head-begin
10670 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10673 @item nndoc-head-end
10674 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10675 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10677 @item body-begin-function
10678 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10682 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10685 @item body-end-function
10686 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10690 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10693 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10694 regexp will be totally ignored.
10698 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10699 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10700 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10701 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10702 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10705 @item prepare-body-function
10706 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10707 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10708 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10710 @item article-transform-function
10711 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10712 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10713 body of the article.
10715 @item generate-head-function
10716 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10717 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10718 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10719 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10723 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10728 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10729 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10730 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10731 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10732 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10733 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10734 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10735 (subtype digest guess))
10738 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10739 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10740 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10741 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10742 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10744 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10745 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10746 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10747 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10748 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
10749 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10750 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
10751 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
10752 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
10753 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
10761 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
10762 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
10763 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
10765 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
10766 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
10767 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
10770 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
10771 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
10772 that interested in doing things properly.
10774 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
10775 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
10778 First some terminology:
10783 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
10784 get news and/or mail from.
10787 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
10788 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
10791 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
10795 @item message packets
10796 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
10797 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
10798 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10800 @item response packets
10801 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
10802 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
10803 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10813 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
10814 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
10815 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
10816 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
10819 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
10822 You put the packet in your home directory.
10825 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
10826 the native or secondary server.
10829 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
10830 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
10833 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
10837 You transfer this packet to the server.
10840 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
10843 You then repeat until you die.
10847 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
10848 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
10851 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
10852 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
10853 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
10857 @node SOUP Commands
10858 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
10860 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
10864 @kindex G s b (Group)
10865 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
10866 Pack all unread articles in the current group
10867 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
10868 process/prefix convention.
10871 @kindex G s w (Group)
10872 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
10873 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
10876 @kindex G s s (Group)
10877 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
10878 Send all replies from the replies packet
10879 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
10882 @kindex G s p (Group)
10883 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
10884 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
10887 @kindex G s r (Group)
10888 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
10889 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
10892 @kindex O s (Summary)
10893 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
10894 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
10895 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
10896 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10901 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
10906 @item gnus-soup-directory
10907 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
10908 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
10909 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
10911 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
10912 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
10913 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
10914 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
10916 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
10917 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
10918 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
10919 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
10921 @item gnus-soup-packer
10922 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
10923 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10924 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
10926 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
10927 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
10928 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10929 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10931 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
10932 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
10933 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
10935 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10936 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10937 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
10938 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
10944 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
10947 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
10948 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
10949 you can read them at leisure.
10951 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
10955 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
10956 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
10957 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
10958 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
10960 @item nnsoup-directory
10961 @vindex nnsoup-directory
10962 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
10963 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
10965 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
10966 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
10967 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
10968 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
10970 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
10971 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
10972 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10973 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10974 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10976 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10977 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10978 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
10979 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10981 @item nnsoup-active-file
10982 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10983 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10984 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10985 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10986 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10988 @item nnsoup-packer
10989 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10990 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10991 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10993 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10994 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10995 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10996 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10998 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10999 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
11000 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
11003 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
11004 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
11005 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
11008 @item nnsoup-always-save
11009 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
11010 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
11016 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
11018 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
11019 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
11020 more for that to happen.
11022 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
11023 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
11024 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
11027 In specific, this is what it does:
11030 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
11031 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
11034 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
11035 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
11036 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
11040 @subsection Web Searches
11044 @cindex InReference
11045 @cindex Usenet searches
11046 @cindex searching the Usenet
11048 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
11049 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
11050 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
11051 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
11052 searches without having to use a browser.
11054 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
11055 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
11056 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
11057 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
11058 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
11060 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
11061 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
11062 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
11063 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
11064 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
11065 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
11066 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
11067 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
11068 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
11069 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
11072 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
11073 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
11074 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
11075 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
11076 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
11077 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
11079 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
11080 to use @code{nnweb}.
11082 Virtual server variables:
11087 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
11088 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
11092 @vindex nnweb-search
11093 The search string to feed to the search engine.
11095 @item nnweb-max-hits
11096 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
11097 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
11100 @item nnweb-type-definition
11101 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
11102 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
11103 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11108 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11112 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11115 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11118 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11122 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11129 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
11130 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
11131 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
11134 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
11135 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
11136 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
11138 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
11144 @item nngateway-address
11145 @vindex nngateway-address
11146 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
11148 @item nngateway-header-transformation
11149 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
11150 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
11151 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
11152 transformation should be called, and defaults to
11153 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
11154 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
11157 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
11158 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
11159 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
11162 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
11165 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
11168 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
11171 The following pre-defined functions exist:
11173 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11176 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11177 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11178 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
11180 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11182 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11183 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11184 @code{nngateway-address}.
11189 (setq gnus-post-method
11190 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
11191 (nngateway-header-transformation
11192 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
11200 So, to use this, simply say something like:
11203 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
11207 @node Combined Groups
11208 @section Combined Groups
11210 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
11214 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
11215 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
11219 @node Virtual Groups
11220 @subsection Virtual Groups
11222 @cindex virtual groups
11223 @cindex merging groups
11225 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
11228 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
11229 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
11230 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
11232 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
11233 regexp to match component groups.
11235 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
11236 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
11237 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
11238 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
11239 the virtual group.)
11241 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
11242 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
11245 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
11248 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
11249 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
11251 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
11252 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
11253 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
11254 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
11257 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
11260 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
11261 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
11262 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
11264 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
11265 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
11266 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
11267 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
11268 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
11270 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
11271 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
11272 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
11274 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
11275 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
11276 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
11277 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
11278 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
11279 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
11280 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
11281 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
11282 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
11283 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
11284 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
11286 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
11287 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
11288 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
11289 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
11290 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
11291 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
11292 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
11294 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
11295 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
11299 @node Kibozed Groups
11300 @subsection Kibozed Groups
11304 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
11305 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
11306 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
11307 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
11309 @kindex G k (Group)
11310 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
11313 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
11314 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
11315 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
11316 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
11318 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
11319 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
11320 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
11322 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
11323 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
11324 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
11325 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
11326 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
11327 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
11328 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
11329 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
11331 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
11332 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
11333 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
11334 Stranger things have happened.
11336 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
11337 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
11339 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
11340 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
11341 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
11342 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
11343 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
11344 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
11346 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11347 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11350 @node Gnus Unplugged
11351 @section Gnus Unplugged
11356 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
11358 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
11359 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
11360 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
11361 read news. Believe it or not.
11363 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
11364 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
11365 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
11366 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
11367 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
11369 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
11370 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
11371 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
11372 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
11373 reading news on a machine.
11375 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
11379 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
11380 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
11384 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
11385 @file{.gnus.el} file:
11392 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
11394 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
11397 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
11398 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
11399 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
11400 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
11401 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
11402 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
11403 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
11404 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
11409 @subsection Agent Basics
11411 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
11413 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
11414 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
11415 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
11416 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
11418 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
11419 connected to the net continuously.
11421 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
11422 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
11424 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
11429 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
11430 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
11431 already fetched while in this mode.
11434 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
11435 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
11436 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
11439 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
11440 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
11441 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
11442 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
11445 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
11446 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
11447 then you read the news offline.
11450 And then you go to step 2.
11453 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
11459 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
11460 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
11461 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
11462 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
11463 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
11464 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
11467 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}
11474 @node Agent Categories
11475 @subsection Agent Categories
11477 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
11478 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
11479 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
11480 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
11481 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
11482 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
11483 you're interested in the articles anyway.
11485 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
11486 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
11487 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
11490 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
11491 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
11492 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
11496 @node Category Syntax
11497 @subsubsection Category Syntax
11499 A category consists of two things.
11503 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
11504 are eligible for downloading; and
11507 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
11508 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
11509 score} is wholly unrelated to normal scores.)
11512 A predicate consists of predicates with logical operators sprinkled in
11515 Perhaps some examples are in order.
11517 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
11518 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
11524 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
11525 short (for some value of ``short'').
11527 Here's a more complex predicate:
11536 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11537 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11540 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11541 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11542 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11544 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11545 you want to do, you can write your own.
11549 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11550 lines; default 100.
11553 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11554 lines; default 200.
11557 True iff the article has a download score less than
11558 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11561 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11562 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11565 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11566 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11567 checksum and sees whether articles match.
11576 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11577 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11578 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11581 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11582 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11583 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
11584 following headers can be scored on: @code{From}, @code{Subject},
11585 @code{Date}, @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars}, @code{Message-ID},
11586 and @code{References}.
11589 @node The Category Buffer
11590 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
11592 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
11593 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
11594 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
11596 The following commands are available in this buffer:
11600 @kindex q (Category)
11601 @findex gnus-category-exit
11602 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
11605 @kindex k (Category)
11606 @findex gnus-category-kill
11607 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
11610 @kindex c (Category)
11611 @findex gnus-category-copy
11612 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
11615 @kindex a (Category)
11616 @findex gnus-category-add
11617 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
11620 @kindex p (Category)
11621 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
11622 Edit the predicate of the current category
11623 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
11626 @kindex g (Category)
11627 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
11628 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
11629 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
11632 @kindex s (Category)
11633 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
11634 Edit the download score rule of the current category
11635 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
11638 @kindex l (Category)
11639 @findex gnus-category-list
11640 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
11644 @node Category Variables
11645 @subsubsection Category Variables
11648 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
11649 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
11650 Hook run in category buffers.
11652 @item gnus-category-line-format
11653 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
11654 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
11655 Variables}). Valid elements are:
11659 The name of the category.
11662 The number of groups in the category.
11665 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
11666 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
11667 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
11669 @item gnus-agent-short-article
11670 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
11671 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
11673 @item gnus-agent-long-article
11674 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
11675 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
11677 @item gnus-agent-low-score
11678 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
11679 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
11682 @item gnus-agent-high-score
11683 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
11684 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
11690 @node Agent Commands
11691 @subsection Agent Commands
11693 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
11694 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
11695 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
11699 * Group Agent Commands::
11700 * Summary Agent Commands::
11701 * Server Agent Commands::
11704 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
11705 following incantation:
11707 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11709 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11714 @node Group Agent Commands
11715 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
11719 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
11720 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
11721 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
11722 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
11725 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
11726 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
11727 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
11730 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
11731 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
11732 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
11733 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
11736 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
11737 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
11738 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
11739 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}
11742 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
11743 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
11744 Add the current group to an Agent category
11745 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
11750 @node Summary Agent Commands
11751 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
11755 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
11756 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
11757 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
11760 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
11761 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
11762 Remove the downloading mark from the article
11763 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
11766 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
11767 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
11768 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
11771 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
11772 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
11773 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
11778 @node Server Agent Commands
11779 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
11783 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
11784 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
11785 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
11786 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
11789 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
11790 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
11791 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
11792 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
11798 @subsection Agent Expiry
11800 @vindex gnus-agent-expiry-days
11801 @findex gnus-agent-expiry
11802 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expiry
11803 @cindex Agent expiry
11804 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
11807 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
11808 @code{gnus-agent-expiry} command that will expire all read articles that
11809 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expiry-days} days. It can be run
11810 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
11811 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
11812 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
11814 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
11815 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
11816 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
11817 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
11818 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
11821 @node Outgoing Messages
11822 @subsection Outgoing Messages
11824 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
11825 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
11826 after posting, and edit them at will.
11828 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
11829 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
11830 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
11831 messages in the draft group.
11835 @node Agent Variables
11836 @subsection Agent Variables
11839 @item gnus-agent-directory
11840 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
11841 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
11842 @file{~/News/agent/}.
11844 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
11845 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
11846 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
11847 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
11848 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
11851 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11852 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11853 Hook run when connecting to the network.
11855 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11856 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11857 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
11862 @node Example Setup
11863 @subsection Example Setup
11865 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
11866 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
11867 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
11870 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
11871 ;;; from your ISP's server.
11872 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
11874 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
11875 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
11876 (setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
11877 (setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
11879 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
11880 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
11882 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
11886 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
11887 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
11890 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
11891 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
11892 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
11893 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
11894 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
11897 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
11898 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
11899 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
11900 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
11901 back all the killed groups.)
11903 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
11904 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
11905 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
11908 @node Batching Agents
11909 @subsection Batching Agents
11911 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
11912 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
11913 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
11917 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
11926 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
11927 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
11928 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
11931 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
11932 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
11933 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
11934 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
11935 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
11937 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
11938 before generating the summary buffer.
11940 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
11941 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
11942 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
11944 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
11945 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
11946 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
11947 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
11950 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
11951 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
11952 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
11953 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
11954 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
11955 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
11956 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
11957 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
11958 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
11959 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
11960 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
11961 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
11962 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
11963 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
11964 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
11965 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
11969 @node Summary Score Commands
11970 @section Summary Score Commands
11971 @cindex score commands
11973 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
11974 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
11975 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
11976 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
11977 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
11979 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
11980 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
11981 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
11982 score file the current one.
11984 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
11989 @kindex V s (Summary)
11990 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
11991 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
11994 @kindex V S (Summary)
11995 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
11996 Display the score of the current article
11997 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
12000 @kindex V t (Summary)
12001 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
12002 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
12003 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
12006 @kindex V R (Summary)
12007 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
12008 Run the current summary through the scoring process
12009 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
12010 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
12011 effect you're having.
12014 @kindex V c (Summary)
12015 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
12016 Make a different score file the current
12017 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
12020 @kindex V e (Summary)
12021 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
12022 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
12023 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
12027 @kindex V f (Summary)
12028 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
12029 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
12030 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
12033 @kindex V F (Summary)
12034 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12035 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
12036 after editing score files.
12039 @kindex V C (Summary)
12040 @findex gnus-score-customize
12041 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
12042 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
12046 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
12051 @kindex V m (Summary)
12052 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
12053 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
12054 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
12057 @kindex V x (Summary)
12058 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
12059 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
12060 expunge all articles below this score
12061 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
12064 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
12065 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
12068 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
12069 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
12073 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
12074 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
12076 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
12077 keys are available:
12081 Score on the author name.
12084 Score on the subject line.
12087 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
12090 Score on the References line.
12096 Score on the number of lines.
12099 Score on the Message-ID.
12102 Score on followups.
12116 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
12117 what headers you are scoring on.
12129 Substring matching.
12132 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
12161 Greater than number.
12166 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
12167 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
12168 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
12172 Temporary score entry.
12175 Permanent score entry.
12178 Immediately scoring.
12183 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
12184 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
12185 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
12186 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
12188 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
12189 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
12190 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
12191 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
12192 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
12194 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
12195 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
12196 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
12197 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
12198 current score file.
12200 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
12201 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
12202 pretend they are keymaps or not.
12205 @node Group Score Commands
12206 @section Group Score Commands
12207 @cindex group score commands
12209 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
12214 @kindex W f (Group)
12215 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12216 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
12217 all the time. This command will flush the cache
12218 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
12222 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
12224 @findex gnus-batch-score
12225 @cindex batch scoring
12227 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l gnus -f gnus-batch-score
12231 @node Score Variables
12232 @section Score Variables
12233 @cindex score variables
12237 @item gnus-use-scoring
12238 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
12239 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
12240 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
12242 @item gnus-kill-killed
12243 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
12244 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
12245 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
12246 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
12247 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
12248 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
12249 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
12251 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
12252 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
12253 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
12254 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
12255 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
12257 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
12258 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
12259 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
12260 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
12262 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12263 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12264 @cindex score cache
12265 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
12266 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
12267 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
12268 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
12269 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
12270 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
12273 @item gnus-save-score
12274 @vindex gnus-save-score
12275 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
12276 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
12277 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
12279 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12280 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12281 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
12282 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
12283 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
12284 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
12285 manually entered data.
12287 @item gnus-summary-default-score
12288 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
12289 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
12291 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
12292 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
12293 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
12294 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
12295 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
12296 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
12298 @item gnus-score-over-mark
12299 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
12300 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
12301 default. Default is @samp{+}.
12303 @item gnus-score-below-mark
12304 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
12305 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
12306 default. Default is @samp{-}.
12308 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12309 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12310 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
12311 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
12313 Predefined functions available are:
12316 @item gnus-score-find-single
12317 @findex gnus-score-find-single
12318 Only apply the group's own score file.
12320 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
12321 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
12322 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
12323 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
12324 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
12325 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
12326 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
12327 then a regexp match is done.
12329 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
12330 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
12332 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
12333 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
12334 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
12335 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
12337 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12338 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12339 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
12340 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
12341 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
12344 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
12345 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
12346 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
12347 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
12348 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
12349 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
12352 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
12353 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
12354 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
12355 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
12356 are expired. It's 7 by default.
12358 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12359 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12360 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
12361 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
12362 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
12363 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
12364 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
12367 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12368 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12369 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
12371 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
12372 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
12373 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
12374 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
12375 threading---according to the current value of
12376 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
12377 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
12378 simplified in this manner.
12383 @node Score File Format
12384 @section Score File Format
12385 @cindex score file format
12387 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
12388 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
12389 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
12391 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
12395 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
12397 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
12399 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
12401 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
12406 (mark-and-expunge -10)
12410 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
12411 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
12412 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
12413 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
12417 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
12418 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
12420 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
12421 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
12422 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
12424 Six keys are supported by this alist:
12429 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
12430 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
12431 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
12432 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
12433 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
12434 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
12435 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
12436 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
12437 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
12438 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
12439 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
12440 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
12441 to articles that matches these score entries.
12443 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
12444 score entry has one to four elements.
12448 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
12449 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
12453 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
12454 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
12455 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
12456 is successful. If this element is not present, the
12457 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
12458 instead. This is 1000 by default.
12461 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
12462 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
12463 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
12464 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
12465 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
12468 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
12469 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
12470 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
12471 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
12474 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
12475 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
12476 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
12477 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
12478 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
12479 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
12480 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
12481 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
12482 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
12483 instead, if you feel like.
12486 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
12487 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
12489 These predicates are true if
12492 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
12495 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
12496 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
12503 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
12504 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
12505 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
12506 it's not. I think.)
12508 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
12509 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
12510 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
12511 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
12514 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
12515 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
12516 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
12517 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
12518 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
12519 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
12520 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
12524 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
12525 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
12526 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
12527 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
12528 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
12529 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
12530 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
12531 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
12534 @item Head, Body, All
12535 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
12539 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
12540 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
12541 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
12542 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
12543 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
12544 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
12545 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
12549 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
12550 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
12551 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
12552 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
12553 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
12554 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
12555 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
12556 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
12557 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
12558 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
12562 @cindex Score File Atoms
12564 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12565 lower than this number will be marked as read.
12568 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12569 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
12571 @item mark-and-expunge
12572 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12573 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
12576 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
12577 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
12578 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
12579 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
12580 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
12583 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
12584 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
12587 @item exclude-files
12588 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
12589 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
12593 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
12594 ignored when handling global score files.
12597 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
12598 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
12599 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
12600 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
12603 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
12604 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
12605 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
12606 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
12608 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
12612 (mark-and-expunge -100)
12615 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
12616 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
12617 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
12618 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
12619 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
12621 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
12622 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
12623 ordinary scoring rules.
12626 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
12627 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
12628 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
12629 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
12630 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
12631 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
12632 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12633 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
12634 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
12635 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
12636 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
12640 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
12641 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
12642 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
12643 file for a number of groups.
12646 @cindex local variables
12647 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
12648 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
12649 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
12650 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
12651 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
12655 @node Score File Editing
12656 @section Score File Editing
12658 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
12659 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
12660 with a mode for that.
12662 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
12663 additional commands:
12668 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
12669 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
12670 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
12671 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
12674 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
12675 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
12676 Insert the current date in numerical format
12677 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
12678 you were wondering.
12681 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
12682 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
12683 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
12684 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
12685 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
12690 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
12692 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
12693 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
12695 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
12696 e} to begin editing score files.
12699 @node Adaptive Scoring
12700 @section Adaptive Scoring
12701 @cindex adaptive scoring
12703 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
12704 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
12705 stupidity, to be precise.
12707 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
12708 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
12709 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
12710 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
12711 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12712 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
12713 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
12714 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
12715 variable to @code{(word line)}.
12717 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12718 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
12719 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
12720 might look something like this:
12723 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12724 '((gnus-unread-mark)
12725 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
12726 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
12727 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
12728 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
12729 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
12730 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
12731 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
12732 (gnus-ancient-mark)
12733 (gnus-low-score-mark)
12734 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
12737 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
12738 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
12739 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
12740 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
12741 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
12742 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
12745 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
12746 will be applied to each article.
12748 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
12749 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
12750 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
12751 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
12753 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
12754 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
12755 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
12756 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
12758 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
12759 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
12760 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
12761 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
12763 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
12764 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
12765 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
12766 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
12767 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
12768 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
12770 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
12771 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
12772 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
12773 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
12774 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
12775 aspirins afterwards.)
12777 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
12778 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
12779 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
12781 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
12782 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
12783 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
12785 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
12786 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
12787 let you use different rules in different groups.
12789 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
12790 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
12791 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
12794 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
12795 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
12796 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
12797 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
12798 the length of the match is less than
12799 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
12800 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
12803 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12804 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
12805 headers. If you adapt on words, the
12806 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
12807 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
12810 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12811 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
12812 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
12813 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
12814 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
12817 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
12818 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
12819 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
12820 score with 30 points.
12822 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
12823 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
12824 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
12825 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
12826 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
12828 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
12829 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
12830 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
12831 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
12833 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
12834 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
12835 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
12836 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
12838 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
12839 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
12840 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
12842 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
12843 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
12844 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
12845 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
12848 @node Home Score File
12849 @section Home Score File
12851 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
12852 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
12853 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
12854 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
12856 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
12857 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
12858 could perhaps use the same home score file.
12860 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
12861 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
12866 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
12870 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
12871 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
12875 A list. The elements in this list can be:
12879 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
12880 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
12883 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
12884 the home score file.
12887 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
12890 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
12895 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
12898 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12899 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
12902 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
12903 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
12905 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
12907 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12908 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
12911 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
12912 Other functions include
12915 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
12916 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
12917 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
12918 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
12922 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
12923 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
12924 their own home score files:
12927 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12928 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
12929 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
12930 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
12931 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
12934 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
12935 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
12936 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
12937 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
12938 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
12940 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
12941 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
12942 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
12943 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
12944 precedence over this variable.
12947 @node Followups To Yourself
12948 @section Followups To Yourself
12950 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
12951 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
12952 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
12953 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
12954 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
12955 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
12959 @item gnus-score-followup-article
12960 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
12961 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
12964 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
12965 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
12966 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
12970 @vindex message-sent-hook
12971 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
12972 @code{message-sent-hook}.
12974 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
12975 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
12979 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12980 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12983 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
12984 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
12989 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
12993 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
12994 is system-dependent.
12998 @section Scoring Tips
12999 @cindex scoring tips
13005 @cindex scoring crossposts
13006 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
13007 the @code{Xref} header.
13009 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
13012 @item Multiple crossposts
13013 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
13014 more than, say, 3 groups:
13016 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
13019 @item Matching on the body
13020 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
13021 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
13022 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
13023 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
13024 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
13025 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
13026 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
13029 @item Marking as read
13030 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
13031 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
13032 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
13036 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
13038 @item Negated character classes
13039 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
13040 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
13041 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
13045 @node Reverse Scoring
13046 @section Reverse Scoring
13047 @cindex reverse scoring
13049 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
13050 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
13051 like this in your score file:
13055 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
13060 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
13061 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
13064 @node Global Score Files
13065 @section Global Score Files
13066 @cindex global score files
13068 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
13069 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
13070 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
13072 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
13073 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
13074 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
13076 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
13077 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
13078 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
13079 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
13080 files are applicable to which group.
13082 Say you want to use the score file
13083 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
13084 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
13087 (setq gnus-global-score-files
13088 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
13089 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
13092 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
13093 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
13094 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
13095 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
13096 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
13098 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
13099 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
13101 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
13102 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
13103 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
13104 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
13105 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
13106 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
13108 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
13114 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
13116 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
13118 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
13120 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
13121 lowered out of existence.
13123 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
13124 articles completely.
13127 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
13128 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
13129 old articles for a long time.
13132 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
13133 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
13134 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
13135 holding our breath yet?
13139 @section Kill Files
13142 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
13143 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
13144 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
13146 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
13147 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
13148 files into score files.
13150 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
13151 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
13152 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
13153 that isn't a very good idea.
13155 Normal kill files look like this:
13158 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13159 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
13163 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
13164 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
13166 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
13167 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
13170 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
13175 @kindex M-k (Summary)
13176 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
13177 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
13180 @kindex M-K (Summary)
13181 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
13182 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
13185 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
13190 @kindex M-k (Group)
13191 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
13192 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
13195 @kindex M-K (Group)
13196 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
13197 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
13200 Kill file variables:
13203 @item gnus-kill-file-name
13204 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
13205 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
13206 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
13207 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
13208 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
13209 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
13211 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13212 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13213 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
13214 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
13217 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
13218 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
13219 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
13220 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
13221 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
13222 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
13223 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
13224 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
13225 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
13227 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13228 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13229 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
13234 @node Converting Kill Files
13235 @section Converting Kill Files
13237 @cindex converting kill files
13239 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
13240 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
13241 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
13244 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
13245 You can fetch it from
13246 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
13248 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
13249 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
13250 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
13258 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
13259 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
13260 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
13262 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
13263 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
13264 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
13265 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
13266 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
13267 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
13268 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
13269 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
13273 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
13274 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
13275 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
13276 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
13280 @node Using GroupLens
13281 @subsection Using GroupLens
13283 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
13285 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
13286 better bit in town at the moment.
13288 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
13292 @item gnus-use-grouplens
13293 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
13294 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
13295 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
13297 @item grouplens-pseudonym
13298 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
13299 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
13300 with the Better Bit Bureau.
13302 @item grouplens-newsgroups
13303 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
13304 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
13308 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
13309 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
13310 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
13311 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
13312 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
13313 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
13316 @node Rating Articles
13317 @subsection Rating Articles
13319 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
13320 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
13321 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
13322 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
13325 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
13330 @kindex r (GroupLens)
13331 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
13332 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
13335 @kindex k (GroupLens)
13336 @findex grouplens-score-thread
13337 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
13338 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
13339 threads in rec.humor.
13343 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
13344 the score of the article you're reading.
13349 @kindex n (GroupLens)
13350 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
13351 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
13354 @kindex , (GroupLens)
13355 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
13356 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
13360 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
13361 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
13364 @node Displaying Predictions
13365 @subsection Displaying Predictions
13367 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
13368 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
13369 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
13370 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
13371 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
13373 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
13374 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
13375 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
13376 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
13377 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
13378 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
13379 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
13380 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
13381 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
13382 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
13383 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
13384 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
13385 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
13387 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
13388 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
13389 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
13390 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
13392 The following are valid values for that variable.
13395 @item prediction-spot
13396 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
13399 @item confidence-interval
13400 A numeric confidence interval.
13402 @item prediction-bar
13403 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
13405 @item confidence-bar
13406 Numerical confidence.
13408 @item confidence-spot
13409 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
13411 @item prediction-num
13412 Plain-old numeric value.
13414 @item confidence-plus-minus
13415 Prediction +/- confidence.
13420 @node GroupLens Variables
13421 @subsection GroupLens Variables
13425 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
13426 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
13427 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
13428 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
13431 @item grouplens-bbb-host
13432 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
13435 @item grouplens-bbb-port
13436 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
13438 @item grouplens-score-offset
13439 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
13440 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
13443 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
13444 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
13445 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
13450 @node Advanced Scoring
13451 @section Advanced Scoring
13453 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
13454 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
13455 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
13456 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
13457 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
13459 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
13463 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
13464 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
13465 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
13469 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
13470 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
13472 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
13473 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
13474 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
13475 non-@code{nil} value.
13477 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
13478 operator, and various match operators.
13485 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13486 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
13487 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
13492 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13493 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
13494 then this operator will return @code{false}.
13499 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
13500 logical negation of the value of its argument.
13504 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
13505 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
13506 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
13507 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
13508 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
13509 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
13510 the ancestry you want to go.
13512 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
13513 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
13514 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
13515 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
13516 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
13519 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
13520 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
13522 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
13523 when he's talking about Gnus:
13527 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13528 ("subject" "Gnus"))
13534 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
13538 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13545 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
13546 really don't want to read what he's written:
13550 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13551 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
13555 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
13556 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
13557 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
13564 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
13565 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
13566 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
13567 ("body" "white.*socks"))
13571 The possibilities are endless.
13574 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
13575 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
13577 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
13578 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
13579 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
13580 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
13581 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
13582 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
13583 @samp{subject}) first.
13585 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
13586 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
13597 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
13598 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
13604 ("subject" "Gnus")))
13611 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
13612 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
13617 @section Score Decays
13618 @cindex score decays
13621 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
13622 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
13623 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
13624 use them in any sensible way.
13626 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
13627 @findex gnus-decay-score
13628 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
13629 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
13630 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
13631 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
13632 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
13633 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
13634 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
13635 definition of that function:
13638 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
13640 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
13641 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
13644 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
13646 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
13648 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
13651 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
13652 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
13653 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
13654 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
13658 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
13661 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
13664 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
13668 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
13669 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
13670 the new score, which should be an integer.
13672 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
13673 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
13680 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
13681 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
13682 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
13683 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
13684 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
13685 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
13686 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
13687 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
13688 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
13689 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
13690 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
13691 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
13692 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
13693 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
13694 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
13695 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
13696 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
13697 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
13701 @node Process/Prefix
13702 @section Process/Prefix
13703 @cindex process/prefix convention
13705 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
13706 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
13708 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
13709 command to be performed on.
13713 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
13714 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
13715 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
13716 with the current one.
13718 @vindex transient-mark-mode
13719 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
13720 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
13722 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
13723 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
13726 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
13727 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
13729 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
13732 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
13733 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
13734 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
13735 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13737 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
13738 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
13739 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
13740 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
13741 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
13742 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
13743 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
13744 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
13748 @section Interactive
13749 @cindex interaction
13753 @item gnus-novice-user
13754 @vindex gnus-novice-user
13755 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
13756 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
13757 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
13758 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
13761 @item gnus-expert-user
13762 @vindex gnus-expert-user
13763 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
13764 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
13765 matter how strange.
13767 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
13768 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
13769 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
13770 is @code{t} by default.
13772 @item gnus-interactive-exit
13773 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
13774 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
13779 @node Symbolic Prefixes
13780 @section Symbolic Prefixes
13781 @cindex symbolic prefixes
13783 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
13784 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
13785 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
13786 rule of 900 to the current article.
13788 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
13789 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
13790 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
13791 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
13792 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
13793 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
13794 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
13796 @kindex M-i (Summary)
13797 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
13798 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
13799 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
13800 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
13801 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
13802 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
13803 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
13804 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
13806 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
13807 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
13808 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
13810 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
13814 @node Formatting Variables
13815 @section Formatting Variables
13816 @cindex formatting variables
13818 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
13819 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
13820 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
13821 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
13822 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
13825 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
13826 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
13827 lots of percentages everywhere.
13830 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
13831 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
13832 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
13833 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
13834 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
13837 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
13838 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
13839 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
13840 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
13841 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
13842 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
13843 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
13844 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
13846 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
13847 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
13849 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
13850 @findex gnus-update-format
13851 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
13852 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
13853 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
13854 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
13858 @node Formatting Basics
13859 @subsection Formatting Basics
13861 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
13862 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
13863 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
13865 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
13866 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
13867 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
13868 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
13869 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
13872 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
13873 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
13874 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
13875 less than 4 characters wide.
13878 @node Mode Line Formatting
13879 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
13881 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
13882 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
13883 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
13884 with the following two differences:
13889 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
13892 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
13893 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
13894 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
13895 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
13896 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
13897 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
13898 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
13903 @node Advanced Formatting
13904 @subsection Advanced Formatting
13906 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
13907 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
13908 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
13909 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
13911 These are the valid modifiers:
13916 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
13920 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
13925 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
13928 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
13933 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
13936 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
13939 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
13942 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
13946 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
13947 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
13948 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
13949 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
13950 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
13951 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
13952 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
13954 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
13955 last operation, padding.
13957 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
13958 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
13959 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
13960 @xref{Compilation}.
13963 @node User-Defined Specs
13964 @subsection User-Defined Specs
13966 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
13967 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
13968 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
13969 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
13970 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
13971 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
13972 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
13973 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
13974 should protect against that.
13976 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
13977 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
13978 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
13979 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
13983 @node Formatting Fonts
13984 @subsection Formatting Fonts
13986 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
13987 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
13988 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
13989 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
13992 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
13993 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
13994 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
13995 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
13996 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
13997 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
13999 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
14002 ;; Create three face types.
14003 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
14004 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
14006 ;; We want the article count to be in
14007 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
14008 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
14009 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
14011 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
14012 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
14014 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
14015 (setq gnus-group-line-format
14016 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
14019 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
14020 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
14022 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
14023 mode-line variables.
14026 @node Windows Configuration
14027 @section Windows Configuration
14028 @cindex windows configuration
14030 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
14032 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
14033 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
14034 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
14035 @code{t} by default.
14037 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
14038 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
14039 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
14042 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
14043 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
14044 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14048 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
14049 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
14050 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
14051 possible names is listed below.
14053 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
14054 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
14057 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14061 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
14062 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
14063 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
14064 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
14065 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
14066 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
14067 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
14068 size spec per split.
14070 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
14071 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
14072 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
14073 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
14074 present) gets focus.
14076 Here's a more complicated example:
14079 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
14080 (summary 0.25 point)
14081 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
14085 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
14086 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
14087 occupy, not a percentage.
14089 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
14090 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
14091 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
14092 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
14093 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
14096 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
14099 (article (horizontal 1.0
14104 (summary 0.25 point)
14109 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
14110 @code{horizontal} thingie?
14112 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
14113 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
14114 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
14115 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
14116 the screen is to be given to this strip.
14118 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
14119 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
14120 lines from the splits.
14122 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
14126 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
14127 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
14128 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
14129 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
14130 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
14131 size = number | frame-params
14132 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
14135 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
14136 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
14137 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
14138 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
14140 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
14141 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
14142 @cindex window height
14143 @cindex window width
14144 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
14145 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
14146 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
14147 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
14148 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
14149 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
14151 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
14152 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
14153 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
14154 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
14156 @findex gnus-configure-frame
14157 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
14158 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
14159 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
14160 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
14161 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
14162 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
14163 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
14164 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
14165 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
14166 configuration list.
14169 (gnus-configure-frame
14173 (article 0.3 point))
14181 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
14182 @code{frame} split:
14185 (gnus-configure-frame
14188 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
14190 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
14191 (user-position . t)
14192 (left . -1) (top . 1))
14197 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
14198 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
14199 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
14200 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
14201 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
14202 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
14203 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
14204 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
14207 Here's a list of all possible keys for
14208 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
14210 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
14211 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
14212 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
14213 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
14214 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
14215 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
14217 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
14218 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
14219 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
14223 (message (horizontal 1.0
14224 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
14226 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
14231 @findex gnus-add-configuration
14232 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
14233 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
14234 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
14235 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
14238 (gnus-add-configuration
14239 '(article (vertical 1.0
14241 (summary .25 point)
14245 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
14246 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
14247 Gnus has been loaded.
14249 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
14250 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
14251 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
14252 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
14253 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
14256 @node Faces and Fonts
14257 @section Faces and Fonts
14262 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
14263 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
14264 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
14269 @section Compilation
14270 @cindex compilation
14271 @cindex byte-compilation
14273 @findex gnus-compile
14275 Remember all those line format specification variables?
14276 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
14277 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
14278 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
14279 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
14280 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
14283 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
14284 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
14285 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
14286 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
14287 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
14288 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
14289 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
14293 @section Mode Lines
14296 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
14297 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
14298 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
14299 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
14300 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
14301 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
14302 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
14305 @cindex display-time
14307 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
14308 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
14309 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
14310 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
14311 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
14312 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
14313 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
14314 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
14317 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
14319 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
14320 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
14322 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
14323 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
14324 (length display-time-string)))))
14327 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
14328 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
14329 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
14330 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
14331 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
14334 @node Highlighting and Menus
14335 @section Highlighting and Menus
14337 @cindex highlighting
14340 @vindex gnus-visual
14341 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
14342 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
14343 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
14346 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
14347 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
14350 @item group-highlight
14351 Do highlights in the group buffer.
14352 @item summary-highlight
14353 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
14354 @item article-highlight
14355 Do highlights in the article buffer.
14357 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
14359 Create menus in the group buffer.
14361 Create menus in the summary buffers.
14363 Create menus in the article buffer.
14365 Create menus in the browse buffer.
14367 Create menus in the server buffer.
14369 Create menus in the score buffers.
14371 Create menus in all buffers.
14374 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
14375 buffers, you could say something like:
14378 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
14381 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
14384 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
14387 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
14388 in all Gnus buffers.
14390 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
14393 @item gnus-mouse-face
14394 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
14395 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
14396 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
14400 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
14404 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
14405 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
14406 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
14408 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
14409 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
14410 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
14412 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
14413 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
14414 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
14416 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
14417 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
14418 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
14420 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
14421 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
14422 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
14424 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
14425 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
14426 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
14437 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
14438 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
14439 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
14440 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
14441 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
14445 @vindex gnus-carpal
14446 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
14447 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
14448 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
14453 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14454 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14455 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
14457 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
14458 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
14459 Face used on buttons.
14461 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
14462 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
14463 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
14465 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14466 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14467 Buttons in the group buffer.
14469 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14470 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14471 Buttons in the summary buffer.
14473 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14474 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14475 Buttons in the server buffer.
14477 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14478 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14479 Buttons in the browse buffer.
14482 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
14483 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
14484 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
14492 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
14493 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
14494 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
14495 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
14496 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
14498 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
14499 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
14500 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
14502 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
14503 been idle for thirty minutes:
14506 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
14509 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
14513 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
14516 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
14517 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
14518 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14520 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
14521 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
14522 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
14523 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14525 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
14526 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
14527 @var{idle} minutes.
14529 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
14530 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
14533 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
14534 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
14535 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
14537 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
14538 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
14539 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
14540 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
14542 @vindex gnus-use-demon
14543 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
14544 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
14546 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
14547 your @file{.gnus} file:
14549 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
14551 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
14554 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
14555 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
14556 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
14557 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
14558 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
14559 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
14560 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
14561 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
14562 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
14563 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
14564 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
14566 @findex gnus-demon-init
14567 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
14568 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
14569 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
14570 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
14571 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
14573 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
14574 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
14575 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
14584 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
14585 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
14587 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
14588 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
14589 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
14590 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
14593 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
14594 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
14595 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
14596 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
14598 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
14599 this will make spam disappear.
14601 There are some variables to customize, of course:
14604 @item gnus-use-nocem
14605 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
14606 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
14609 @item gnus-nocem-groups
14610 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
14611 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
14612 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
14613 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
14615 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
14616 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
14617 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
14618 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
14619 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
14620 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
14621 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
14623 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
14626 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
14627 @cindex Chris Lewis
14628 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
14629 usenet abuse than anybody else.
14632 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
14633 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
14634 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
14636 @item jem@@xpat.com;
14638 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
14641 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
14642 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
14643 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
14646 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
14647 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
14648 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
14649 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
14650 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
14651 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
14652 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
14653 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
14654 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
14655 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
14657 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
14658 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
14661 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
14664 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
14665 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
14668 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
14671 The specs are applied left-to-right.
14674 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
14675 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
14677 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
14678 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
14679 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
14680 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
14682 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
14683 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
14686 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
14688 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
14696 This might be dangerous, though.
14698 @item gnus-nocem-directory
14699 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
14700 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
14701 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
14703 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14704 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14705 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
14706 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
14707 might then see old spam.
14711 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
14712 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
14713 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
14714 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
14721 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
14722 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
14723 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
14725 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
14726 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
14727 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
14728 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
14729 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
14730 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
14731 @code{undo} function.
14733 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
14734 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
14735 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
14736 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
14737 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
14738 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
14739 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
14740 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
14741 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
14742 never be totally undoable.
14744 @findex gnus-undo-mode
14745 @vindex gnus-use-undo
14747 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
14748 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
14749 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
14750 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
14755 @section Moderation
14758 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
14759 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
14760 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
14763 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
14767 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
14770 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
14772 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
14777 You split your incoming mail by matching on
14778 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
14779 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
14782 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
14783 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
14786 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
14787 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
14791 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
14794 (setq gnus-moderated-list
14795 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
14799 @node XEmacs Enhancements
14800 @section XEmacs Enhancements
14803 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
14807 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
14808 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
14809 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
14810 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
14823 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
14824 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
14825 over your shoulder as you read news.
14828 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
14829 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
14830 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
14831 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
14832 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
14837 @subsubsection Picon Basics
14839 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
14848 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
14849 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
14850 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
14851 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
14852 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
14853 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
14854 @code{GIF} formats.
14857 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14858 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
14859 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
14860 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
14861 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
14863 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14864 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
14865 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
14866 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
14867 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
14868 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14871 @node Picon Requirements
14872 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
14874 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
14875 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
14878 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
14879 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
14880 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
14882 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14883 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
14884 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
14885 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
14886 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
14890 @subsubsection Easy Picons
14892 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
14893 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
14896 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
14897 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14898 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14899 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14900 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
14903 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
14904 containing the Picons databases.
14906 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
14909 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14910 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
14915 @subsubsection Hard Picons
14923 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
14924 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
14925 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
14926 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
14927 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
14932 @item gnus-picons-database
14933 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14934 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
14935 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
14936 subdirectories. This is only useful if
14937 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
14938 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
14940 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14941 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14942 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
14943 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
14944 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
14945 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
14946 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14948 @item gnus-picons-display-where
14949 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14950 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
14951 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
14952 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
14953 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
14954 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
14955 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
14957 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14958 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14959 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
14964 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
14965 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
14967 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
14968 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
14971 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
14972 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14974 @item gnus-article-display-picons
14975 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14976 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
14977 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
14978 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14980 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
14981 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14982 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
14983 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14987 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
14988 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
14991 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14995 @node Picon Useless Configuration
14996 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
15004 The following variables offer further control over how things are
15005 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
15006 don't need to worry about.
15010 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
15011 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
15012 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15013 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
15015 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
15016 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
15017 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
15018 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
15020 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
15021 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
15022 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15023 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
15024 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
15026 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15027 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15028 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
15029 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
15030 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
15031 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
15032 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
15034 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15035 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15036 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
15037 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
15039 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15040 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15041 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
15042 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
15043 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
15044 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
15045 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
15047 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15048 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15049 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
15050 Defaults to @code{nil}.
15052 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
15053 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
15054 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
15055 Defaults to @code{t}.
15057 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15058 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15059 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
15060 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
15062 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15063 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15064 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
15065 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
15067 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15068 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15069 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
15070 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
15071 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
15072 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
15073 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
15074 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
15085 @subsection Smileys
15090 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
15095 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
15096 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
15098 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
15099 @file{.gnus.el} file:
15102 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
15105 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
15106 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
15107 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
15108 text and maps that to file names.
15110 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
15111 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
15112 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
15113 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
15114 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
15115 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
15117 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
15118 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
15120 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
15121 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
15122 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
15124 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
15125 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
15129 @item smiley-data-directory
15130 @vindex smiley-data-directory
15131 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
15133 @item smiley-flesh-color
15134 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
15135 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
15137 @item smiley-features-color
15138 @vindex smiley-features-color
15139 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15141 @item smiley-tongue-color
15142 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
15143 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
15145 @item smiley-circle-color
15146 @vindex smiley-circle-color
15147 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15149 @item smiley-mouse-face
15150 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
15151 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
15157 @subsection Toolbar
15167 @item gnus-use-toolbar
15168 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
15169 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
15170 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
15171 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
15173 @item gnus-group-toolbar
15174 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
15175 The toolbar in the group buffer.
15177 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
15178 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
15179 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
15181 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15182 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15183 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
15189 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
15192 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15193 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15194 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
15195 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
15196 unusual directory structure.
15198 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15199 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15200 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
15201 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
15203 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15204 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15205 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
15206 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
15207 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
15208 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
15210 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15211 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15212 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
15226 @node Fuzzy Matching
15227 @section Fuzzy Matching
15228 @cindex fuzzy matching
15230 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
15231 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
15233 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
15234 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
15235 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
15237 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
15238 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
15239 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
15240 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
15241 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
15244 @node Thwarting Email Spam
15245 @section Thwarting Email Spam
15249 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
15251 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
15252 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
15253 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
15254 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
15255 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
15256 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
15257 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
15258 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
15261 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
15262 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
15263 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
15264 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
15265 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
15266 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
15270 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
15271 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
15273 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
15274 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
15275 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
15276 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
15277 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
15278 part of the mail address.)
15281 (setq message-default-news-headers
15282 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
15285 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15286 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
15291 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
15292 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
15293 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
15299 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
15300 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
15301 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
15302 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
15304 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
15305 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
15306 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
15307 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
15308 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
15309 your fancy split rule in this way:
15314 (to "larsi" "misc")
15318 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
15319 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
15320 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
15321 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
15322 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
15324 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
15325 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
15326 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
15327 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
15328 cosmic balance somewhat.
15330 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
15331 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
15332 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
15333 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
15336 @node Various Various
15337 @section Various Various
15343 @item gnus-home-directory
15344 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
15345 defaults to @file{~/}.
15347 @item gnus-directory
15348 @vindex gnus-directory
15349 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
15350 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
15351 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
15353 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
15354 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
15355 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
15356 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
15358 @item gnus-default-directory
15359 @vindex gnus-default-directory
15360 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
15361 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
15362 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
15363 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
15364 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
15365 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
15368 @vindex gnus-verbose
15369 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
15370 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
15371 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
15372 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
15373 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
15375 @item gnus-verbose-backends
15376 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
15377 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
15378 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
15380 @item nnheader-max-head-length
15381 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
15382 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
15383 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
15384 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
15385 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
15386 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
15387 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
15388 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
15389 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
15391 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
15392 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
15393 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
15394 read when doing the operation described above.
15396 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15397 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15399 @cindex invalid characters in file names
15400 @cindex characters in file names
15401 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
15402 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
15403 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
15406 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15410 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
15411 Windows (phooey) systems.
15413 @item gnus-hidden-properties
15414 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
15415 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
15416 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
15417 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
15419 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
15420 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
15421 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
15422 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
15423 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
15425 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
15426 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
15427 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
15436 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
15437 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
15439 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
15441 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
15447 Not because of victories @*
15450 but for the common sunshine,@*
15452 the largess of the spring.
15456 but for the day's work done@*
15457 as well as I was able;@*
15458 not for a seat upon the dais@*
15459 but at the common table.@*
15464 @chapter Appendices
15467 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
15468 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
15469 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
15470 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
15471 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
15472 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
15473 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
15481 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
15482 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
15484 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
15485 can point your (feh!) web browser to
15486 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
15487 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
15488 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
15490 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
15491 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
15492 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
15493 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
15494 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
15495 appropriate name, don't you think?)
15497 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
15498 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
15499 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
15500 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
15502 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
15503 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
15504 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
15506 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
15507 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
15509 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
15510 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
15512 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
15513 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6 on March 8th 1998.
15515 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
15516 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
15517 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
15518 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
15519 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
15523 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
15524 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
15525 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
15526 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
15527 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
15528 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
15529 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
15536 What's the point of Gnus?
15538 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
15539 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
15540 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
15541 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
15542 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
15543 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
15544 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
15545 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
15546 keep track of millions of people who post?
15548 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
15549 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
15550 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
15551 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
15552 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
15553 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
15554 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
15555 every one of you to explore and invent.
15557 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
15558 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
15561 @node Compatibility
15562 @subsection Compatibility
15564 @cindex compatibility
15565 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
15566 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
15567 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
15572 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
15576 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
15579 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
15582 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
15583 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
15584 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
15585 important variables have their values copied into their global
15586 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
15587 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
15589 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
15590 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
15591 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
15592 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
15593 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
15597 @cindex highlighting
15598 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
15599 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
15600 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
15601 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
15602 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
15603 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
15606 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
15607 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
15608 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
15609 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
15611 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
15612 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
15613 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
15614 to stop doing it the old way.
15616 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
15618 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
15620 @cindex reporting bugs
15622 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
15623 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
15624 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
15626 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
15627 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
15628 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
15629 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
15634 @subsection Conformity
15636 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
15637 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
15644 There are no known breaches of this standard.
15648 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
15650 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
15651 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
15652 We do have some breaches to this one.
15657 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
15658 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
15661 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
15662 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
15663 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
15664 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
15665 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
15670 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
15671 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
15676 @subsection Emacsen
15682 Gnus should work on :
15687 Emacs 19.32 and up.
15690 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
15693 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
15697 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
15698 reliably, at least.
15700 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
15701 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
15702 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
15707 @subsection Contributors
15708 @cindex contributors
15710 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
15711 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
15712 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
15713 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
15714 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
15715 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
15716 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
15717 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
15718 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
15719 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
15721 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
15727 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
15730 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
15731 well as numerous other things).
15734 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
15737 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
15740 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
15741 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
15744 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
15747 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
15748 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
15751 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
15754 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
15757 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
15760 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
15763 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
15764 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
15767 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
15770 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
15773 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
15776 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
15780 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
15783 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
15786 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
15789 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
15790 well as autoconf support.
15794 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
15795 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
15797 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
15806 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
15810 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
15832 Massimo Campostrini,
15840 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
15846 Michael Welsh Duggan,
15849 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
15853 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
15859 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
15861 Michelangelo Grigni,
15864 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
15866 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
15868 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
15873 François Felix Ingrand,
15874 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
15876 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
15885 Peter Skov Knudsen,
15886 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
15887 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
15888 Thor Kristoffersen,
15891 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
15908 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
15909 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
15916 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
15920 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
15923 John McClary Prevost,
15929 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
15934 Christian von Roques,
15936 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
15942 Philippe Schnoebelen,
15944 Randal L. Schwartz,
15973 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
15975 Shenghuo Zhu. @c Zhu
15977 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
15978 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
15979 (550kB and counting).
15981 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
15984 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
15985 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
15989 @subsection New Features
15990 @cindex new features
15993 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
15994 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
15995 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
15996 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
15999 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
16000 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
16001 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
16005 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
16007 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
16012 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
16013 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
16016 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
16017 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
16020 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
16023 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
16024 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
16025 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
16028 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
16029 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
16030 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
16031 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16034 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
16035 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16038 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
16039 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
16040 (@pxref{The Active File}).
16043 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
16044 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
16047 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
16048 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
16049 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16052 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
16053 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
16054 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
16057 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
16058 the @file{.emacs} file.
16061 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
16062 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16065 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
16066 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
16069 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
16070 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16073 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
16074 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
16077 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
16078 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16081 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
16084 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
16085 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
16088 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
16089 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
16092 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
16093 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
16096 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
16099 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
16100 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16103 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
16107 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
16111 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
16112 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
16115 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
16121 @node September Gnus
16122 @subsubsection September Gnus
16126 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
16130 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
16135 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
16136 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
16140 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
16141 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
16145 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
16149 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
16150 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
16153 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
16157 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16160 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
16163 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
16166 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
16170 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
16171 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
16174 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
16178 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
16182 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
16186 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
16190 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
16193 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
16194 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
16197 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
16201 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
16202 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
16205 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
16208 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
16209 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
16210 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16213 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
16217 The Gnus cache is much faster.
16220 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
16224 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
16225 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
16228 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
16229 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
16232 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
16233 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16236 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
16237 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
16238 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
16241 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
16242 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
16245 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
16248 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16251 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16252 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
16256 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
16259 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
16262 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
16263 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
16266 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
16270 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
16273 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
16278 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
16281 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
16285 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16288 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
16292 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
16295 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
16298 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
16299 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16302 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
16303 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
16307 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
16308 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
16311 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
16315 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
16316 buffer to allow easier treatment.
16319 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
16322 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
16326 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
16330 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
16331 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
16334 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
16338 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
16339 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16342 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
16343 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16346 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
16350 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16353 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16354 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
16358 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
16361 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
16367 @subsubsection Red Gnus
16369 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
16373 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
16380 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
16383 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
16384 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16387 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
16388 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
16392 Article washing status can be displayed in the
16393 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
16396 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
16399 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
16400 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
16403 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
16407 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
16408 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
16412 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
16413 Server Internals}).
16416 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
16420 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
16423 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
16424 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
16427 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
16428 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
16429 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
16432 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
16433 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16436 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
16437 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
16440 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
16444 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
16445 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16448 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
16449 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16452 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
16456 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
16459 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
16463 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
16464 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16467 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
16468 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16471 A new command for reading collections of documents
16472 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
16473 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
16476 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
16480 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
16481 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
16484 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
16485 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
16486 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
16489 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
16490 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
16494 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
16498 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
16502 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
16507 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
16511 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
16515 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
16516 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
16519 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
16522 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16523 'gnus-article-emphasize)
16530 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
16532 New features in Gnus 5.6:
16537 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
16538 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
16539 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
16542 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
16543 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
16544 group, which is created automatically.
16547 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
16551 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
16554 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
16555 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
16558 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
16562 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
16565 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
16566 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
16569 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
16572 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
16573 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
16576 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
16577 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
16580 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
16581 control over simplification.
16584 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
16587 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
16591 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
16594 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16597 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
16598 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
16599 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
16602 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
16603 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
16606 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
16610 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
16611 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
16614 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
16615 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
16618 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
16622 A history of where mails have been split is available.
16625 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
16628 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
16629 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
16632 A new function for citing in Message has been
16633 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
16636 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
16639 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
16643 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
16644 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
16647 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
16648 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
16651 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
16654 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
16659 @node Newest Features
16660 @subsection Newest Features
16663 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
16666 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
16668 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
16669 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
16672 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
16677 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
16680 Really do unbinhexing.
16683 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
16684 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
16687 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
16690 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
16693 facep is not declared.
16696 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
16697 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
16700 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
16705 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
16706 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
16707 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
16708 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
16709 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
16710 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
16711 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
16716 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
16719 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
16722 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
16724 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
16725 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
16727 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
16729 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
16731 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
16732 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
16734 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
16736 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
16737 be marked as unread.
16739 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
16741 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
16743 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
16744 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
16746 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
16748 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
16750 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
16751 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
16753 topics that contain just groups with ticked
16754 articles aren't displayed.
16756 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
16758 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
16759 make the mail groups killed.
16761 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
16763 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
16764 and articles have to be removed.
16766 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
16769 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
16771 finding short score file names takes forever.
16773 canceling articles in foreign groups.
16775 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
16777 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
16779 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
16781 nnweb doesn't work properly.
16783 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
16785 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
16786 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
16790 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
16792 really unbinhex binhex files.
16794 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
16795 bar and the Gnus bar.
16798 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
16799 `(canonize-message-id id)'
16800 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
16801 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
16802 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
16803 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
16808 nnml .overview directory with splits.
16812 postponed commands.
16814 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
16816 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
16819 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
16820 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
16822 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
16823 inherit copy prompts and save files.
16825 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
16827 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
16828 for backends that support that.
16830 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
16832 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
16833 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
16835 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
16836 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
16838 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
16840 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
16842 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
16844 server mode command: close/open all connections
16846 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
16847 has been changed before using it.
16849 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
16851 hide (sub)threads with low score.
16853 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
16855 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
16857 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
16858 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
16860 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
16861 contain groups that match a regexp.
16863 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
16866 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
16869 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
16870 from subject lines.
16872 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
16874 nntp-ping-before-connect
16876 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
16878 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
16879 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
16881 message annotations.
16883 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
16885 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
16886 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
16888 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
16893 support qmail maildir spools
16895 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
16897 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
16899 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
16901 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
16902 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
16904 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
16906 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
16908 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
16909 finds and generate proper active ranges.
16911 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
16912 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
16914 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
16916 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
16918 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
16919 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
16921 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
16923 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
16925 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
16926 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
16929 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
16931 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
16933 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
16934 `C-c C-c' when posting.
16936 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
16939 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
16940 should be marker as expirable.
16942 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
16944 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
16945 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
16947 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
16948 Also consult Date headers.
16950 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
16952 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
16954 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
16955 Message-ID, delete the "original".
16957 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
16958 into a See-Also header.
16960 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
16962 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
16964 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
16965 should be listed as such and not as "K".
16967 generate font names dynamically.
16969 score file mode auto-alist.
16971 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
16972 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
16974 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
16975 absolutely all headers there is.
16977 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
16978 and pipe them to the process.
16980 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
16981 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
16982 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
16984 function for starting to edit a file to put into
16985 the current mail group.
16987 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
16989 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
16990 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
16992 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
16993 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
16995 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
16997 when replying to several process-marked articles,
16998 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
17000 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
17001 groups it has been mailed to.
17003 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
17005 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
17007 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
17009 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
17010 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
17012 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
17013 newlines) should be ignored.
17015 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
17016 groups in subtopics as well.
17018 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
17020 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
17023 add edit and forward secondary marks.
17025 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
17027 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
17029 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
17031 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
17033 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
17035 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
17036 or the formatted article.
17038 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
17040 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
17041 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
17043 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
17045 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
17047 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
17049 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
17050 even unread articles.
17052 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
17054 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
17056 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
17058 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
17060 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17062 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
17065 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
17066 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
17068 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
17069 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
17071 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
17073 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
17075 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
17076 from a particular server? Hm.
17078 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
17079 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
17081 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
17083 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
17084 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
17086 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
17087 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
17089 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
17090 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
17091 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
17094 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
17095 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
17097 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
17099 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
17101 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
17103 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
17106 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
17109 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
17110 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
17112 command to show and edit group scores
17114 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
17117 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
17119 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
17121 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
17122 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
17125 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
17126 that are of that length.
17128 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
17130 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
17132 asynchronous posting under nntp.
17134 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
17136 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
17138 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
17140 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
17141 a score lower than this number.
17143 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
17145 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
17147 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
17148 so that each copy can be edited separately.
17150 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
17152 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
17153 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
17155 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
17158 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
17159 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
17160 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
17161 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
17163 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
17166 command to remove all topic stuff.
17168 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
17169 and splitting the resulting digests.
17171 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
17173 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
17175 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
17176 matches an alist -- before saving.
17178 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
17180 variable to activate each group before entering them
17181 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
17183 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
17184 starting Gnus first if necessary.
17186 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
17187 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
17189 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
17191 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
17192 of several groups at once.
17194 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
17195 matches some regexp(s).
17197 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
17199 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
17201 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
17203 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
17205 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
17207 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
17209 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
17211 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
17212 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
17213 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
17214 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
17216 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
17217 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
17219 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
17221 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
17222 recently cited text.
17224 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
17226 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
17229 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
17230 server and just read the articles in the server
17232 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
17233 value of nnoo variables.
17235 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
17237 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
17238 listed in each group info.
17240 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
17243 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
17244 should only be applied to some groups.
17246 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
17247 mail-copies-to: never.
17249 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
17250 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
17252 the slave dribble files should autosave to the slave file names.
17254 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
17257 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
17260 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
17262 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
17265 group user-defined meta-parameters.
17269 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
17271 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
17272 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
17273 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
17274 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
17275 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
17277 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
17278 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
17285 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
17286 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
17288 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
17289 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
17291 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
17292 "Return the date the group was last read."
17293 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
17298 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
17299 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
17300 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
17301 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
17305 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
17306 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
17308 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
17311 They could be used like this:
17315 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
17316 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
17317 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
17319 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
17321 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
17324 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
17327 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
17328 affect the summary line format.
17332 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
17334 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
17335 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
17337 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
17340 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
17342 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
17344 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
17346 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
17348 - For other files, just find them normally.
17350 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
17351 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
17354 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
17355 tell him what you are doing.
17358 Currently, I get prompted:
17362 decend into sci.something ?
17366 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
17367 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
17368 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
17369 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
17372 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
17373 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
17374 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
17375 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
17378 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
17379 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
17385 more than n blank lines
17387 more than m identical lines
17388 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
17390 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
17394 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
17395 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
17396 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
17397 "same" subject for threading purposes.
17400 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
17401 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
17402 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
17403 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
17406 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
17409 soup - bowl of soup
17410 score below - dim light bulb
17411 score over - bright light bulb
17414 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
17419 show-list-of-articles-in-group
17420 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17421 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
17422 if (articles-selected)
17423 start-reading-selected-articles;
17424 junk-unread-articles;
17429 else if (key-pressed = '.')
17430 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
17431 select-thread-under-cursor;
17433 select-article-under-cursor;
17437 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17438 if (more-pages-in-article)
17440 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
17447 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
17448 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
17449 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
17452 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
17453 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
17454 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
17455 the wildcard expression).
17458 It would be nice if it also handled
17460 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
17462 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
17467 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
17468 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
17469 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
17470 article versions) variable.
17472 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
17474 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
17475 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
17479 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
17482 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
17483 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
17484 (message-sent-hook).
17486 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
17489 * Enhancements to Gnus:
17493 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
17494 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
17497 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
17498 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
17499 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
17502 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
17503 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
17507 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
17510 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
17514 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
17515 the nnmail duplicate checking.
17518 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
17519 value of the signature file.
17522 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
17523 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
17526 (setq message-tab-alist
17527 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
17528 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
17530 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
17534 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
17537 a command to import a buffer into a group.
17540 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
17543 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
17544 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
17547 a command to process mark all unread articles.
17550 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
17551 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
17552 do more gathering by subject.
17555 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
17556 article numerical order.
17559 (gnus-thread-total-score
17560 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
17564 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
17567 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
17568 in the summary buffer.
17571 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
17572 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
17575 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
17576 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
17577 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
17578 and/or newsgroup name.
17581 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
17584 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
17587 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
17590 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
17591 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
17592 will automatically get the process mark.
17595 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
17596 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
17597 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
17600 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
17604 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
17605 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
17608 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
17609 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
17613 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
17614 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
17617 be able to post via DejaNews.
17620 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
17623 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
17624 allow them to be displayed separately.
17627 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
17628 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
17631 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
17632 articles that match a certain From header.
17635 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
17636 saving living summary buffers.
17639 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
17640 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
17643 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
17644 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
17647 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
17648 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
17651 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
17652 (goto-char (point-min))
17653 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
17654 (replace-match "`" t t))
17655 (goto-char (point-min))
17656 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
17657 (replace-match "'" t t))
17658 (goto-char (point-min))
17659 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
17660 (replace-match "\"" t t))
17661 (goto-char (point-min))
17662 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
17663 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
17668 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
17670 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
17671 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
17672 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
17673 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
17677 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
17680 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
17681 numbers and match on the age of the article.
17685 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
17686 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
17687 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
17689 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
17690 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
17692 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
17693 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
17698 all commands that react to the process mark should push
17699 the current process mark set onto the stack.
17702 gnus-article-hide-pgp
17703 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
17705 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
17707 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
17708 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
17711 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
17712 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
17715 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
17719 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
17720 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
17723 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
17726 nndraft-request-group should tally autosave files.
17729 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
17732 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
17736 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
17742 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
17745 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
17749 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
17750 X characters in the body.
17753 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
17756 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
17759 format spec to "tab" to a position.
17762 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
17765 command to display all dormant articles.
17768 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
17771 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
17772 to something someone else has said.
17775 Read Netscape discussion groups:
17776 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
17779 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
17780 the displayed version.
17783 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
17787 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
17790 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
17791 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
17792 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
17796 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
17797 in the head or body.
17800 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
17803 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
17806 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
17807 in a special, unique buffer.
17810 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
17813 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
17814 is less than a certain number of days old.
17817 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
17820 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
17823 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
17824 file, for instance.
17827 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
17828 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
17829 dummy root instead of the first article.
17832 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
17833 topics for displaying.
17836 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
17837 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
17840 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
17843 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
17844 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
17845 summary buffer for each article.
17848 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
17851 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
17855 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
17858 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
17862 Solve the halting problem.
17871 @section The Manual
17875 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
17876 either @code{texi2dvi}
17878 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
17879 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
17881 to get what you hold in your hands now.
17883 The following conventions have been used:
17888 This is a @samp{string}
17891 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
17894 This is a @file{file}
17897 This is a @code{symbol}
17901 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
17905 (setq flargnoze "yes")
17908 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
17911 (setq flumphel 'yes)
17914 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
17915 ever get them confused.
17919 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
17920 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
17921 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
17922 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
17923 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
17924 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
17925 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
17933 @section Terminology
17935 @cindex terminology
17940 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
17941 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
17942 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
17943 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
17944 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
17948 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
17949 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
17950 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
17951 not posting, and replying is not following up.
17955 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
17959 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
17964 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
17965 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
17966 is all done by the backends.
17970 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
17971 default, way of getting news.
17975 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
17976 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
17981 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
17982 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
17986 A message that has been posted as news.
17989 @cindex mail message
17990 A message that has been mailed.
17994 A mail message or news article
17998 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
18003 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
18008 A line from the head of an article.
18012 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
18013 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
18017 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
18018 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
18019 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
18020 normal @sc{head} format.
18024 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
18025 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
18026 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
18027 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
18028 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
18029 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
18031 @item killed groups
18032 @cindex killed groups
18033 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
18034 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
18036 @item zombie groups
18037 @cindex zombie groups
18038 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
18041 @cindex active file
18042 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
18043 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
18044 is rather large, as you might surmise.
18047 @cindex bogus groups
18048 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
18049 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
18050 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
18053 @cindex activating groups
18054 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
18055 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
18056 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
18060 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
18062 @item select method
18063 @cindex select method
18064 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
18067 @item virtual server
18068 @cindex virtual server
18069 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
18070 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
18071 whole is a virtual server.
18075 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
18076 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
18079 @item ephemeral groups
18080 @cindex ephemeral groups
18081 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
18082 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
18083 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
18086 @cindex solid groups
18087 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
18088 group buffer are solid groups.
18090 @item sparse articles
18091 @cindex sparse articles
18092 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
18093 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
18097 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
18098 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
18102 @cindex thread root
18103 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
18104 articles in the thread.
18108 An article that has responses.
18112 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
18116 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
18117 specified by RFC1153.
18123 @node Customization
18124 @section Customization
18125 @cindex general customization
18127 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
18128 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
18129 for some quite common situations.
18132 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
18133 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
18134 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
18135 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
18139 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
18140 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
18142 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
18143 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
18144 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
18148 @item gnus-read-active-file
18149 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
18150 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
18151 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18152 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
18153 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
18155 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
18156 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
18157 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
18158 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
18162 @node Slow Terminal Connection
18163 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
18165 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
18166 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
18167 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
18171 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
18172 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
18173 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
18174 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
18175 horizontal and vertical recentering.
18177 @item gnus-visible-headers
18178 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
18179 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
18180 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
18181 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
18183 @item gnus-article-display-hook
18184 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
18186 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
18187 '(gnus-article-hide-headers
18188 gnus-article-hide-signature
18189 gnus-article-hide-citation))
18192 @item gnus-use-full-window
18193 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
18194 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
18195 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
18196 want to read them anyway.
18198 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
18199 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
18202 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
18203 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
18204 lines, which might save some time.
18208 @node Little Disk Space
18209 @subsection Little Disk Space
18212 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
18213 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
18217 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
18218 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
18219 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
18220 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18223 @item gnus-save-killed-list
18224 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
18225 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
18226 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
18227 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
18233 @subsection Slow Machine
18234 @cindex slow machine
18236 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
18237 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
18239 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18240 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
18242 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
18243 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
18244 summary buffer faster.
18246 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
18247 processing a bit faster.
18251 @node Troubleshooting
18252 @section Troubleshooting
18253 @cindex troubleshooting
18255 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
18263 Make sure your computer is switched on.
18266 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
18267 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
18271 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
18272 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
18273 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
18274 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
18277 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
18281 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
18282 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
18283 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
18284 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
18285 something like that.
18288 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
18291 @cindex reporting bugs
18293 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18295 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
18296 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
18297 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
18298 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
18300 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
18301 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
18302 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
18303 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
18306 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
18307 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
18308 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
18309 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
18310 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
18311 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
18313 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
18314 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
18315 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
18318 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
18319 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
18321 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
18322 @cindex ding mailing list
18323 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
18324 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
18328 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
18329 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
18331 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
18332 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
18333 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
18334 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
18337 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
18338 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
18339 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
18340 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
18341 and general methods of operation.
18344 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
18345 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
18346 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
18347 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
18348 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
18349 * Group Info:: The group info format.
18350 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
18351 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
18352 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
18356 @node Gnus Utility Functions
18357 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
18358 @cindex Gnus utility functions
18359 @cindex utility functions
18361 @cindex internal variables
18363 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
18364 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
18365 Below is a list of the most common ones.
18369 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
18370 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
18371 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
18373 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
18374 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
18375 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
18377 @item gnus-group-real-name
18378 @findex gnus-group-real-name
18379 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
18382 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
18383 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
18384 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
18385 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
18387 @item gnus-get-info
18388 @findex gnus-get-info
18389 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
18391 @item gnus-group-unread
18392 @findex gnus-group-unread
18393 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
18397 @findex gnus-active
18398 The active entry for @var{group}.
18400 @item gnus-set-active
18401 @findex gnus-set-active
18402 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
18404 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18405 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18406 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
18409 @item gnus-continuum-version
18410 @findex gnus-continuum-version
18411 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
18412 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
18415 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
18416 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
18417 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
18419 @item gnus-news-group-p
18420 @findex gnus-news-group-p
18421 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
18423 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18424 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18425 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
18427 @item gnus-server-to-method
18428 @findex gnus-server-to-method
18429 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
18431 @item gnus-server-equal
18432 @findex gnus-server-equal
18433 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
18435 @item gnus-group-native-p
18436 @findex gnus-group-native-p
18437 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
18439 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
18440 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
18441 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
18443 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
18444 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
18445 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
18447 @item group-group-find-parameter
18448 @findex group-group-find-parameter
18449 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
18450 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
18452 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
18453 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
18454 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
18456 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
18457 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
18458 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
18460 @item gnus-check-backend-function
18461 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
18462 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
18463 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
18466 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
18470 @item gnus-read-method
18471 @findex gnus-read-method
18472 Prompts the user for a select method.
18477 @node Backend Interface
18478 @subsection Backend Interface
18480 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
18481 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
18482 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
18483 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
18484 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
18485 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
18487 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
18488 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
18489 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
18490 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
18491 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
18492 been opened, the function should fail.
18494 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
18495 name. Take this example:
18499 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
18500 (nntp-port-number 4324))
18503 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
18504 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
18506 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
18507 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
18508 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
18510 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
18511 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
18512 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
18514 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
18515 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
18516 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
18517 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
18518 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
18519 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
18522 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
18523 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
18524 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
18525 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
18528 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
18531 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
18534 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
18535 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
18536 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
18537 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
18538 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
18539 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
18543 @node Required Backend Functions
18544 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
18548 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
18550 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
18551 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
18552 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
18553 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
18555 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
18556 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
18557 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
18558 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
18560 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
18561 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
18562 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
18563 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
18564 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
18565 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
18566 number, do maximum fetches.
18568 Here's an example HEAD:
18571 221 1056 Article retrieved.
18572 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
18573 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
18574 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
18575 Subject: Re: Something very droll
18576 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
18577 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
18579 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
18580 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
18581 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
18585 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
18586 these in the data buffer.
18588 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
18592 head = error / valid-head
18593 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
18594 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
18595 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
18596 header = <text> eol
18599 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
18600 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
18604 nov-buffer = *nov-line
18605 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
18606 field = <text except TAB>
18609 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
18613 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
18615 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
18616 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
18618 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
18619 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
18620 server. In fact, it should do so.
18622 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
18623 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
18626 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
18628 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
18629 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
18632 There should be no data returned.
18635 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
18637 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
18638 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
18639 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
18640 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
18642 There should be no data returned.
18645 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
18647 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
18648 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
18649 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
18650 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
18652 There should be no data returned.
18655 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
18657 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
18659 There should be no data returned.
18662 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
18664 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
18665 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
18666 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
18667 it would be nice if that were possible.
18669 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
18670 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
18671 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
18672 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
18673 into its article buffer.
18675 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
18676 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
18677 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
18678 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
18679 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
18680 on successful article retrieval.
18683 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
18685 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
18686 making @var{group} the current group.
18688 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
18691 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
18694 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
18697 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
18698 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
18699 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
18700 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
18701 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
18702 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
18703 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
18704 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
18707 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
18708 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
18709 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
18713 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
18715 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
18716 a no-op on most backends.
18718 There should be no data returned.
18721 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
18723 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
18726 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
18729 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
18730 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
18733 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
18734 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
18737 active-file = *active-line
18738 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
18740 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
18743 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
18744 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
18745 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
18748 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
18750 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
18751 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
18752 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
18753 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
18754 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
18755 clear if the posting could not be completed.
18757 There should be no result data from this function.
18762 @node Optional Backend Functions
18763 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
18767 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
18769 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
18770 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
18771 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
18773 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
18774 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
18775 former is in the same format as the data from
18776 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
18777 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
18780 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
18784 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
18786 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
18787 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
18788 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
18789 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
18790 should return the (altered) group info.
18792 There should be no result data from this function.
18795 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
18797 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
18798 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
18799 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
18800 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
18801 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
18802 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
18803 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
18804 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
18806 There should be no result data from this function.
18809 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
18811 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
18812 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
18813 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
18814 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
18815 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
18817 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
18818 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
18819 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
18822 There should be no result data from this function.
18825 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
18827 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
18828 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
18829 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
18830 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
18831 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
18832 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
18833 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
18835 There should be no result data from this function.
18838 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
18840 The result data from this function should be a description of
18844 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
18846 description = <text>
18849 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
18851 The result data from this function should be the description of all
18852 groups available on the server.
18855 description-buffer = *description-line
18859 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
18861 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
18862 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
18863 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
18866 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
18868 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
18870 There should be no return data.
18873 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
18875 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
18876 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
18877 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
18878 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
18879 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
18882 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
18885 There should be no result data returned.
18888 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
18891 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
18892 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
18894 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
18895 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
18896 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
18897 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
18898 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
18899 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
18901 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
18902 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
18905 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
18906 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
18908 There should be no data returned.
18911 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
18913 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
18914 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
18915 this function in short order.
18917 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
18918 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
18920 There should be no data returned.
18923 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
18925 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
18926 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
18928 There should be no data returned.
18931 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
18933 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
18934 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
18935 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
18937 There should be no data returned.
18940 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
18942 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
18943 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
18945 There should be no data returned.
18950 @node Error Messaging
18951 @subsubsection Error Messaging
18953 @findex nnheader-report
18954 @findex nnheader-get-report
18955 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
18956 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
18957 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
18958 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
18959 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
18960 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
18963 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
18965 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
18968 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
18969 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
18970 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
18971 takes one argument---the server symbol.
18973 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
18974 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
18975 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
18978 @node Writing New Backends
18979 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
18981 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
18982 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
18983 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
18984 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
18985 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
18988 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
18989 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
18990 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
18992 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
18993 package called @code{nnoo}.
18995 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
18996 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
19002 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
19003 parameters. For instance:
19006 (nnoo-declare nndir
19010 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
19011 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
19014 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
19015 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
19016 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
19018 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
19019 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
19020 a function in those backends.
19023 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19024 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19025 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19028 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
19029 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
19030 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
19032 @item nnoo-define-basics
19033 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
19037 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19041 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
19042 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
19043 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
19045 @item nnoo-map-functions
19046 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
19047 functions from the parent backends.
19050 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19051 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19052 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
19055 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
19056 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
19057 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
19058 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
19061 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
19062 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
19063 haven't already been defined.
19069 nnmh-request-newgroups)
19073 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
19074 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
19075 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
19080 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
19083 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
19084 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
19088 (require 'nnheader)
19092 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
19094 (nnoo-declare nndir
19097 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19098 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19099 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19101 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
19102 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
19105 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
19106 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
19107 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
19109 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
19110 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
19112 ;;; Interface functions.
19114 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19116 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
19117 (setq nndir-directory
19118 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
19120 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
19121 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
19122 (push `(nndir-current-group
19123 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19125 (push `(nndir-top-directory
19126 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19128 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
19130 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19131 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19132 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19133 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
19134 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
19138 nnmh-status-message
19140 nnmh-request-newgroups))
19146 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19147 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19149 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
19150 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
19151 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
19152 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
19154 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
19155 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
19160 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
19163 The abilities can be:
19167 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
19169 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
19171 This backend supports both mail and news.
19173 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
19176 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
19177 articles and groups.
19179 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
19180 true for almost all backends.
19181 @item prompt-address
19182 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
19183 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
19184 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
19188 @node Mail-like Backends
19189 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
19191 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
19192 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
19193 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
19194 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
19197 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
19198 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
19199 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
19202 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
19203 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
19206 This function takes four parameters.
19210 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
19213 @item exit-function
19214 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
19216 @item temp-directory
19217 Where the temporary files should be stored.
19220 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
19221 performed for one group only.
19224 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
19225 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
19226 find the article number assigned to this article.
19228 The function also uses the following variables:
19229 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
19230 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
19231 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
19232 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
19236 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
19237 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
19241 @node Score File Syntax
19242 @subsection Score File Syntax
19244 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
19245 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
19246 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
19248 Here's a typical score file:
19252 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
19259 BNF definition of a score file:
19262 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
19263 element = rule / atom
19264 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
19265 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
19266 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
19267 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
19269 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
19270 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
19271 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
19272 date-header = "date"
19273 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19274 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19275 score = "nil" / <integer>
19276 date = "nil" / <natural number>
19277 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
19278 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
19279 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
19280 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
19281 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19282 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19283 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
19284 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19285 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
19286 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
19287 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
19288 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
19289 exclude-files / read-only / touched
19290 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
19291 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
19292 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
19293 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
19294 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
19295 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
19296 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
19297 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
19298 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
19299 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
19300 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
19301 eval = "eval" space <form>
19302 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
19305 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
19308 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
19309 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
19310 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
19311 one looong line, then that's ok.
19313 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
19314 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19318 @subsection Headers
19320 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
19321 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
19322 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
19323 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
19325 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
19326 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
19327 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
19328 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
19329 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
19330 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
19331 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
19333 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
19334 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
19335 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
19336 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
19337 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
19339 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
19346 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
19347 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
19349 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
19350 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
19351 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
19352 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
19354 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
19358 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
19361 is transformed into
19364 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
19367 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
19368 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
19371 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
19374 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
19375 is slightly tricky:
19378 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
19384 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
19387 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
19393 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
19400 and is equal to the previous range.
19402 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
19403 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
19404 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
19408 range = simple-range / normal-range
19409 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
19410 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
19411 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
19412 number *[ " " contents ]
19415 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
19416 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
19417 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
19418 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
19419 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
19424 @subsection Group Info
19426 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
19427 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
19428 describes the group.
19430 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
19431 second is a more complex one:
19434 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
19436 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
19437 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
19439 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
19442 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
19443 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
19444 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
19445 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
19446 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
19447 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
19448 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
19449 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
19450 this section is about.
19452 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
19453 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
19454 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
19456 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
19459 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
19460 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
19461 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19462 group = quote <string> quote
19463 ralevel = rank / level
19464 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
19465 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
19466 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
19468 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
19469 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
19470 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
19471 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
19474 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
19475 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
19478 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
19479 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
19482 @item gnus-info-group
19483 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
19484 @findex gnus-info-group
19485 @findex gnus-info-set-group
19486 Get/set the group name.
19488 @item gnus-info-rank
19489 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
19490 @findex gnus-info-rank
19491 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
19492 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
19494 @item gnus-info-level
19495 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
19496 @findex gnus-info-level
19497 @findex gnus-info-set-level
19498 Get/set the group level.
19500 @item gnus-info-score
19501 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
19502 @findex gnus-info-score
19503 @findex gnus-info-set-score
19504 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
19506 @item gnus-info-read
19507 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
19508 @findex gnus-info-read
19509 @findex gnus-info-set-read
19510 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
19512 @item gnus-info-marks
19513 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
19514 @findex gnus-info-marks
19515 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
19516 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
19518 @item gnus-info-method
19519 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
19520 @findex gnus-info-method
19521 @findex gnus-info-set-method
19522 Get/set the group select method.
19524 @item gnus-info-params
19525 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
19526 @findex gnus-info-params
19527 @findex gnus-info-set-params
19528 Get/set the group parameters.
19531 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
19532 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
19534 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
19535 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
19536 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
19537 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
19540 @node Extended Interactive
19541 @subsection Extended Interactive
19542 @cindex interactive
19543 @findex gnus-interactive
19545 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
19546 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
19547 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
19550 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
19551 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
19556 The best thing to do would have been to implement
19557 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
19558 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
19559 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
19560 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
19561 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
19562 @code{interactive}.
19564 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
19569 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
19570 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
19574 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
19575 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
19576 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
19579 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
19583 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
19587 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
19593 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
19594 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
19598 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
19599 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
19600 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
19602 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
19603 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
19604 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
19605 Gnus, that's very useful.
19607 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
19608 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
19609 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
19610 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
19611 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
19612 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
19613 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
19614 following function:
19617 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
19621 (,function ,@@args))
19625 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
19626 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
19627 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
19630 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
19631 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
19632 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
19634 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
19635 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
19636 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
19639 @node Various File Formats
19640 @subsection Various File Formats
19643 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
19644 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
19648 @node Active File Format
19649 @subsubsection Active File Format
19651 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
19652 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
19655 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
19658 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
19659 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
19660 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
19661 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
19662 no.general 1000 900 y
19665 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
19668 active = *group-line
19669 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
19670 group = <non-white-space string>
19672 high-number = <non-negative integer>
19673 low-number = <positive integer>
19674 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
19677 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
19678 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
19681 @node Newsgroups File Format
19682 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
19684 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
19685 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
19686 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
19689 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
19690 Here's the definition:
19694 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
19695 group = <non-white-space string>
19697 description = <string>
19702 @node Emacs for Heathens
19703 @section Emacs for Heathens
19705 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
19706 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
19707 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
19708 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
19709 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
19710 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
19711 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
19715 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
19716 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
19721 @subsection Keystrokes
19725 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
19728 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
19731 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
19732 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
19733 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
19734 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
19735 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
19736 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
19738 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
19739 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
19740 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
19741 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
19742 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
19743 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
19744 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
19746 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
19747 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
19748 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
19749 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
19750 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
19751 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
19752 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
19754 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
19755 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
19756 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
19757 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
19758 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
19764 @subsection Emacs Lisp
19766 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
19767 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
19768 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
19769 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
19771 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
19772 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
19773 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
19774 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
19775 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
19776 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
19777 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
19780 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
19781 write the following:
19784 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
19787 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
19788 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
19789 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
19792 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
19793 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
19794 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
19795 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
19796 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
19798 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
19799 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
19800 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
19804 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
19808 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
19811 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
19812 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
19815 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
19818 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
19819 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
19822 @include gnus-faq.texi